LOOKING OUT FOR THE DIGITAL GAPS

Maximising value from every asset and sales tool you have should be a constant mantra for every management of every enterprise, no matter what the prevailing economic conditions are. In a fast-moving technological environment, however, it is not always possible to spot opportunities.

In recent years, sales, marketing and communications have moved online. We are all now proud of our digital status and able to point out the benefits we have generated. Could there be gaps in our thinking?

Of course there are. A simple question you might like to pass on to your team. Is our organisation ready for the impact of mobile Twitter and YouTube on our crisis response?

Responsibility for spotting such gaps does not only sit in the hands of your digital marketing department. Some opportunities can only be seen from a boardroom vantage point.

Here is another simple example – one that we are confident is yet another gap in your online strategy.

Many companies now have affiliate advertising programmes. Web publishers run your ads in return for a commission on the product and ancillary sales they produce. As long as your company produces the right kind of banners and the publisher generates traffic to the site these appear on, it‘s a comfortable relationship with low risk and effort. And a missed opportunity.

Web publishers need content for their sites, in order to sustain their audience. But, within many commercial organisations, web and editorial content often sits in different hands to the marketer running affiliate programmes. Your PR/communications person isn‘t thinking about other people‘s web sites; your affiliate person isn‘t thinking about the news and feature material that your company is generating.

A look from above (or from outside the company) would quickly ensure that publishers get the flow of pictures and words they need to drive traffic to your banner ads. Why not forward a link to this article to both people?

This is just a simple, easily fixed example of how, even in today‘s apparently joined-up world, organisational structures miss opportunities to maximise value. There are many more. It is easy to be fooled into thinking that your digital marketing and communications is “taken care of.”

Perhaps the most urgent area where companies need to see the gaps is in our first example: crisis and issues management. Digital communications moves on almost daily and can expose cracks in all the best-laid plans. It requires constant attention from senior people, who are not themselves IT experts.

Your digital future is part of the Chief Executive role. Gaps in this are as much the CEO‘s responsibility as any other part of the business.