A framework for

developing

digital campaign

strategies

Based on materials of digital strategy training by Ben Philips

Defining strategy

Strategy is the

practise of figuring

out the best way from

here to there

http://undercurrent.com/post/what-is-strategy/

A policy or a plan

designed to achieve a

specific objective

There are 5

steps to this

The 5 steps

1) An understanding of where you are now

2) A clear sense of where you want to end up

3) An assessment of what stands in between

5) A specific course of action to undertake

4) A decision about how to approach the

challenge

Digital strategy

A plan of action to

solve a specific

business or brand

problem using digital

technologies

There are several types

of digital strategies

(although today we’re

mainly going to talk

about one)

Digital strategy

Social

media

strategy

Ecommerce

strategy

Search

engine

strategy

Campaign

strategy

Social media strategy

A plan of action to

solve a specific

business or brand

problem using social

media

An unmanageable

volume of queries

coming into the call

center resulting in

customer

dissatisfaction

Where we are now

A decrease in response times to

consumer queries by 25%.

A clear sense of where you want to end up:

There are only a certain number of

employees who can work at the call

center and these are unable to process

the query load currently

An assessment of what stands in between

Increase the ways in which consumers can

get in touch with us.

The more channels that consumers can use,

the less the volume of calls coming into

the call centre.

A decision on how you want to approach

the challenge

Create and train a team of social media

customer management specialists who represent

Microsoft on Facebook and Twitter.

Develop workflows to ensure that their queries

are dealt with efficiently and to their

satisfaction.

Evaluate and optimise the process.

A specific course of action to undertake

When to develop a social

strategy?

Primarily when the business

or brand goal is centred on

improving relationships with

customers

E-commerce strategy

A plan of action to

solve a specific

business or brand

problem using e-

commerce technology

We have a strong

book selling

business online, but

we are constantly

seeking new ways to

grow revenue.

Where we are now

Maintain category leadership via an

increase of orders by 15% over the next

financial year. (our current activity

will lead us to a growth of 10%)

A clear sense of where you want to end up:

There is no serendipitous discovery of

relevant products on the site.

Therefore, we only have one revenue

stream - we only sell customers what they

came to the site to buy.

An assessment of what stands in between

For every 10 books that a customer buys

today, we’d like them to buy 12 in the

future. We want to grow the amount of

books that current customers buy.

We feel this will be easier than

attracting new customers to the site.

A decision on how you want to approach

the challenge

Design and develop an algorithm that suggests

books to users that are similar to the ones

they are looking at (or similar to the ones

that they have already bought)

A specific course of action to undertake

When to develop an e-

commerce strategy?

When you need to improve

acquisition, purchase volume,

sales per user etc etc.

Search strategy

Using search to solve a

specific business or

brand problem

We’ve built a new

site and the volume

of traffic coming

into the site is

particularly low,

therefore we can’t

sell any TVs

Where we are now

An increase of traffic into the TV

site by 50%

A clear sense of where you want to end up

Our pages aren’t

appearing in search

engine results when

someone types a TV

related query

An assessment of what

stands in between

Increase the relevance of our pages. The

pages of the website that have the TVs

are not structured and named in the way

that people are searching for them in

Google

A decision on how you want to approach

the challenge

1. Research how people are

searching for televisions

2. Structure and name our

pages accordingly

3. Continually optimise

A specific course of action

to undertake

When to develop a search

strategy?

To improve the visibility of

your website

Before we get into

defining campaign

strategies,

let’s take a moment to

talk about the

difference between

strategies and tactics

A strategy is a course of

action that will help us to

achieve a specific business or

brand objective

Tactics are the tools that we

use during this course of

action. They’re the steps we

take.

Looking at our

previous examples to

differentiate the two

Reduce customer

frustration by

increasing the

volume of channels

for feedback.

Strategy Tactic

Use Twitter and

Facebook to

connect with

these customers.

A new revenue

stream to

increase the

number of book

purchases per

existing

customer.

Design and

develop an

algorithm that

suggests similar

books to the one

the user is

interested in

Strategy Tactic

We’ve looked at different types

of digital strategy

We’ve defined the difference

between tactics and strategies

Next…

1. A word on campaign strategy . . .

.

