How to Unlock The Digital Door With the Key of Digital Leadership

During our recent Digital Inspiration Square, Sofie Sandell, a digital expert from the UK, shared her learnings and insights on how to become a digital leader in your market (see video below).

The key to digital leadership is creativity

It is about being creative in the way you use the constantly renewing social media and in the way you use all of your other digital touch points to have your audience experience your brand to the fullest.

It includes how to talk an listen to your audience via your website, mobile apps, e-mails, e-commerce channels, online customer care centre, blogs, forums, …

And – just as in classical media – to stand out in the clutter of millions of Facebook pages, Twitter channels, LinkedIn groups, websites, … and to make your brand story touch the minds and hearts of your audience, you need to be more and more creative … in a meaningful way.

Meaningful creativity requires an open mind for new approaches

It all starts with thoroughly knowing and understanding your target audiences.

So your journey towards digital leadership will have to include constant monitoring, listening and learning how your consumers and customers integrate your products in their lives and how you can make a difference for them.

You also have to be open for new approaches and keep track off novelties in the market. In this way you may find new trends and you can set up some relevant actions.

Once you found out some new approaches that suit your brand values, you can test them. Testing new things is a crucial part in the long process of becoming a digital leader. By doing this, you can see whether your action will work or not.

Or as Sofie stated: ‘Test. Test. Test. It’s never flawless to work on digital development. It’s a bit of a bumpy ride!’.

After testing your actions, you have to measure your actions of course. You have to know whether they work or not, whether you reached the right target group or not, etc.

This part of the process helps you to better understand the needs of your digital public and will help you to anticipate more easily on new upcoming trends.

Best practices

• Get the basics right and make your website as user friendly as possible.
• Follow the screens were they are and make your website responsive.
• Share your best practice tips with your customers.
• Be excellent at copywriting and website usability.
• Record testimonials from your customers.
• Deliver what you promise, always.

One other important advise is to make sure all our employees live your brand on all your (social) touch points in the same way, so that you bring forward a coherent story.

Not an easy task, because you have to include virtually everybody that could get in contact with your customers via any of your digital communication channels and touch points.

You will have to make sure that everyone understands what the purpose of being digital is and what you want to achieve as a company.

It should be clear that digital marketing isn’t just ‘applying some techniques’ in order to become a digital leader.

There exist some general action points, but the ultimate strength of it will be in the way you change your total business.

It’s not about adding some ‘digital DNA’ into your business, it’s about turning your business into digital. You have to explore new things and trends and be eager to learn new digital techniques all time. To state this thought, Sofie said:

‘Your biggest fear in digital marketing should be: to be left behind’

Check out the video below to see what Sofie has more to say about digital leadership and creativity and – in the 2nd video – about best practices!

Do you still have a lot of questions about Digital Marketing orDigital Leadership? Contact us and get your personal talk with one of our 4P square digital experts.

https://youtu.be/rOSqi6RADrc
https://youtu.be/7x8n21FbM2o