Unveiling My Digital CMO's Digital Strategy Framework
Everybody. It's Ben from My Digital CMO. I help marketing leaders deliver their marketing vision. Today in the strategy spotlight, we're gonna be looking at just the fundamental marketing, framework that we use at My Digital CMO and that we talk about, that helps us get get great results in our marketing strategy. If you have any comments, go ahead and leave them below or, subscribe will really help us or forward to someone you think might be interested.
Ben:So when we developed our approach, obviously, we believe in strategy first and we really noticed a trend over, marketing, digital marketing as a whole over the last many years, you know, this real tool first execution. So as digital products grew, tools have grown, there's so many to choose from. It's really, really common to, find a tool that works really great, set everything up around that, and, later on down the track, be a little bit little bit lost. So I'm gonna go over the framework we use just to, establish, you know, the foundations and then how you build on top of that and, you know, how that builds for a future, delivery of vision. So the first thing we have a look at really is our marketing fundamentals.
Ben:And the reason we do that is because, we wanna really start at the start with getting the business set up. And we can forget often, you know, while we're getting started, maybe we're looking for some quick wins. And when our systems and processes are set up, you know, it's very hard to unpick where we started and and how to do that, especially if we're starting with a new campaign or new initiative. It's really, really important to set their foundations, up in a very strong way, so that we can educate our clients, talk to our partners and the team, and have everyone, you know, understanding and inputting what those fundamentals are. So So if we're gonna go through what our brand fundamentals are, you know, we wanna talk about our brand values, the essence and character of what your business is.
Ben:It's it's not just your product, but your brand. What what is your company good at? What's it for? What's your voice? How do you wanna, you know, are you a, a b to b business that's offering a serious service?
Ben:Are you a b to c company that's light, light and frivolous? You know, what's your voice? How are you gonna communicate? Does that change for the customers you have, different customer types? And, you know, when you wrap all of that up, what's the mission your business is on?
Ben:Is it to help people? Is it to provide value and so on? So you really got to identify some of these marketing fundamental elements, and look at your value proposition from a brand and a product sense, and express that in terms of your customer, how your customers are gonna, perceive you. So obviously, it might be different for you who just wanna make money, and that's absolutely okay. But for a product, for a customer, there's gotta be an appeal there.
Ben:So you gotta be able to express your brand marketing and business marketing fundamentals in terms of how a customer is gonna perceive those. So that's the first thing, you you know, we wanna talk about is what what is the core of our business operations. So then what you're going to need to define really well in order to set up your marketing strategy for strength in the future is your personas of your customers themselves. So it might be pretty obvious that you have one customer over another type. Maybe it's not, and you need to be able to have a think about what your products are.
Ben:Who does your product serve? What are the key features and benefits? And what's the customer profile of that, product structure that is gonna benefit the most. So you need to actually, take products first. We we group these together because above your business fundamentals, your products and services and your customer profiles need to really have a relationship strategically with one another.
Ben:So, you know, we would say you shouldn't develop a product without the customer in mind, and you, always wanna know how a customer perceives your product. That's gonna be hugely impactful in how you approach your marketing and services and communications, as the next step. So defining your personas and products is critically important. The features and benefits of your product, really how they differentiate you in the market, and then you're gonna identify your different customer types as well. You want deep profiles.
Ben:So I understand that, you know, execution channels and tools, Facebook, YouTube, whoever it is, they're going to offer a customer profile structure. If you're not clear on that before you go to the engagement tool you wanna use, you're gonna be led by that product as to what you wanna see. And when we're talking about setting up a process and sorting about talking about setting up structure, you wanna own your own value and own your own definitions. So from this point on, defining your personas and products, you are searching for tools that suit your needs. You are searching for tools that, match your customer profile, and part of that profile, of course, is where they are.
Ben:So if they're in TikTok, go for it. Launch something in TikTok. If they're on Instagram, you better be there. But you wanna know that ahead of time, you're looking for an execution in a channel that's there, and you and you wanna be able to find that persona and look for it. So if they're not there, well, you're gonna have to do a bit of research to, identify that and go deeper into those profiles.
