“A strategy is not a plan; it is a framework for decision-making…”
– Stephen Bungay
We are going to make a bold statement: your digital strategy is either wrong or doesn’t even exist.
Working on numerous brands across a spectrum of industries, we have learned that digital marketing strategies should be about the customer, not the business. Even what might seem like an intelligent question, might actually be the wrong question. For example, instead of asking “how can we convince consumers to be loyal towards our product?”, rather ask “how loyal are we towards our customers?”. Do you really care about them?
Therefore, your digital marketing strategy should be a human strategy to ensure that every social media post and blog revolve around them.
How to humanise your digital strategy
Empower them
Instead of education your customers about the benefits of your product, rather focus on providing them with the capabilities, tools, and mindsets to help them live better lives. What can you offer your customers beyond the physical product? The more honest question would be “what is the point of your product and why does it exist?”.
Create superheroes
If customers buy your product simply for the product, they will be very easily persuaded by your competitor to buy their products instead. That’s why you need to offer them something they cannot refuse. Just becoming viral won’t help either because it’s not a sustainable long-term strategy. When you change the question to “how loyal can we be towards our customers”, you are creating an opportunity to help your customers become superheroes because now, you are focussing on them and really putting thought into what you are offering. Your product should empower your customers to be elevated above their competitors.
Connect with your customers
The goal of a solid digital marketing strategy should be connection. This is more than your Facebook followers liking and sharing your post. It’s about creating relationships with your customers. They will become your biggest advocates. As a result, there’s a relatable, approachable personality behind your brand and not just a fancy designed logo. This will also require you to provide your team with the capabilities to empower your customers.
Elevate your customers
Merely posting something on social media every second day is not enough. Liking their comments is not enough either. You can either broadcast your promises on social media, or you can use social media to build a community. It comes down to weighing values against volume.
The best channel to utilise online
… is people. It’s an astonishing ripple effect to witness. Word of mouth marketing can either be your best friend or your worst enemy. People would rather believe their peers than companies (think Telkom). And subsequently, people will rather trust their peers than companies.
We suggest utilising this convincing channel to explain how your product can change lives for the better. There’s no space or excuse (quite frankly) to be mediocre. The more customers you attract, the more customers they will attract.
How to incorporate your digital strategy
Create a shared purpose which will inspire your audience and provide them with a digital platform to share their stories. This can be Facebook Groups, comments, shares, stories etc. You can and should also leverage the user-generated content to boost the purpose of your product.
Create a narrative on the purpose of your product and share it on your website. From there, everything you write will revolve around this: from social media posts to website blogs and mailers. Remember, your digital marketing strategy is not the purpose of your product, it merely supports and boosts the purpose of your product. So, without the support of your digital channels, no one will know about the product’s purpose. Your digital strategy is the starting point and centre of the ripple effect. Digital channels initiate conversations and hype.
Keeping your humanised digital strategy and central narrative in mind, every piece of digital content will communicate the same thing: from Facebook to your website, mailers and Google Ads.
How we measure the success of a digital strategy
When it comes to metrics and analytics, there’s a reason why reach (how many people have seen your social media post) and impressions (how many times your posts were seen in total) are counted as “vanity metrics”. Just because 1 000 people have seen your Facebook ad, doesn’t mean 1 000 will buy your product. That’s why (depending on the goals of your digital strategy) we would rather focus on engagement, web clicks and online sales.
It is time to dominate your digital space! Contact us to share your story. We love collaborating with clients and designing long-term sustainable and measurable strategies. The proof is in the metrics.
