Digital Strategy – What problem are you trying to fix.

An organisation’s digital strategy needs to align to their business strategy. Unfortunately in a lot of organisations digital strategy is forgotten about and the approach tends to be ad hoc at best. It’s important to look at business goals and problems with both a digital and a business head on in order to find the best solutions which deliver maximum business benefit. There is a simple formula to help this. While it is simple in itself, implementing it requires discipline and focus.

• What problem are you trying to fix?
• What are the causes of the problem?
• What are the possible solutions?
• What is the best solution?

What problem are you trying to fix?

Often the problem is not fully understood before solutioneering happens. We are all under pressure, and time is precious, so the first solution that pops into your heads is often the one you go with. When this happens, the results can be unpredictable, inconsistent and often fall short of the original business goal.

For example a sales manager at ABC Company wants more sales leads to launch a new product into the market and he also wants a lower lead acquisition cost than previously achieved. The marketing department run digital campaigns to drive more traffic to the website. They even throw in a competition to encourage people to connect with them. The results are poor and the campaign’s objectives are not met. The first instinct is to blame the digital campaigns, as they are not working.

What are the causes of the problem?

Understanding the causes of the problem will give insight into what they are trying to achieve.

In my example, the client is not getting many sales leads through their website, despite having run several digital campaigns to generate inbound leads. Whilst they are getting some inbound phone leads, they don’t know where they are coming from, and as a result deem that the digital campaigns as not delivering. On investigation, the website is poorly designed, has no clear calls to action and the messaging is confusing. The problem is their messaging, the performance of their website and no useful analytics.

What are the possible solutions?

It’s important to come up with several solutions in order to fully explore the options. In today’s busy world, we often jump at the first solution which sounds like it will work.

To continue the example, the sales manager at ABC Company wants to return to what has always worked in the past, which is employing a telemarketing company to make outbound sales calls to generate leads. While this will produce some results, sales leads will stop as soon as the contract ends.

What should be happening is that several possible solutions should be looked at before making a decision. ABC Company decides to appoint a digital partner to help them formulate some potential solutions.

What is the best solution?

Choosing from a well thought through list of options is far easier than being pressured into making uninformed decisions. While this process may seem longer, it is much quicker than trying things which don’t work and then trying something else.

To conclude our example with ABC Company, the digital partner recommended several options. Each included costs, timings and a measurable ROI.

This decision was informed and relatively painless to make.

In summary.

• Have, or create a good digital strategy which is aligned to your business strategy.
• Follow the four step process for solving problems and achieving objectives.
• Work with a digital partner who can advise on how you can best achieve your business goals.