DIGITAL STRATEGY OFFERINGS

DIGITAL FOOTPRINT ANALYSIS

Digital Footprint Analysis

This is a process of evaluating what is currently online for a brand/business/concept/creative, looking at how well it’s performing online, on social media, the web, digital media, where and how much it’s showing and what’s being said. It’s a measure of how accurately the online presence matches the current real world brand and values. It’s a mix of research, data and opinion.

A digital footprint analysis is the starting point for any good digital strategy, for any website build/rebuild or rebrand of a business. It can also be a standalone process to help inform great strategies, or part of regular business intelligence reporting to inform other strategies.

DFA also forms part of Brand Reputation Management.

DIGITAL STRATEGY

A digital strategy is similar to a business strategy but with a focus on all things digital: website, social channels, email, newsletters, digital media, social engagements etc. A business without a digital strategy is less likely to get ROI on effort and money or have positive impact on business goals. A digital strategy is a custom plan, which aims to help clients make the best use of the resources and skills available to deliver on specific business goals. It can be a high level set of objectives or something more of a detailed plan of action, but the purpose is the same, to guide what and how digital is used to best effect.

Digital strategies tend to have a shortish shelf-life, particularly if a brand/client is in rapid growth or new. A good digital strategy is a great tool for creatives or small businesses where the management is the team and doing everything, so that there can be a greater impact for effort ratio.

Creating a digital strategy can be part of the website development project or an independent process.

If time and resources are in short supply (most creatives) a custom digital strategy might be a better initial spend than a website – giving the creative options to maximise impact and alternate solutions.

DIGITAL CURATION

After a few years, social media, website and other content found online can get messy, out of date or even become inaccurate. Part of the process of building a great digital footprint is curating what’s out there. In the best cases this happens automatically when fresh accurate content pushes old content to the background. Otherwise this ought to be a regular process, akin to spring cleaning, because the quality and consistency of content found in searches impacts positively, while inconsistencies or inaccuracies can do damage.

DIGITAL BRAND REPUTATION MANAGEMENT

Not all the information about you/your brand is owned or accessible by you, but can still impact for good or bad on you/your brand or reputation. Cleaning and/or curating a ‘brand’ reputation online can be a one-off or an ongoing process, via a number of different tactics. Not everyone needs it – but a Digital Footprint Analysis will show if it’s necessary.

DIGITAL CLINIC

DIGITAL CLINIC SESSIONS

It’s like a speed dating phone call; nothing written, totally based on what you tell me, an on-the-fly Digital Analysis, which outlines advice to help you plan your next step digitally. It can include some digging into current business goals or issues and typically helps to consolidate thinking and frame plans for moving forward.

In the case of new businesses or business ideas, it helps to put the idea through some initial digital hoops and in the case of an existing business it will help to better strategise next steps.

I offer a 30min free digital clinic session to East African creatives and to all web clients pre-quote stage.

DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY

DIGITAL MARKETING

The 360 approach to marketing online often puts the website in the centre. For some businesses, building marketing assets into the site can help shortcut some marketing efforts, for others it’s about consolidating the brand which marketing relies on or making sharing the message easier. Now that most marketing efforts are driven by engagement, it’s also about driving that and the story, the feeling which helps bring the marketing effort home.

Digital marketing has taken over for many as the primary means of reaching customers/audiences and can feel significantly more complex than traditional marketing, with different formats and algorithms to navigate. For creatives and smaller businesses, digital marketing agencies, experts and pro marketing tools tend to be too big a leap and cost. There’s a knowledge gap and sometimes it just needs a little more expertise to cut through the noise and find a strategy.

I can offer training for those who prefer to DIY, or produce overarching conceptual plan/s or delve into a specific project with campaign/goals level strategy.

STRATEGY MODEL FOR EMERGING MUSICIANS

While this strategy model goes beyond digital strategy into artist development strategy, it still has some relevance here, because a lot of the steps have a digital front end.

For those who like to DIY, there’s enough information in the model to do that, for those who want help along the way there’s some artist strategy offerings here.

WHY DIGITAL STRATEGY?

Creatives, musicians and others working alone to build on their craft and grow a business around it. Where time spent online, marketing, building a following, selling services is distracting and cuts into serious creative output. Being able to maximize impact for effort is essential. Guidance, knowledge, strategy all help with this.

Whatever size a business is, there needs to be some equilibrium between costs and results. It’s easy to spend a fortune on digital marketing but if that doesn’t deliver on actual business goals, what’s the point. For those on a budget it’s even more pertinent to know that you’re getting the best results for either cost or effort.

Want to get a website and don’t know what platform to use, whether to DIY or go bigger or have a quote and need a second opinion. Then getting some digital advice is a safe low cost way to be sure.

Have a team but no time to manage them. A deeper level strategy would outline objectives and methods and evidence markers, so you don’t need to.

Have a new business idea but no idea how to get it online, what might work, what won’t,how much it would cost. Then there’s also a virtual digital strategy – a what if – with options.

No obligation with any of the strategy projects to purchase other services – they are stand alone. Prices on application.

DIGITAL STRATEGY

There are a million starting places and a million roads to a million different online solutions to a creative career or business success, all of them dripping with technical terminology and a million marketeers telling you their solution is best. For the creative or creative business, this is a million solutions too many. Time spent trying to fathom the right technology or next digital step is time away from creating. A custom digital strategy looks deeply at where you are, what you want to achieve and what resources you have to get there. Carving that one best path for you through the million trees, helps you spend money and time to best advantage. Working from an informed position is empowering.

DIgital Strategy options for musicians here.

Rebecca, Director of Nafasi Art Space

REVIEW

“Jude’s contributions to our digital strategy have had a massive positive impact on visibility and audience engagement — she provides expert analysis that connects dots and produces lasting, measurable results for our arts-based NGO. I can’t recommend her highly enough.”