Ben:But defining those personas and products, gonna gonna be critically important to getting ahead and understanding, on top of your business fundamentals what the next step is. Once you've identified those business fundamentals and your products and services and your target customers, that's a great time to have an internal review, review with your stakeholders, be it your clients or your business partners with with within a bigger organization. Are we actually set up correctly? Are these the products and services, that are defined within the business as we expect them to be, and do we agree on what the customer profiles and what they're what they're seeking is aligned with our business expectations. So once you have that process and those things identified, it's it's, time to set some goals, objectives, and KPIs.
Ben:So, this could be broken down in various ways. In previous, strategy spotlight, I talked about smart goals, but, you know, you want something aspirational as a goal. What is the business trying to achieve? Are you trying to grow? Are you trying to be profitable?
Ben:Do you have operational targets and so forth? Write them down and get them understood, because that more often than not, each layer of the business, each partner, the the this view will get lost. So within that, objectives and KPIs should be set, set and target measurable objectives, and adjust as you go. So once you're out there, you've got your marketing, but core marketing activities set up, you actually need to revisit your objectives and k KPIs frequently. So the KPIs are meant to be, indicators, not, not the core objectives, but you'll have your objectives set up, and then the KPI will tell you whether or not you're on track for your objectives.
Ben:So, sometimes it's appropriate to look at KPIs every day or every week. I'd suggest every week, what are the top three KPIs that are measuring your movement against your objectives? And then, of course, that's gotta be a metric that's accessible to you. Is it views? Is it purchases?
Ben:Is it engagement? Obviously, if it's sales and there's some factors around that and have you got some sort of indicator of a funnel that you can use to, map that KPI? So, when when you have that package together of goals, objectives, KPIs with your metrics, then as you add tactics to it, you can ensure your tactics push for those individual goals and KPIs. So you don't wanna be, setting up a tactic that has a KPI that does nothing for the business. We're not talking about sales here, of course.
Ben:If sales is your measure, and it should be, then fantastic. That's an easy one to easy one to measure, but how many, people are responding to your marketing of that? How many of those, customers are taking an action you can track? And within that tracking, are you, continuing to move the business forwards? So setting the goals, objectives, and KPIs really, really important.
Ben:But you'll notice we haven't talked about tactics yet. So you wanna know you wanna have that open conversation. You wanna have in mind what your goals, objectives, and KPIs are before you start adding tactics in there. This is a pretty important part of this, strategy approach because once you get to channels that are taking your money, they will move your tactics into their own framework. And and if they're not aligned correctly, it's gonna be harder and harder to make the right decisions in there.
Ben:But mapped out ahead of time, it becomes very simple to, get that alignment right. So once you've got those three things done, your brand fundamentals, your personas and products, your objectives, KPIs, all based around your business goals, then it's time to start looking at your channels, your properties, and your tactics. So my digital CMO, of course, helps you quick start this decision making as a framework that, is tried and tested. So the property is just things you own and have direct control over. And within that, you've got your marketing channels.
Ben:So we break them up into email marketing, paid advertising, website, maybe in person events. You might have more channels than another business. You might have less. So our tool is pretty customizable for that reason, but you need to think about what are the channels your digital properties reside on, get them all in line, and break it up into different functional areas. So your website is gonna have pricing pages.
Ben:Well, they're not gonna change that much. Your blog is gonna change all the time. And so once you have those channels set, you understand what, properties in social media you're gonna operate on, then you can start looking at the activities there. And the reason you wanna block it out like this is that, you don't wanna be overwhelmed by going to one channel, go to social media, you do all your effort in Facebook and realize you've still got Instagram to do, and you've mapped out all your time in Facebook. You've got your website set up, and you've got your core pages done, but you don't have any time to do it, really maintain your blog because you're so busy running your ad ads and so forth.
Ben:So, with the line of sight to the channels, with the digital properties you have, you can then start mapping out your activities a little bit more cleanly, and the activities within them have have some, tactical variations. So we call, tactics activities because really, tactic is something you do for short term result, and the strategy is a long term framework. So, you your tactics are gonna ladder up to the channel over to the digital property. And that's that's how you're gonna wanna set it up. Once you have all those things, you've got them nested, you've got your, business foundation.
Ben:And then on top of your foundation, you have your products and your properties. And then, over that, you have your channels, defined with your tactics. Now you have a marketing mix. And working within that marketing mix, you can look at how, you're addressing the customer life cycle. Have you got enough tactics that are in awareness?
