Strategy sets the direction for your digital marketing.
As simple as that sounds, its importance cannot be overstated. Your company’s strategy ultimately determines how successful your digital marketing efforts will be and if you’ll hit your company’s goals. For this reason, it is the first step of four in our digital marketing process.
Strategy can be difficult to understand because many associate the word with different meanings. The few who learn about strategy in school or on the job are taught how to follow rules—rarely how to establish the right ones.
Rarer still are people who work for a company or organization that is excellent at digital marketing. Companies generally focus on processes that make them more efficient. For these reasons, it is hard for many people to develop and implement a winning digital marketing strategy.
You can’t make strategy work if you don’t understand it.
In this article we will discuss how to simplify strategy to better understand it. As a result, you will be equipped to properly implement it and drive direction for your digital marketing efforts.
Let’s start with a simple definition of strategy.
Strategy is Doing the Right Things to Reach Your Goals.
The right strategy is the most efficient path to your goals. You can’t make strategy work if you don’t have well-defined and measurable goals.
Once you have goals in place you must determine the best course of action—from many possible courses of action—to reach those goals.
That’s strategy.
Strategy Sets You Apart from Competitors.
When it comes to providing value to customers, how are you perceived as different and better than competitors? Maintaining a competitive advantage is hard as new competitors enter your market space and unique attributes fade away.
Setting strategic direction includes knowing and researching your competitors to understand their strategy and how you can then establish your niche.
Company Values Are a Competitive Advantage.
If you find your team struggling to determine your company’s competitive advantage, define and focus on the core values of your company. These are the things about life and work your organization holds dear and believes in. Your best prospects and customers will connect with this values and be drawn to your company as a result.
Core values define how you are different from competitors and should be a part of your key messaging to prospective customers.
Your Company Process Is a Strategy.
Your business processes could also provide a point of differentiation. How do you onboard customers? How do your operational processes bring value? How do your processes improve the quality of your products and services?
These things are unique to your company and can be explained to prospective customers as part of your competitive advantage.
Keeping Busy Does Not Equal Strategy.
Keep in mind: strategy does not get implemented and goals don’t get met because you are busy. Strategic thinking, planning and research must be put into your schedule to get done—this work does not come naturally to most people.
Strategic Communication is the Next Step.
Now that you’ve established your strategy, the next step in the our four-step process is strategic communication. This involves how you communicate your strategy to the world and your target market.
Customers are attracted to your company because of the value they perceive as communicated through your digital marketing strategy. A well-communicated strategy
attracts prospective customers who are an excellent fit for your company.
We will review this in our next blog post coming soon.
Summary
The right strategy acts as a roadmap for your company’s growth. Establishing this direction involves research and preparation. It defines the value you bring to the marketplace and how you will meet the needs of your target market. It also defines how you are better and different from competitors. Make time to work on this critical area to better provide direction for digital marketing messaging and tactics.
Contact us for a free consultation to review your current digital marketing strategy and how it can be improved.
Action Items
- Research competitors and determine their strategies.
- Determine how you are better or different than direct competitors.
- Set core values for your company and share them with your target market.
- Define your company processes and use them as a competitive advantage.
- Write a direct and clear tagline expressing what your company does best.
- Work each of your core strategic messages into your content marketing plan.
