What is a Digital Strategy?

There is alot of talk amongst our customers right now about their digital strategy. When i hear the term "Digital Strategy" i think.. "Why are they worrying about their network? Is there a problem accessing the web or their intranet? Are they buying new data services from Telecom? What has this to do with their websites?" Ok so i know what they mean and granted i am a little black and white with this, but then the point of this article is to make people aware of using the wrong terminology AND what is most important within the strategy.

 Using such terminology when talking about Websites or Intranets adds to the ever increasing confusion around "Online". A digital strategy is really more about IT than the "Content" or how you might meet your audience. It implies the use of technology and does not focus on the all important information. It encompasses the network your company uses, the equipment it runs on aswell as Intranets or websites. Companies have a heavy tendency to worry about the technology first rather than what they are delivering to their audience. Needless to say, this article isn't going to stop thousands of people using this terminology.

The point i am making is that anything published online, whether it be websites, blogs or social media, is called a "Web Strategy". If you can bring yourself to remember this, it helps. A web strategy indicates that it is more about your viewers or audience online, the content and how you implement those things they care about than what types systems, software or equipment you use to do it. There are a variety of technologies today that can do similar things so technology is hardly the place to start nor indicate as being the 'lead' in a discussion about a web strategy.

A good web strategy looks at:

1. The processes your company uses to provide what your viewers care about most
2. How you manage this
3. The resource you allocate to it
4. What software system you may use to manage this

Using the basic steps above, start with the most important and significant tool (a website is a tool) you have online for your audience. Then use this as your benchmark for other sites you may have. Link these back into the same Content Management System so that all online tools are easily managed from one system and by the same team. This will provide consistency with your content and how its managed.

A Web strategy is about understanding and communicating with your audience online. How you do this should be driven by what your customers care most about. If you do not start with this in mind, you will end up where alot of companies are now online - lost, out of pocket and out of date.www.cobussen.co.nz