Buzzwords and jargon make a digital strategist sound like a rocket scientist, although this is not necessarily something one would object to, it is important to put things into perspective and to have clarity in relation to the true strategic value of what the digital world has to offer beyond the fancy terminologies or gadgets. The digital world is a tool box that offers different things to different people:
- From the communication perspective, digital offers a channel that delivers interactions over and above the audio/visual aspects offered by the other channels. Such a characteristic has a tremendous impact on how communication is conducted. Communication agencies are learning the effect of interaction, adapting to it and some are while other will soon fully benefit from these capabilities. This means that when developing a communication strategy, agencies will do so given the new earned capabilities (agencies went through a similar cycle when TV was introduced).
- From the commerce perspective, companies especially retailers will have to do the math and figure out if it is profitable to “sell online”. This is simply an extension of their commercial plan. Digital offers a powerful set of tools that enables a retailer to sell beyond geographical borders, opening and closing times…etc. hence retailers will learn the “new ways of selling” and benefit from such enablers. Therefore it is necessary that such companies adapt to the new situation should it prove to effect competitiveness or be crucial for survival.
- The above mentioned tools have given customers great power; interaction means that customers can interact not only with content, but among themselves, and thanks to mobiles they do that continually and consistently. This means that selling starts after the acquisition of a new customer simply because such a customer has become an important source of information to potential customers. To illustrate this point think of the reviews that restaurants get from customers who visit them and the effect of these reviews on acquiring new customers. Asking someone who tried the product is in fact an ancient practice, but it was limited by time, geography, and close physical connections within people, whereas now a simple review is seen by everyone and anyone and at anytime. This fact changes our view in relation to important marketing notions such as the linearity of the selling cycles, the communication-behavior gap and the importance we give to data. Consequently customer relationship management gains a new meaning whereby as marketers we ought to consider the relational equity of the brand in addition to the behavioral or the monetary equity.
This leads us to define digital strategy as simply a relationship strategy that is applied through digital channels and tools. The model below gives a simplified view of all the perspectives discussed in this paper and how they relate to each other. It is important to note that such a strategy is a function of the brand strategy and translates the brand’s distinctiveness into customer centric activities and functions.
Buzzwords and jargon make a digital strategist sound like a rocket scientist, although this is not necessarily something one would object to, it is important to put things into perspective and to have clarity in relation to the true strategic value of what the digital world has to offer beyond the fancy terminologies or gadgets. The digital world is a tool box that offers different things to different people:
- From the communication perspective, digital offers a channel that delivers interactions over and above the audio/visual aspects offered by the other channels. Such a characteristic has a tremendous impact on how communication is conducted. Communication agencies are learning the effect of interaction, adapting to it and some are while other will soon fully benefit from these capabilities. This means that when developing a communication strategy, agencies will do so given the new earned capabilities (agencies went through a similar cycle when TV was introduced).
- From the commerce perspective, companies especially retailers will have to do the math and figure out if it is profitable to “sell online”. This is simply an extension of their commercial plan. Digital offers a powerful set of tools that enables a retailer to sell beyond geographical borders, opening and closing times…etc. hence retailers will learn the “new ways of selling” and benefit from such enablers. Therefore it is necessary that such companies adapt to the new situation should it prove to effect competitiveness or be crucial for survival.
- The above mentioned tools have given customers great power; interaction means that customers can interact not only with content, but among themselves, and thanks to mobiles they do that continually and consistently. This means that selling starts after the acquisition of a new customer simply because such a customer has become an important source of information to potential customers. To illustrate this point think of the reviews that restaurants get from customers who visit them and the effect of these reviews on acquiring new customers. Asking someone who tried the product is in fact an ancient practice, but it was limited by time, geography, and close physical connections within people, whereas now a simple review is seen by everyone and anyone and at anytime. This fact changes our view in relation to important marketing notions such as the linearity of the selling cycles, the communication-behavior gap and the importance we give to data. Consequently customer relationship management gains a new meaning whereby as marketers we ought to consider the relational equity of the brand in addition to the behavioral or the monetary equity.
This leads us to define digital strategy as simply a relationship strategy that is applied through digital channels and tools. The model below gives a simplified view of all the perspectives discussed in this paper and how they relate to each other. It is important to note that such a strategy is a function of the brand strategy and translates the brand’s distinctiveness into customer centric activities and functions.
