What Is Digital Strategy? A Roadmap to Expanding Your Virtual Footprint

Have you been querying the phrase “What is digital strategy?” with little success? Does your business need to revitalize its marketing initiatives with fresh ideas and a cohesive game plan? Looking for a way to break free from that seemingly inescapable marketing rut that has been hindering your ability to grow?

If so, then you are most definitely in the right place. Below, the experts at Insights ABM definitively answer the question, “What is digital strategy?” Our pros also explore the various components of digital strategy and highlight the advantages of crafting your own plan.

So What Is Digital Strategy Anyway?

In the last few years, the phrase “What is digital strategy?” has become an extremely popular search term on Google. The most notable uptick in digital strategy queries occurred in late 2020. 

This demand for information comes as no surprise, as ongoing pandemic-related upheaval forced businesses across all industries to reevaluate their digital marketing practices.

The term “digital strategy” refers to a company’s broad plan for leveraging digital resources to achieve organizational goals. While digital strategies should address a wide range of issues, the term has become synonymous with digital marketing as of late. However, these two closely related terms are not one and the same.

Digital marketing refers to the act of building your brand, connecting with customers, and nurturing leads through the use of online advertising tactics. Conversely, your digital strategy is a roadmap that guides these efforts and governs other organizational practices pertaining to the deployment of resources.

What Is Digital Strategy Designed to Address?

Your digital strategy should address virtually every aspect of using digital resources. As you will see in the upcoming section, the term “digital strategy” will mean different things to each of your various teams. Most professionals view their employer’s digital strategy through the lens of their responsibilities.

For instance, marketing specialists may look to the digital strategy to determine what channels they should use to advertise, whereas your accounting department will rely on your plan to clarify budgetary issues related to advertising.

A cohesive digital strategy ensures that everyone across your company is on the same page. Instead of creating a separate digital asset management strategy for each department, all team members can turn to the same resource for guidance when making important decisions. 

This centralization increases organizational transparency and facilitates better collaboration between sales, marketing, finance, and stakeholders.

What Is Digital Strategy in Action?

A digital strategy is an integral component of a company’s digital transformation efforts. The term “digital transformation” refers to the process of implementing software and other technologies in order to optimize existing business processes or create new, more efficient ones. 

Regardless of industry, businesses are actively investing in their digital transformation so that they can forge better connections with their target audience and deliver a higher quality service experience.

The majority (70%) of companies already have a digital strategy in place. Additionally, 39% of top-performing businesses have fully integrated their digital strategy into their business processes. These statistics demonstrate a strong correlation between a company’s ability to compete and the presence of a digital strategy.

As consumers continually turn to digital mediums to connect with the brands they support, it will become even more essential for companies to implement a sound digital strategy.

What Is Digital Strategy? Why It Is Greater than the Sum of Its Parts

Creating an impactful digital strategy is no easy task. Your digital strategy must address a multitude of issues in order to guide decision-making and pave the way for successful digital marketing campaigns. 

A great digital strategy will create synergy between your various teams and help all of your staff reach their true potential as they work together for the good of the company.

What Is Digital Strategy? Your Gameplan

The primary purpose of a digital strategy is to serve as your game plan for deploying and investing in digital assets. Your digital strategy should identify your target audience, divide these consumers into specific segments based on their unique attributes, outline what channels you will use for marketing, and much more.

Whether performing at the professional or collegiate level, athletic teams wouldn’t dream of taking to the field of play without having a fully implemented game plan in place. Going head-to-head against a skilled opponent without a plan would be downright disastrous.

If world-class athletes need a strategy to succeed, then so does your business. A digital strategy can be a true difference-maker as you strive to stand out from your competitors. With the right strategy in place, you can effectively woo your target audience and fuel growth.

What Is Digital Strategy? A Growth Toolkit

Speaking of growth, your digital strategy should serve as a toolkit for fueling profitability, acquiring new clients, and building your brand. The best digital strategies simultaneously address both short-term issues and long-term concerns to set your company up for sustained success within your industry.

If you have been struggling to break past growth barriers, then it may be due to deficiencies in your current digital strategy, assuming you have a plan in place at all. The secret to remedying your growth woes is to create a comprehensive digital strategy, put your plan into action, and refine your tactics as necessary.

What Is Digital Strategy? The Roadmap to Mobilizing Your Audience

A vital component of your digital strategy is developing “buyer personas.” Each buyer persona should highlight certain attributes, needs, and pain points of various audience segments within your target consumer base. These personas will help your marketing team create meaningful content that resonates with your ideal customers.

By providing a window into the mind of consumers, your digital strategy can serve as your roadmap to raising brand awareness, nurturing leads, and producing measurable results.

Not sure where to begin when it comes to building a digital strategy? We recommend going back to basics. Answer common questions like “How does my product fill a need in the lives of consumers?” or “What differentiates my service or product from those being offered by my competitors?”

From there, you can identify what demographics would benefit most from your products and then zero in on specific traits of these audience segments. Once you do that, you will be well on your way to creating a comprehensive digital strategy.

What Is Digital Strategy? A Necessity for Modern Businesses

Digital strategies have become a necessity for modern businesses. Even if your company still serves clients from a brick-and-mortar location, you must have a strong online presence. 

The majority of your clients will become aware of your brand by conducting a Google search or performing a query about the services you provide on their go-to review platform. If your company is tough to find, then the majority of potential consumers will never even know that you exist.

What Is Digital Strategy? The Blueprint to Increase Competitiveness

Like most business leaders, you are probably always on the lookout for ways to become more competitive within your industry. While there are many ways to gain an edge over similar companies, one of the most effective methods is to create a great digital strategy.

