By E. Mahony – spotlightideas.co.uk

IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD STRATEGY
Having a good marketing strategy has, always, been important. And now in the digital environment, more than ever. Firstly, marketers have to follow their audience: Internet usage in the US is now 70-75 % of the population (source: 1 +2). Secondly, the way people use the Internet, and interact with other people on it, is getting more varied. This adds complication, but also, creates opportunities to come up with smarter strategies in general.

WHICH PART OF DIGITAL SHOULD YOU FOCUS ON?
Broadly speaking: the Internet (and depending on your products / marketplace: static websites, interactive websites, e-commerce websites, and more; social media; search; banner ads; email; affiliate programmes; video and audio content; and more). But digital, also, covers: mobile phones (mobile marketing hasn’t really taken off, yet, but it may over the next while), digital signage (digital screens in shops etc ..), and more.

WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO ACHIEVE IN YOUR DIGITAL STRATEGY?
Think about what it is, exactly, you are trying to achieve. Digital media can be used in very different ways for different purposes (i.e. sales, developing customer loyalty, creating and maintaining general brand awareness, online PR, driving traffic to a site, and more).

WHO ARE YOU TRYING TO REACH IN YOUR DIGITAL STRATEGY?
Think quality versus quantity. You might have lots of traffic. But is it relevant traffic? Are these people going to buy your products or pay for your services? And (/or) are they going to recommend your products and services to others?

BRANDING
- General
Are different pages on your site consistent in the overall impression (visual and written) they create? On the other hand is the overall impression you create overwhelming and intrusive?
- Authenticity
Focus on things that will gain your audience’s trust. For example, case studies, awards, recognition, and so on. Show, don’t just tell.
- Brand Story
You’ve got a great looking website that, also, works well. But does it capture the interest of the audience? Is there an interesting story to tell (i.e. about how your online work began / developed, and so on?)

CONTENT
Cliche: ‘Content is King’ – but it’s true. Offer your audience content (could be, for example, formal articles, informal blog posts, video and audio content, general interactive-website content, resources, and so on) that will be relevant (of use / interest) to them. This will result in your pages ranking higher, overall, in search engines, as well as people recommending your content via social media and word-of-mouth in general.

SEM / SEO / WEB ANALYTICS
- SEM (Search Marketing)
SEM strategy that is not planned (in general as well as in detail) for properly could lead to search engine penalizations and/or to audiences being turned off because of the artificial way the content has been put together. You want content that will make people: stay and move around on your site, link to your web pages, will recommend to others.
You don’t have to do SEM. You can focus on your content being recommended by word-of-mouth only. Or go for a combination of the two (but figuring out, carefully, how to get the best, not the worst, out of both worlds).
- SEO
SEO is still important. But it isn’t as important as it once was because: search engines are smarter at finding good content (at the cost of good SEO), and, increasingly, Internet users are finding content via social media (as opposed to finding it on search engines).
- Web Analytics
Web analytics tools can be used to find out which parts of your site are receiving the most and least amount of attention from your audience. Web analytics is a big subject, and there are many different types of tools. Good place to start is Google Analytics (Google Analytics education).

SOCIAL MEDIA
- General
Social media is about getting people to talk about your brand in general and / or drive traffic to your website. But don’t get people talking too soon / too much until you have built up your brand properly (might backfire).
Do you want social media that achieves quick buzz (but that, often, peters out quickly i.e viral) as opposed to sustained results (although lighter in impact, at any particular point, i.e blogging). Both have their uses. The first, for example, to help launch new products. The second, for example, as a way of achieving consistent growth with audience loyalty and numbers.
- Blogging
The blog hasn’t gone. The old format (i.e. informal, jotting down of ideas etc ..) still works. But there’s lots of competition now for this. Instead you could consider, perhaps, joining up with another group of bloggers – strength in numbers. Or introduce new types of content on your site.
The blog is, also, an effective tool for online PR.
- Twitter
Twitter has been hot news for a while now. And for good reason. It can work as an excellent support tool to your blog (attracting traffic to your blog). But Twitter can be used for lots of other things as well: keeping up with industry news and ideas, social networking, research, and more.
- Facebook
Why Facebook as a marketing tool? Facebook has more than 250 million users – professionals, students, and people in general. Worth considering but only get involved in Facebook if you’re prepared to commit to it, properly.
- Other
Lots of other ways of marketing via social media: social networking (i.e. LinkedIn, MySpace), social network aggregation (i.e. FriendFeed), photosharing (i.e. Flickr), video sharing (i.e. YouTube), and more.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
- Email Marketing
Email is still an effective marketing tool as long as your emails are relevant to your audience (and you don’t over do it). If not, forget it (backfire).
- Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing can cover a wide area of activity (search engine marketing, email marketing, display advertising, and more) and be time-consuming. For that reason organizations often turn to specialists. But remember, you know your product, best, and market place as well as anyone else, so there can be important benefits in doing it, or part of it, yourself.
- Consumer Generated Content
Consumer generated content is about getting audiences to create their own content on your site. This could lead to increased traffic, as well as building up loyalty with your audience. Remember that audiences aren’t always experts in a particular subject. So consumer generated content can be hit-and-miss.
- Customer Experience
Customer experience is about the overall experience that a customer has when visiting a site (and in particular, but not exclusively, for an e-commerce site). Customer service is an important part of it. Although large companies and / or e-commerce sites are more focused on this than others, it’s still something that everyone should be thinking about, to a degree, in general.
- ROI
Return of Investment is important when you’re investing money in software, hardware and services. Research, before spending money, is key, as well as analysis of performance and results once the investment has been made.
- Choosing an agency
Most organizations are, inevitably, going to hire the services of others (digital strategy and branding, web design, online advertising, email marketing, affiliate marketing, and so on). In a competitive environment, choosing the right agency can be the difference in the breaking or making of a campaign.
Considerations: pitch to a number of agencies; do they get what you’re about; research the people you’ll be working with; scrutinize work they’ve done for others; test them a bit to see what sort of work they might carry out; are they going to offer value-add; get feedback from the agency’s clients; and more.

CONCLUSION
In a competitive market, a good digital strategy could be the difference in getting your Internet project / business off the ground or not. And like traditional marketing, a good online digital strategy is, ultimately, about word-of-mouth – free publicity, and the success this could bring in the long-term.

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