You Don’t Need a Snorkel to Go Skydiving

There are a lot of great things that your company can do online. You could have a website with video content and parallax scrolling, an account on every social media channel, eLearning, digital PR, and a mobile app. You could have it all… but do you really need it all? Probably not.

One study by Empirica Research found that social media sharing features on some types of sites (in this case, a skin care product page) reduced conversions! The very idea of social exposure may decrease sales for some types of products.

Not every company needs every web service, but knowing what you do need can be complicated. Maybe you do need the whole package, or maybe you just need a Facebook page. It might seem counterintuitive for a web development company to tell you that you might not need every morsel of the bounty that the web doth provide, but convincing you to buy something you don’t need won’t do us any favors. We don’t take much pride in social media ghost towns or hit-less sites.

We help a lot of our clients figure out what’s best for their company as they explore the digital space, and the starting point is often the same.

It’s All Connected

When you start looking at a digital strategy, the first thing you need to think about is your business. How you represent yourself online should not be a new identity. Your web presence is an extension of a larger business strategy that needs to connect naturally with your offline presence. Don’t get caught up in what your business could be through the reach of the internet. Many companies, great companies, let the potential of the technology overwhelm the voice of their business. Their digital strategy is then watered down at best or suffering a serious identity crisis at worst.

If you’re not sure about your company’s voice and ethos, you’ll need to take a step back and focus on your branding and identity, but for now, let’s assume you’ve already got that under control.

The technology does affect how you can use it (e.g., you can’t use a desktop web strategy for mobile), but your identity needs to be consistent. Use the technology to reinforce who you are. Speak to your audience. If you discover that your business needs to evolve to accommodate an audience of digital natives, then you need to make that part of your identity across the board.

Who you are will guide what you say. Yes, you’ll say it differently on Twitter than you would on a blog, but starting from that core identity will make all of your marketing channels work in concert. That core identity will also help you decide which channels are best for your business goals.

What are your goals as an organization?

You know who you are. Now, it’s time to figure out what you want. You’re going to need to address levels of goals for your digital strategy. Your overall business goal may be to sell more of your product, but if you just try to sell, sell, sell on Twitter, who’s going to want to follow you? Choosing the right platforms makes you a better marketer and also a better citizen of the World Wide Web.

You eventually want to sell something, but to get the most out of a technology, you’ll need to ask yourself a couple of questions:

• What happens on this channel?
• What are people looking for here?

Every business strategist knows that the path from random person to loyal customer is not a straight line. Social media should focus on engagement or support—your fans might want more information about your product or industry. Digital video content should focus on doing something that text can’t accomplish as well, like a personal message from a CEO or a hands-on how-to guide.

It’s true that some web tools are more like Swiss army knives—even if you don’t absolutely need them, they’re never a bad idea—but you shouldn’t use a new tool just because it’s there or you’ll spread your marketing budget too thin and reduce impact across the board. To put your best foot forward, know who you are and what you want, then figure out what different digital media channels are used for. If some of them don’t fit your goals, focus on those that do. If you’re not sure, we’d be happy to help you figure that out.