2. A step by step approach to

developing digital strategies for

your clients or for your brand

A word on

campaign strategy

The vast majority of

marketing campaigns (digital

or otherwise)

have a single, strategic

thought at their core, that

takes the brand from one place

to another.

There are a number of reasons behind

this,

primarily because it’s

most memorable and

impactful this way.

Let’s look at 3 examples . . .

Example

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZjRXC9kaDY

Core strategic idea:

Get out and explore

the real world in a

Dodge (against a

backdrop of digital

lifestyles)

Our digital activity must

deliver on a central

strategic thought or

direction

in the same way that each

of these campaigns do.

Because sometimes we get

distracted

A strategy is a course of

action that will help us to

achieve a specific business or

brand objective

Tactics are the tools that we

use during this course of

action. They’re the steps we

take.

A step by step

approach to

developing digital

strategy

But with a bit more detail

1) An understanding

of where you are now

and where you want

to end up

2) Clear

identification of

the problem - an

assessment of what

stands in between

5) A creative

concept: (a

specific course

of action to

undertake)

4) The central

strategic thought.

(A decision about

how to approach the

challenge)

3) Insights and

thinking that will

inform our approach

to the problem

7) How this concept

works (architecture,

user journeys)

6) The stages

of activity

8) Continual

optimisation

We’re going to dive into

each of these steps in

detail,

but before we do – a case

study video that we can use

as a reference point

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI5qQoKNW8E

1. Where we are now and

where we want to end up

As we discussed before, a strategy is

a way to move a business from one point

to another.

To design an effective strategy, we must

be clear on where we want to end up,

because this determines the approach

How to do this

Define a measurable goal based

on your current position.

- Keep it short, sharp and to the

point.

- Time frame

- A view on how it will be measured

Business goal: eg Increase sales or

revenue by x% over the next 12 months

Consumer action goal: eg 8000 test

drive reservations over the first 6

months of the year

Brand goal: eg Increase brand affinity

by 15% amongst those who participated in

the campaign

Database goal: eg Grow contactable

database by 20,000 by end of financial

year

Market goal: eg Capture 20% market

share within 2 years

Example

Business goal: Grow the number of

people coming to the theme park by X%

over the festival period.

Brand goal: Grow the emotional

connection to the park with European

families.

The problem

Defining why you aren’t currently where

you want to be.

Accurately defining the problem is

key, and may require significant amounts

of research.

Qualitative, quantitative, desktop etc –

it’s critical to tightly and clearly

define what the problem is.

The problem

This should be phrased in consumer

terms, rather than business terms.

“I didn’t know that they make headphones”

(an awareness problem)

“I think that their cars are unreliable and

I wouldn’t buy one” (product and brand image

problem)

“The site is confusing and I’d rather use

their competitors” (user experience problem)

The problem: defining in 2

steps

The problem from the customer’s

point of view

A short explanation

Defining in 2 steps

“I think that their cars are

unreliable and I wouldn’t buy one”

Despite strong engineering credentials,

the brand is still undermined by

perceptions of unreliability

“I’m aware of Euro Disneyland, and so

are my children, but we can only take 2

holidays a year and there are other

places we’d rather go”

Euro Disneyland has lost its

appeal as a family holiday

destination

Example

Insights

By utilising a combination of insights,

we can get to our central strategic

thought which will help us overcome our

problem

There are various ways to do this, but

here’s a method I use . . .

Insights are “unspoken human truths,

truths that the subconscious recognises

when it sees them”

Brand

insight

Category

insight

Consumer

insight

Digital /

technology

insight

Strategic advertising idea

Consumer insight

This is a thought or fact about people

It can be derived through research or

through observation

What makes them tick, what they think,

their opinions, their perspective

This should be expressed in a single

sentence.

Example: Consumer insight

We’re living an increasing

percentage of our life

online,

which potentially

compromises real world

experiences

Consumer insight:

Europeans hold

their family as

dearly as ever.

They seek to create

magical moments and

lifelong memories

Example

Category insight

This is an observation about the way

the category operates and communicates

Often, there will be an opportunity to

do things in a new, fresh or different

way than your competitors.

Often categories will have entrenched

norms that brands operate by that are

rarely questioned.

Category insight: the wine industry is

associated with being pretentious and

judgemental which makes it difficult for

people to enjoy it.

