It’s our mission to help organizations make the most of today’s digital environment and tomorrow’s opportunities. As our client base grows, so too does our squad of ZN digital experts of account managers, designers, web programmers, SEO specialists and editors who strive to deliver digital impact.

We measure our success with that of our partners on the client side. Success comes from a precise and active understanding of our online activities. Based on our experience let me share with you some tips on how to put a solid digital strategy together.

1) Online research: It’s vital to understand the online environment before getting started. Find out what people are saying within your field, where they are saying it, how they communicate and equally important, what isn’t being said.

2) Develop a digital strategy inline with your business strategy: digital communications need to be an integral part of your organization’s marketing and communications efforts. Break down the silos and involve all internal stakeholders to build an effective strategy.

3) Web as hub: Before considering Twitter and Google+ accounts, focus on building a robustcentre online to host but also to spread your story line transmedia. You probably have one already, it’s your website. Ensure it is designed to be search engine friendly. Make sure the content is updated regularly with information that people are looking for and offer incentives for your visitors to subscribe to updates via email.

4) Develop a communication platform: identify the umbrella message that will leverage the full power of your brand and its storyline, design great creative concepts and campaigns to deliver it transmedia still thinking of your site as the hub of communication.

5) Build an editorial strategy: A site with fresh content? If only you could. It’s a tough one we know, but having a six month old press release saying “We have a new website” isn’t going to bring in the crowds. It takes planning and collaboration with your colleagues, but the return on investment will be worth the effort. Build an editorial plan with colleagues and publish stories to your online hub that reflects the business strategy. Moreover use the right language so your audience can find your content via search engines. Then consider distributing further through specific social platforms and networks.

6) Develop an outreach strategy: create visibility for the communication assets you have created, make sure you connect with your audience where it is, put your message on their map, create awareness and convert the call to action you have defined whether it is off-line or through digital channels such as newsletters, social media, advertising campaigns or search engine marketing.

7) Monitoring your progress: it may seem unfair that the internet non-believers want constant proof that your social communications is having an impact compared to their old brochures sitting in the cupboard. But it’s never been easier to track your progress and understand your visitors than with today’s online monitoring tools, like Google Analytics. Based on your organization’s all up strategy, you can develop key performance indicators (KPIs) that monitor your activity and the results. If one aspect of your messaging isn’t getting the right visibility, consider giving it a better position online or link it to content that does.

You’ll find more on our ZN insights magazine that will focus on making these 7 steps more concrete for you, your business and your communication objectives. Stay tuned.

Any questions on this just ask.