Digital transformation is organisational transformation. It’s hard. It’s super-complicated. It involves so many layers of a member organisation that it sometimes feels like it will never move forward. But get it right and the possibilities are endless when it comes to deepening the relationships you have with your key audiences.
This isn’t just about getting the right data and the right systems to talk to each other. This is about making sure you have the content available to unlock the value that comes with knowing more about your audiences and doing more with that knowledge to enhance that all-important member experience.
So, if you’re staring at a digital transformation project wondering how to make it work for your strategic communications priorities, here are the questions you may want to ask.
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Why does your organisation exist and what can it do better than any other body on the planet?
Be honest. Be bold. Own your space and never deviate. Let your purpose guide you.
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Who needs to engage with you so you can achieve your strategic objectives?
Don’t just write down key audiences. Think about the value you place on each of the audiences you list. Rank them. With which people does the sustainable future of the organisation lie? You can’t talk to everyone in a meaningful way, so the trick is to not even try. Put a laser focus on the people who matter and dial down everything else.
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Why should those priority audiences listen to you?
The race for attention is higher than ever, so having a point of difference and sticking to it is essential. Think back to your ‘why’ from question one and then think about the messages only you can deliver; the unique stories and perspectives only you can tell.
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How much do you know about your audiences?
Why do they join? Why do they leave? What do they need from you that they can’t get anywhere else? Where do they look online for professional learning? What social channels do they want to see you on, and where would they rather just look at cats and dogs dancing? Great digital content starts with knowing what you need to say, when you need to say it and where you need to put it.
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How does your existing content marketing programme support your purpose and priority audiences?
Are you trying to segment audiences online to create targeted comms, but your creative teams are still focusing on publishing a high-frequency printed title? Are you spending too much energy on one segment of your audience or delivering ‘one size fits no one’ comms while you wait for your systems to match up with your ambitions? What does the data say to support your decision making?
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What can you stop doing right now?
From legacy events to outdated email programmes, interrogate your ‘business as usual’ activity to free up space to do more of what resonates. With limited resources and budgets, the answer is never to just add more and dilute efforts even further. Be selective and don’t be afraid to be confident in your convictions if there is a business case for doing so.
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What are the big themes and issues you need to cover and champion over the next 12 months?
Agree them as an organisation and put them in a poster so that they’re front of mind at all times. Think less about content and more about campaigns. How can you be an agent for change? How can you make your online contributions scream for attention? Can you release some proprietary insight on a subject that gets you noticed – and makes your members feel proud? Create a content strategy, then a content plan (with enough agility baked in so you can respond to topical events), and get moving.
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What can you automate?
With intelligent welcome and renewal email series personalised to preferences, for example, there are lots of ways to make being relevant a lot easier.
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How can you make your content more interactive?
Think polls, surveys, community forum discussion threads, mini email courses, self-assessment tools that lead to content that gamifies the learning experience. Make engaging with you fun and people will do more of it.
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How can you be more discoverable?
Having a specific social strategy for each social channel and putting paid spend behind the content that counts will ensure your voice is heard through the online chatter.
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How can you structure your teams in such a way that makes success possible?
Whether in house, outsourced or a combination of the two, the key to getting results online is integrated working and joined-up thinking, with a shared vision and set of KPIs.
Stand out or prepare to be forgotten!
As part of our consultancy work, we help organisations answer these questions and more, every single day. If you’d like to find out more about Think’s consultancy services and how we can help your organisation on their digital transformation journey, get in touch with our New Business team to arrange an exploratory call.