“The most important wine critic is you” empowers

everyone to go out and enjoy wine on their terms

Category insight:

A family holiday is much

more than just the holiday

itself.

The excitement in the

preparation as well as the

memories and photographs

afterwards are as much a

part of the experience as

the actual vacation.

Example

Brand insight

What does the brand offer that is unique?

How is the brand different from others,

and how can we use this difference to

answer our problem?

Is there brand history or brand story

we can draw on?

Brand insight:

The characters and the stories of

Disney give it a key point of

difference to other holiday

destinations, a stronger emotional

connection with children.

Example

Digital / technology

insightThis is an observation about how people use

technology.

The best digital strategies will leverage

existing behaviour in their activity to help

overcome the problem

It’s far simpler to develop something that

leverages existing behaviour, than expect

people to do something they’ve never done

before.

Searching, tagging, checking in, uploading

photos etc

Digital / technology

insight:

http://gizmodo.com/5911913/we-upload-72-hours-of-video-to-youtube-every-

minute

We upload 72 hours of

video to Youtube every

minute.

The explosion of cameras

and video sharing sites

enable us to share more

memories with more

people than ever before

Example

The central strategic

thought

2 elements

1. We combine our insights into a

central strategic thought that will be

the springboard for our activity

2. A rationale for the thought – how it

uses insights to address the central

problem.

Brand:

The characters and

the stories of Disney

give it a key point

of difference to

other holiday

destinations, a

stronger emotional

resonance with

children.

Category:

A family holiday is

much more than just

the holiday itself.

Consumer:

Europeans hold their

family as dearly as

ever. They seek to

create magical

moments and lifelong

memories

Digital / technology:

The explosion of

cameras and video

sharing sites enable

us to share more

memories with more

people than ever

before

The magic starts the moment you tell them

The magic starts the moment

you tell them

1. Addresses the problem: ignites an

emotional connection with Disneyland

that no other destination can achieve

2. Taps into a human insight around

vacations that hasn’t been done before

3. Puts human experience at the heart.

It isn’t Disney telling you, it’s people

telling you.

4. Emotional driver to book a holiday.

“When are you going to tell them?”

The creative concept

1. Name the direction / idea

2. Logline – describe the idea in 25 words

or less

3. An explanatory description

4. Rough scamps

5. Summary of how people would interact

with it

1. Name: Magic starts the moment you tell

them

2. Logline: An integrated campaign that

captures and republishes the joy of

children as they’re told they’re going

to Disneyland

Example

3. Description: We encourage families

to film their children as they tell them

they’re going to Disneyland. The best

and most popular submissions are used in

TV and press ads.

4. How people interact: Families

upload videos, people watch videos, vote

and comment. There’s a popularity

incentive system – the more votes the

more likely you are to be published –

that enables advocacy

Example

1. Recap the direction / idea (re-

iterate why we all liked it)

2. Detail the stages of activity / user

journeys / activity architecture

3. Where does the idea sit and what is

the role of each location

4. What is the interaction ladder?

5. The media recommendations

Campaign stages

Campaign stages

Digital campaigns often have more than

a single stage.

Stages should -

- Be clearly named

- Have a defined role

- Build on previous stages

- Progress the campaign story

- Deliver on the core campaign strategy

What were the stages of the campaign?

Stage 2:

Participation

Video submissions,

sharing, voting and

advocacy

Stage 3:

Mass market

campaign

Driving reservations

at the Magic Moments

festival

Stage 1:

Announce the

Magic Moments

festival

and publish

research

Example

User journeys

What are user journeys?

A step by step overview that describes

how someone will interact with a

campaign.

They aren’t entirely dissimilar to real,

physical journeys.

Ben Philips “user journey” to get to Kiev

Taxi

Fly

Drive

Arrive

From central

London

to London

Heathrow From London

airport

to Kiev

airport

From Kiev

airport to

the city

At conference

venue

User journeys

Each major campaign stage will have a

user journey.

Each step in the user journey has a

descriptive name, such as “attract” or

“transact”

Each step progresses the user to the

next stage.

User Journeys: 1 approach

Attract Engage Transact

Share

Retain

User Journeys: Another approach

Attract Personalise Engage

Share

TransactRetain

So looking at our Disney

campaign

Stage 2 user journey

AttractView and Vote Upload Share

Banners

Paid search

PR

Youtube ads

Custom Youtube

contest channel.

