2. Digital Strategist’s Mental Toolkit:
What is digital strategy?_
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3. Key points_
What this section will cover:
• Definition
• Process
• The brief
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4. Definition: Digital strategy_
A plan that:
a) outlines the unique role that digital takes in a client
solution and that guides the subsequent allocation of
digital channels to take full advantage of their strengths
and,
b) establishes proactive situation awareness to evolve and
develop strategic actions one step ahead of the client.
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5. Situation awareness_
Situation awareness is the perception of environmental
elements with respect to time and/or space, the
comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their
status after some variable has changed, such as time
Source: Wikipedia
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6. Digital strategy process_
Business Consumer Data Knowledge Hypothesis
Problem Formulation Planning Measurement
Discovery Discovery Discovery Network Generation
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7. 1. Problem formulation_
1. Determine objectives/requirements
• Brief from client – written and verbal. Discussion to
clarify if required.
• If no brief, problem statement session required
2. Isolate problem and challenge
• Analyse brief in context of understanding of clients
business
• Determine if they are asking the right questions
• Clearly define the problem to solve
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8. 1. Problem formulation (con’t)_
3. Determine approach
• Choose the best approach to develop an answer to
the problem
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9. 2. Business discovery_
1. Complete business immersion
• Deep dive into the resources and activities required
for the client to do business
2. Complete brand immersion
• Deep dive into the brand architecture
3. Conduct market analysis/intelligence
• Analysis of the market the client is active in
4. Conduct competitive scan
• Audit of client business and market activity
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10. 2. Business discovery (con’t)_
5. Create touchpoint map
• Mapping all active touchpoints from the clients
perspective
6. Consolidate primary and secondary research
• Gather any additional research
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11. 3. Consumer discovery_
1. Segmentation review
• Review all segmentation efforts and key targets
2. Primary research
• Review and analyze all consumer research done by
the client
3. Secondary research
• Pull together additional secondary research on the
target
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12. 3. Consumer discovery_
4. Social listening
• Establish a social listening tool to pull current
conversations and sentiment
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13. 4. Data discovery_
1. Internal and external analytics
• Review all internal and external KPIs, program post-
mortems, and business cases
• Understand success criteria
• Review reporting requirements and protocol
2. Data landscape
• Audit all consumer/customer databases for access
and fidelity
• Document all data collection sources
• Determine role and scope of partners if they exist
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14. 5. Knowledge network_
1. Gather salient trends and insights
• Work with partners to collect additional inputs
2. Collaboration
• Work with partners to ideate and generate
hypotheses
3. Co-creation
• Work with partners on prototypes and proof-of-
concept
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15. 6. Hypothesis generation_
1. Ideation
• Use Ideation Toolkit to develop possible solutions to
problem statement
2. Prototypes
• Model possible options through prototypes
• Prototype fidelity determined by experience
complexity
3. Triage
• Cut solutions to top few and work with client to distill
to the one solution to go forward with
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16. 7. Planning_
1. Ideation
• Generate a list of possible tactics to bring the
hypothesis to life
• Define the Role of Digital – a central idea that
summarizes the hypothesis
2. Develop plan
• Define full touchpoint ecosystem with roles and
lifecycles
3. Craft brief
• Develop brief for creative and dev team
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17. 8. Measurement_
1. Measurement plan
• Outline the full list of metrics to be tracked
• Create a baseline for comparison
• Develop a scorecard and dashboard as required
2. Tagging and tracking
• Work with dev team and partners to ensure accurate
and comprehensive tagging
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18. 8. Measurement_
3. Reporting
• Report as frequently as required – surface and deep
dives as necessary
• Create post-mortems with insights for future
programs
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19. Deliverables_
• Digital strategy
– Summary of research
– Role
– Touchpoint map
– Roadmap
• The brief
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20. The brief_
A simpler brief is better to get the ball rolling. Influence the
direction once things are in motion – no drive-by brief.
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21. The brief_
Key sections of a brief:
• The brand
• The product
• The challenge to solve
• The objectives
• The target
• The insight
• The role
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22. The brief_
1. The brand:
A clear statement of the brand positioning and tone
– Include attributes
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23. The brief_
2. The product:
A list of product claims that differentiate it in the market
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24. The brief_
3. The challenge to solve:
A clear problem statement that outlines the issue and the
assignment
– Includes the desired response/change in consumer behaviour
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25. The brief_
4. The objectives:
A list of goals that will allows us to know we have solved the
challenge
– Be as specific as possible
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26. The brief_
5. The target:
A simple description of who we are trying to influence or
connect with
– Use personas and segmentation with discretion
– Include relevant digital behaviours
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27. The brief_
6. The insight:
The unique or meaningful tension between the target and the
product that informs the role
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28. The brief_
7. The role:
A short phrase that describes how the solution will generate the
required change in state for the target
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