20 Top Tips for Digital Marketers
UNDER COSTRUCTION, PLEASE SEE THIS POST IN RESERVE COPY
Introduction
In 2008, Unilever asked experts from OgilvyOne London to compile their thoughts on what makes a good digital client for an internal marketing academy.
The challenge was to inspire marketers who have only worked with 'traditional' or 'offline' marcomms agencies, to show them the differences and similarities within the management they were already doing.
These 20 tips were the result. We think everyone, clientside or agency, will find them useful.
Top Tips
1. Digital is much more than a website. From mobiles to PDA devices to interactive television to ambient media, rich digital experiences can now be delivered to people whether or not they're in front of their computers.
2. It is difficult to know everything about digital. And unnecessary. Be collaborative, inquisitive and clear about what you expect. Treat your digital agencies as partners in the process. They will help you explore and understand the best technology and use. It is your prerogative, therefore, to challenge agencies on their digital capabilities. Ensure their passion, insights and experiences are deep and proven.
3. All digital channels aren't effective in all markets. The web isn't always the strongest channel. We need to understand how often our target audiences engage with different channels.
4. Technologies are constantly evolving and maturing, and the digital landscape changes from day to day. Allow time for your agencies and digital partners to research and plan the best approach to technology, to understand the requirements and potential risks, and to make recommendations that help solve your business problems.
5. Brief agencies on your business, brand, challenges and aspirations rather than on the "execution." Instead of telling an agency you need a microsite, email campaign or viral ad, tell them what the business problem is and search for the best execution strategy together – the most effective execution maybe something neither of you had thought about before the project.
6. Measure everything that you do in digital media. Identify at the start of a project what data you're capturing and how Know when you can and can't expect benchmarks for digital media. Websites and rich media ads are more likely to have mature, reliable benchmarks than are emerging media, like virtual worlds and social network pages.
7. Data is king, but reporting is not the same as good analysis. Work with a digital partner that understands how the digital experience (campaign, website or interaction) can evolve over time. And use the learning. Think of your project as being in "permanent beta" and, therefore, able to adapt and improve to customer usage and satisfaction as it lives.
8. The customer should always be at the centre of the experience. The customer's journey and interaction with the brand – whether a target, prospective or lapsed – should be the ultimate criteria for the digital experience.
9. Focusing your digital marketing efforts on – and optimising against – a single business/marketing success metric will do far more to the bottom line that trying to optimise against more than one. Don't make your digital strategy a laundry list of jobs to do.
10. Don't think about digital in isolation. Think about all of your channels (TV, print, POS, events, digital, etc.) together and how the customer journeys from one to the other. You can then plan a unique role of digital (how it does something that no other channel can do) and the complimentary role of digital (how it strengthens or builds from activity in other channels.)
11. You need to drive integration between the agencies. All agencies will promise integration, but clients make it happen – it's increasingly technology and data-driven, and not that difficult to execute well. Active collaboration with existing and new business partners (I mean real, open, I-know-I-don't-know-it-all collaboration) pays far greater dividends.
12. Include your digital agencies at the very start of the process. And demand that they participate in marketing and brand strategy discussions and not just digital executions.
13. Digital is more than a communications channel. It creates experiences that build strong and lasting bonds with your customers, whether as a service, distribution channel or on-going engagement. It is a channel for delivering brand experiences as well as brand communications.
14. Identifying how your brand behaves in digital media is as important as how it looks and its tone of voice. This should be part of your digital strategy and be consistent across the customer journey (with any digital touchpoint, device or interaction).
15. Great digital experiences bring together exciting brand expression and high usability. You shouldn't sacrifice one for any of the others. If the digital experience looks great, but is difficult (or even impossible) to use, it will fail.
16. Effectiveness and beautiful execution are not mutually exclusive. Value both the creativity and the usability of the digital experience.
17. Innovation means not only using "new" technologies but also using proven technologies in new ways. New technologies can be a risk if customers aren't ready or able to change their digital behaviour. Innovation shouldn't only be a result of technology; it should be the approach to it. Search for innovative ways of working, getting to know your customers, working with your agencies and executing your digital strategy.
18. Customers now share control of your brand experience in digital. They can create content with, about and around your campaigns, communications and experiences. They post commentary, satirise and slam the brand. True, not everyone online does, but the ones who do are increasingly influential to your customers. Build relationships with these digital influencers; share the development of the brand with them; and be constantly vigilant about what is said, created and debated. Your digital agencies can help keep track of your brand in community sites, blogs, on YouTube, Flickr and other user-generated and shared media.
19. You need to play with digital media to know how to plan digital strategy, whether it's playing games on a handheld, downloading a file to your mobile via Bluetooth or interacting with digital billboards. You won't know the joys and pains of the media unless you use them. Get your agency to show you how things work.
20. Be excited by the possibilities. Digital is constantly transforming how people interact with your brand, and the benefits to you as a marketer are infinite.