Your digital strategy will guide all virtual outreach and marketing efforts. In turn, this will help you maximize the efficiency of these efforts, thereby allowing you to become more visible to potential customers. 

If consumers can find your brand faster and more easily than the competition, then you will have more opportunities to convert them into paying customers.

What Is Digital Strategy? A List of Channels and Resources

One of the most important functions of a digital strategy is that it outlines what channels and mediums your company will use to market its products or services. Common examples of channels you may use include email, social media platforms, paid search, and your own website.

Your digital strategy should not only list the resources and channels that you intend to use, but it should also address topics like the tone of brand messaging. 

By providing clarity on brand messaging, tone, and other issues, your digital strategy will allow your marketing team to create consistent content across all channels. Continuity of voice and content quality is particularly important as you must exhibit consistency on all marketing mediums.

What Is Digital Strategy? Different Things to Different Team Members

When crafting a digital strategy, you should consider which employees will need to leverage this resource in order to better understand their roles and responsibilities. You must identify which departments will have a hand in your marketing and brand-building efforts.

In addition to your in-house marketing team, your sales, IT, and financial staff will also be involved in the management of your digital assets. As such, your digital strategy should provide guidance to these individuals as well. 

For instance, your digital strategy should outline how you plan to divide your advertising resources across the various marketing channels that you are using. Additionally, your strategy should address compliance and cybersecurity concerns as they pertain to digital marketing.

What Is Digital Strategy? The Benefits

In order to overcome the challenges associated with creating a digital strategy, many businesses partner with a digital strategy agency. 

Such an agency can provide your business with a custom digital strategy that will help you more effectively leverage online assets. A digital strategy will also provide countless other benefits, including those outlined below:

What Is Digital Strategy? The End of Missed Opportunities

For many businesses, a comprehensive digital strategy signifies the end of missed opportunities. The digital strategy remedies glaring pitfalls in current marketing tactics in order to generate more leads and improve conversion rates.

What Is Digital Strategy? A Method to Improve Cybersecurity

That’s right; your digital strategy should also help you improve your cybersecurity practices. 

A key part of digital marketing is gathering consumer data so that you can effectively target customers with tailored sales content. While this data can be invaluable to your marketing efforts, you are responsible for keeping it from falling into the wrong hands.

Over the last decade, over 300 businesses have been victims of data breaches that exposed more than 100,000 records. In that same time span, there have been countless other data breaches that have exposed millions of pieces of customer data cumulatively.

A portion of your digital strategy should outline how long you will retain customer data, where it will be stored, and how you plan to protect it. Taking a proactive approach to cybersecurity can protect your company from civil liability and preserve your reputation with your consumers.

What Is Digital Strategy? The Key to Stronger Consumer Interactions

By systematically identifying your target audience, zeroing in on their needs, and providing them with tailored marketing content, you can interact with them in a more meaningful way. A digital strategy makes all of this possible by providing your team with a winning plan of attack.

Over time, a digital strategy will help you foster feelings of trust toward your brand. Building a greater level of trust will increase customer loyalty and boost the average lifetime value of your clients. Talk about a win-win scenario.

What Is Digital Strategy? The Mechanism for Meeting Clients Where They Are

According to Statista, over 2.14 billion consumers purchased services or goods online in 2021 alone. Whether consumers turn to eCommerce sites for better pricing or convenience, one thing has become very clear; modern customers love shopping online. So what does any of that have to do with digital strategy?

Simple — a digital strategy will help you connect with potential customers where they are most active on the internet. 

With that being said, each target audience may have a preferred medium for interacting with brands they support. Many consumers flock to Facebook or Instagram, whereas others may primarily look for peer review platforms to connect with businesses.

In light of this, your digital strategy must identify which channels are most popular among your core demographics. This understanding will allow you to focus the lion’s share of your outreach efforts on these mediums, which will result in a better return on investment.

What Is Digital Strategy? The Ability to Differentiate

If you have been seeking a way to stand out in the crowded modern marketplace, adopting an expertly-crafted digital strategy is an excellent place to start. The right strategy will provide you and your team with much-needed guidance as you seek to make the most out of your digital resources.

What Is Digital Strategy? The Opportunity to Produce Measurable Results

Your digital strategy will outline key performance indicators (KPIs) that are most relevant to your business. By tracking these metrics, you can identify trends and modify your marketing tactics to maximize ROI. You can also leverage this data to determine which content resonates with consumers and which ads fall short of expectations.

What Is Digital Strategy? The Source of Harmonization

If your sales and marketing teams are not on the same page, then they will not be able to collaborate effectively. 

A great digital strategy eliminates this productivity barrier by providing both groups with a uniform set of guidelines for leveraging virtual resources. Implementing a digital strategy will also facilitate better collaboration between your financial department and organizational leaders.  

What Is Digital Strategy? It’s How You Can Modernize Your Approach to Virtual Marketing

Now you can stop pondering the question “What is digital strategy?” and start working to create your own digital marketing game plan. Still not sure where to begin? Don’t worry; that’s where we come in.

In addition to helping you better understand “What is digital strategy?” the dedicated marketing pros at Insights ABM have the skills and expertise necessary to make your business stand out. 

We offer a full suite of solutions, including digital strategy development, and we can provide you with a digital strategy that is tailored to address the unique challenges and pain points of your company.

If you are ready to work with the leading digital marketing team in Dallas, schedule your free consultation with Insights ABM today.