In this day and age, few would dispute the fact that a business should not only be on the Internet but should also exploit its potential for communication and marketing purposes. Indeed, websites and social media, for example, can be used to tell the whole world about your business and the goods and services that you offer. Your website is your online brochure/catalogue/office/showroom/shop (delete as appropriate), and social media presence are the virtual gathering places where people meet to discuss and share things.

However, having a website and/or a social media presence is only the beginning. Here are the key questions that you should be asking yourself.

  1. What are my objectives? Most companies choose to use the Internet to create brand awareness, but the  cyberspace is also used for building relationships and to sell online via an e-commerce shop.
  2. What are the competencies/skills needed to successfully implement my Internet strategy? Generally speaking, you will need a mix of competencies and skills in 3 different fields: communication, marketing and technology.
  3. How “good” is my website? The development of a website that meets all the relevant criteria requires communication, design, marketing and technological competencies. Search-engine optimisation is the name of the game for many, security is of paramount importance, as are speed and user-experience.
  4. How am I on social media? Same as for item 3 above, do people visit and interact with your social media accounts?
  5. Do I need a mobile app? Surprisingly enough, some companies think they need a mobile app when they don’t really, and vice versa.
  6. Am I doing what is needed to attract people to my website or social? You need to ensure that you attract people to your points of presence on the Internet. What is the point of having the nicest looking website or the most user-friendly app if no one uses it?
  7. Do I have a content marketing strategy? Am I creating relevant contents? Content is KING, so wrote Bill Gates way back in 1996 in an essay published on the Microsoft website, and in which he also states: No company is too small to participate.
  8. Do I need to do digital marketing? Is my marketing plan bearing fruits? One of the commonest oversights of agencies is the fact that the results of digital campaigns can be expressed in simple-to-measure indicators: cost per view, cost per thousand prints, cost per click, or cost per conversion. (See item 10 below)
  9. Am I devoting the time needed to make my Internet strategy a success? Is my digital team up to the task? Like all strategies, it takes time to implement a good Internet strategy, and you should not think that once your website is online and you have your Facebook or LinkedIn pages set up, everything is done and you can just sit back and relax.
  10. Do I understand the metrics such as Google Analytics, Facebook Insights… ? One of the biggest advantages digital media has over traditional media is metrics. Or, put simply, we can obtain lots of data online: number of visitors, number of clicks, pages most visited, etc.

Spending all your digital marketing budget without a proper Internet strategy can be a very costly mistake. Contact us if you think we can be of help.