Users can read about

the campaign as well

as

watching and voting

on

entries

Participants can

upload their

submission

to the campaign

channel

Once their

submission is

live,

participants are

encouraged to

share their

submission.

So looking at our Disney

campaign

Stage 3 user journey

AnnounceAnnounce the

submissions

to be featured in the

TV ad

and online video ads

BroadcastCampaign is

live ! Inform and

Engage

TransactRetain

Drives users to

disneylandparis.c

om

Users book their

holiday on the

site

On-going email

communications to

database

Activity architecture

Activity architecture (3

elements)

1. The property (website,

FB app, Youtube channel

etc)

2. Summary of the role of

the property

3. Arrows – where that

property directs to

Youtube contest

channel. Home of video

submissions.

Participants’ videos on

Youtube

Disneylandparis.com

Social network

profiles

Online

advertising Email communications

Emails drive

traffic to the

site. Site

acquires email

addresses

Posted videos on social

media drive traffic to

campaign

Participants post

videos

to their social

networks.

Drives traffic to

campaign site

Participants upload videos

to the contest channel.

Each video has its own

Youtube URL.

Shared link

relationship

Interaction ladder

Demonstrate that there are many “ways in” irrespective

of how involved a user wants to be

Most passive

Most active

Submit a video to the campaign

Vote for a participant on the site

Share a participant on your social network and

encourage others to vote

Go to the site to browse the participants

See a video posted on a social network

Optimisation (and media

recommendations)

“I am here to tell you, as someone who has

generated his share of ‘earned media’, that the

smartest thing you can do is buy media to promote

your best social ideas

If every consumer who sees it shares it with two friends,

you should be buying as much media as you can possibly

afford because for every person you buy you get two more

for free

Invest in sprinkling seeds, and then adequately tend to

the saplings that have potential to grow the tallest”

Jonah Peretti

Co-founder of the Huffington Post and

BuzzFeed

1 of the most successful

viral campaigns in history

. . . .

11.4 million

dollar US media

spend

First aired on

Superbowl Sunday

Amassed 35 million

video views in

7 days post.

Media support won’t make a

great digital campaign,

but it will ensure that

it’s seen

Optimisation

2 points to consider

1. Why are you

optimising?

2. What are elements

we can optimise?

1. Why are you optimising?

Optimising for

traffic,

not for business

results.

2. What can we optimise?

- Ad creative and messaging

- Landing page structures

- Landing page copy

- Email subject lines, sending

times and structures

etc etc

So recapping our

practical framework

before we take a break

A quick recap

1) An understanding

of where you are now

and where you want

to end up

2) Clear

identification of

the problem - an

assessment of what

stands in between

5) A creative

concept: (a

specific course

of action to

undertake)

4) The central

strategic thought.

(A decision about

how to approach the

challenge)

3) Insights and

thinking that will

inform our approach

to the problem

7) How this concept

works (architecture,

user journeys)

6) The stages

of activity

8) Continual

optimisation

Grow the number of people

coming to the theme park by X%

over the festival period.

Brand goal: Grow the

emotional connection to the

park with European families.

“I’m aware of Euro

Disneyland, and so are

my children, but we can

only take 2 holidays a

year and there are other

places we’d rather go”

Euro Disneyland has lost

its appeal as a family

holiday destination

Brand insight: The

characters and the

stories of Disney

give it a key point

of difference to

other holiday

destinations, a

stronger emotional

connection with

children.

Category

insight: A family

holiday is much more

than just the

holiday itself.

Consumer: Europeans

hold their family as

dearly as ever. They

seek to create magical

moments and lifelong

memories

Digital /

technology insight: We

upload 72 hours of

video to Youtube every

minute. The explosion

of cameras and video

sharing sites enable us

to share more memories

with more people than

ever before

The magic starts the moment you tell them

An integrated campaign

that captures and

republishes the joy of

children as they’re told

they’re going to

Disneyland

2. Participation

3. Mass market campaign

1. Announce the Magic

Moments festival

Executed across 3 stages

With user journeys

for each stage and

an integrated

architecture

And optimised

against business

goals regularly

Thank you.