Digital Marketing: Connecting the Dots

by Victor J. McCoy
3vdesignmedia.com

The internet is full of articles, blogs (like this one) etc. that address topics on digital media. The how to's, what to's, why to's and the to do's are covered in a myriad of articles. So why am I writing an article to address the topic and to add to the many? Maybe, I'll say something that you may not have considered - and I do like writing articles.

Many companies have had to move from a static business plan to a more dynamic plan over the years. Monitoring and reporting results has become even more critical, causing many to adjust their game plan while the game is being played. This is necessary due to the overwhelming technological advances that continue to invade digital media. Business marketing still is fundamentally about people and their behaviours as well as their needs and desires. Keeping that in focus is critical when trying to construct a digital marketing strategy that will be effective - or you hope will be. Choosing what platforms to use and what they will produce is paramount to your strategies success. An effective strategy always accomplishes its intented purpose. Therefore, what you hope to accomplish determines how you will move to accomplish it. Which neccessitaes the gathering of lots of information (data-centric) and there is no shortage of it. Most small business owners understand the key principles too developing an effective strategy. Those principles still apply in the development of your digital marketing strategy. But, what do I mean by "connecting the dots"?

The "conecting-the-dots"idiom as it relates to digital marketing are a series on sequential steps taken to fully engage your organization into the digital marketing arena. These steps vary based on your organizations business model and strategy. Once these steps are connected they should produce a picture of someting you recognize. That picture may be increased sales, brand recognition, membership increase, etc. If after connecting the dots you do not recognize the picture produced you may have mis-connected a few points. But below are a few things you want to consider.

1. Why does your business need a digital marketing strategy? It should not be because I read that I needed one.
2. What do we expect for it to do? What should the picture look like?
3. How much do we need to budget to make it work?
4. Who will lead this effort? Must we hire or outsourse?
5. What will our website be used for as it relates to our social media platforms?
6. What about SEO, and SMO? How will they work in concert with our digital media strategy?

These are very important questions that must be answered in order to connect-the-dots. Those "dots" can lead you in the right or wrong direction depending on what you connect them to.

For more detailed information email me at victor@3vdesignmedia.com