The world is fastly becoming digitalized, and familiarizing yourself with the fundamentals of a digital strategy will help you in your business. With more than 80% of internet users using smartphones or some form of tech, having a digitalization plan for your business will keep you updated with the latest trends. It will also give you access to a plethora of digital channels to do business on. 

However, without a plan to build on, your digitization efforts can crumble. That is why we created this digitalization guide to help you effectively digitize your business.

This article is the only guide you will need to develop your digital strategy. No matter the industry you are in, you can consider this article a cheat sheet to form the foundation of your digitalization strategy. But first, what exactly is a digital strategy?

What is a digitalization strategy?

A digital strategy is unlike a traditional business strategy that focuses on a long term plan and budget. This is because technology is an ever-evolving field, so creating a business strategy that spans over three years is unrealistic. 

So, a digitalization strategy focuses less on a time frame and more on:

• Creating policies
• Prioritizing goals
• Entrusting roles to people who can make the right digitized decisions.

The scope of a digital strategy

A digital strategy is not a one size fits all plan. There are various technology sectors and your strategy should take all of them into consideration. Here are a few scopes your digital strategy should cover:

• Email: Your strategy should take everything email marketing into consideration. This includes email newsletters, trigger-based emails, etc. It should create roles for email correspondence and assign people to these roles. Lastly, it should identify the steps for growing your mailing list and ensuring data protection and privacy for your consumers.

• Social media: There are many social media platforms, but chances are your business doesn’t have to be on all of them. In this sector, your plan should:
• Identify the social media platforms relevant to your business.
• Outline your social media strategy
• Create roles for social media management and assign individuals to the roles. 
• Outline how you intend to handle a negative encounter on your social media channels.

• Digital marketing: Digital marketing is a significant sector of your digital strategy. Take into account your search engine optimization (SEO), PPC, affiliate schemes, paid and sponsored ads, etc. 

• Website: In this sector, your plan should identify:

1. Your key website features.
2. How content is curated and created for your website.
3. The specific roles for website management and assign relevant personnel to said roles.

These are just a few areas your digital strategy should cover. In each area, your strategy should;

• Pinpoint the benefits of using any of these technologies in your business
• Access the current performance of the chosen technologies.
• Have a place for technology recommendation as tech evolves.

A step-by-step guide to writing your digitalization strategy

1) Identify your ‘Why?’

The first step in creating your digital strategy is to identify why your organization exists in the first place. This will help you write a spot-on brand story with a strong message.

2) Define your goals

Next, using the SMART method (Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound) define your digital strategy’s goals. 

3) Create your buyer persona

Knowing your customers, their likes and dislikes is a surefire way to sell your products/services effectively. Creating a buyer persona helps you learn more about your intended consumers and how best to sell to them. Here are the steps in creating your buyer persona:

• Use surveys and interviews to carry out market research.
• Then, use the data you get from your market research to build your buyer persona. 
• Give the persona you create a name. This humanizes them.
• Add their goals based on your product/service offerings. 
• Include challenges they might want to overcome by patronizing your brand.
• Add hobbies, interests, and priorities to the persona. 

4) Map out your consumers’ journey

Mapping out your consumers’ journey will help you better understand how they interact with your business. Here are a few questions you should be asking:

• On what platforms do our consumers encounter our business online?
• What contact points are relevant when a consumer is deciding to go with our brand?
• What factors deter consumers from using our brands to fulfil their needs?

5) Identify important channels

This next step references back to the scope we mentioned earlier. You only need to be on the digital platforms relevant to your brand. Therefore, do your research and find out where your target market is. Then, make sure your strategy focuses on those channels. 

6) Create your content strategy & content calendar

Creating your content strategy is a significant step in your digitalization strategy. Content is king, and by creating a plan to engage and convert your potential consumers on the critical channels identified in step five, you are ensuring you get your desired results.

A few tips in creating your content strategy:

• Take important dates into account, and identify how they could be tied in with engaging content.
• Create a list of potential content ideas your consumers could be interested in.
• Section your ideas into a content calendar. This will ensure you adhere to your content creation schedule. 
• Ensure you include benchmarks, employees in charge of creating and publishing your content in your calendar. 

7) Create plans for your available resources

Next, create a detailed plan on how you intend to use your available resources in your digitalization strategy. Resources like time, money, human resources, and others are crucial to the success of your plan. Creating a detailed plan on how you intend to use said resources would infuse clarity in your plan. 

8) Measure

Finally, you need to use the data you will get once you execute your digitalization strategy to measure. Go through your goals and measure how well you achieved them. Then, recycle this data to create an even more effective strategy for your brand. 

In conclusion

This guide is a step by step process, so following it as such will ensure you are on track to creating an effective digitized strategy for your brand. Remember, a plan is essential for any success. Creating a digitalization plan will ensure your business sees positive results. 

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About the Author

This article was written by Ana Mayer, a project manager with 3+ years of experience. While projects can do without her participation (which means almost never), she likes to read and create expert academic materials for the Online Writers Rating, Best Writers Online review website. Such work gives her the opportunity to write articles on the most relevant topics of today.