Friday, August 18, 2017

Top 10 Things About Digital Strategy That You Are Still Missing Out On




By Doyle Buehler
Chief Executive Officer
Senior Smarty Pants

The Digital Delusion






Defining your ‘why’ is actually about defining your digital strategy. Delivering your true value to your audience is the embodiment of your digital strategy.

When push comes to shove, those businesses with a solid digital strategy are better able to weather any storm that comes, and better maximize and leverage the opportunities when they arise as well. Whether it is from economic or political factors or other external or even internal factors, if you are prepared and understand the roadmap that you are on, then it can be easier - not only during troubled times, but also during times that you can take advantage of.

The challenge? Most businesses don’t have an overall strategy, nor even a digital specific one, either. This leads many businesses to the SOS or, “shiny object syndrome” - trying to leverage the newest and flashiest sparkly thing that comes along, only to see it fade away within months of launch. This costs you and your business time, money and resources.

So, what are the Top 10 things about digital strategy that you are probably missing out on?
  1. Develops your ‘why.’ If you don’t understand the ‘why’, do you think your customers will? Probably not. Not so much the “why you are doing this”, but also the “why do you provide value?
  2. Gives you focus. How hard is it to figure out what you need to do every day as it is? What if this was already taken care of for you?
  3. Helps you understand your market. Have you spent the time to actually fully comprehend who your customer is and what they want to become?
  4. Creates improved competitive forces. Yes, you get better, faster and more efficient if you are thinking long-term. What will your competitors think when you surpass them? 
  5. Gives you and your staff and customers something to think about. No, it’s not just about a single sales transaction. If it is, a strategy will not help you.
  6. Prioritizes how to tackle projects. Stuck with what to do, next? Having a strategy will help you clarify what is really important and what forms the essence of your business for projects to undertake.
  7. Creates comparisons for debriefs and reviews. If you have a strategy, you will actually be able to measure your success and failures.
  8. Expands your market. Now you can actually look at new projects, as well as entering new markets, as you can understand what resources are required to be effective.
  9. Improves your customer base. If your customer can understand the strategy or rather interpret it through your themes and values, then they can become a lifelong customer.
  10. Provides direction on what is next. Now you can decide when to launch a new product or improve your existing ones, and all with a better understanding of your customers and overall business value.

Digital is not an overnight success - it's the long game. It starts with planting your roots - your strategy. Only then can things really grow your business, otherwise you will eventually land out chasing your own tail - not being able to decide what to do, when, and more importantly, why.

Take what is best about your business, define your value, and create a compelling digital strategy that provides remarkable value to your perfect audience.

Easy, right? :)

What's your digital leadership quotient? Find out now: www.leadership.digital

Doyle Buehler, MBA, is a best-selling author, global entrepreneur, international speaker and digital business thought leader, specializing in strategic digital branding and marketing. He has mentored, coached, trained and inspired many in the areas of startups, digital leadership, digital innovation, disruption, transformation, online marketing, social media and entrepreneurship. 

Doyle runs a worldwide strategic digital marketing agency for companies who want to create disruption in their industry. At the intersection of innovation and strategic marketing, he is best known for effectively connecting business leaders to their entire digital ecosystem, to help them build a remarkable business online. Doyle is the author of the best-selling book on digital strategy and digital leadership: The Digital Delusion: How To Overcome The Misguidance and Misinformation Online.