Ben:Have you got enough tactics that are in, you know, ready to ready to purchase? Or have you got a channel that's in person demos and so forth? You can have a look around your marketing mix. Are you doing enough activities at the front end? And even through right through the customer life cycle for ownership if, resales or value add during ownership is important?
Ben:Have you got a clear view of that, a clear view of your marketing mix and where your tactics are across that marketing and mix? And so when you come to why we set up the tool the way we did, those those elements are all really, built upon that foundation, easy to view, and you have a line of sight from strategy right through to execution. And as you map those things out, you might add or edit a KPI, but it's really easy to go back, across each layer to go. Okay. Well, now I need to change the KPI here.
Ben:I need an objective that's, creating awareness for my product. I need to amp up my social media to drive inquiry, whatever it may be. As long as you followed a clear, foundational structural view and put in the time just to build out that, you know, understanding of your own marketing activities, you have a really complex, marketing strategy setup, and it's completely manageable, high visibility, easy to change individual elements, and you're not gonna get lost going down one channel or one tool, one track, and ignore your the other things that are that are there or or required or necessary. So that framework of really one step at a time, it actually speeds up your effectiveness. Once you have that strategic framework defined, it's very quick to train change your strategic, elements within that.
Ben:So you are going to be able to change your tactics. The relevance of the tactic to the customer, your business isn't gonna change at all, but you're gonna have a clear line of sight on what why you're making that change. You'll be able to talk to it, sell that change within the business, whatever you need to do to make it happen. And, tactically, you're not changing your whole strategy. You're not trying to redefine it.
Ben:You've got a strategy framework that that accommodates those changes and makes it easy to move ahead confidently without worrying about whether or not you're gonna impact different areas. You're gonna have the line of sight to that, and you're going to know exactly what those areas you're changing are. And that's the value of a strong strategic framework. So when you've, gone through those areas, you've got your core marketing set up, you know your channels, you're gonna be able to easily overlay a marketing campaign. It's very common to get to campaign environment, and it takes over, and your other marketing elements can be forgotten or overlooked.
Ben:That's not gonna be the case with a strong strategic framework. Do you have your core marketing set up? Once that's set up in that strong strategic framework, you can add a campaign for, maybe it's a Black Friday, Christmas, or whatever the the event is that you're going to launch that camp campaign in. It might even be a a campaign round and in person, seminar or event, and you can overlay that within your marketing framework without confusing the elements, without undermining some of your other channels and have that clear, targeted campaign. Might be a new customer type or or for a specific customer out of multiple customers to choose from, but your clear strategy framework will help you make those decisions.
Ben:And then, just as with your main marketing fundamentals, you might want some different, KPIs or objectives for that campaign only. You've gotta be able to track and manage those things. So once you have that framework set up really step by step in that way, it becomes very easy to alter and move through your, you know, marketing strategic framework. And then you then you have the structure that facilitates a business process in itself. The business marketing fundamentals are defined.
Ben:The core customer profiles and product levels are defined. The goals and KPIs and objectives for the business are are defined, and the organizing of the channels and, your your identity for the business is there. And then the evaluating of that over time, managing your clients, managing the strategy, getting input from the team at the right time or at the right level, it all is facilitated by a strong strategic framework. Of course, we would see say to use our product, but there are many ways of doing this, and, you you know, there's a lot of things out there to to help you do it, and many tools within the individual functions and tactics that you're that you're going to have. But when you have this strong strategic framework set out, it's gonna be really easy to manage those individual discussions, the ind individual choices you need to make.
Ben:Does this tool help me, you know, and and so on? So as you go through this process, having that strong strategic framework is such a core foundation of everything down the down the line from initiating that marketing activity or initiating that tactic. You know, that's why at my digital CMO, we've really focused on what that strategic framework is because it it really helps define the core fundamentals of marketing. The 4 p's, all of, the other elements of budgeting and communications, working out how to educate and, work with your stakeholders. They're all facilitated by a strong strategic framework, and, it's very easy to lose sight of that, try and move forward too quickly, and not have those pieces in place.
Ben:But the good news is with a strong framework, it will help you identify where you're at and, what else you need to work on. Okay. So what I said was I was gonna share why we we do that, why we follow the process, why we believe in this structure. Well, it's not because we just love using tools. It's because of the old adage, proper prior planning prevents poor performance.
Ben:Quick market readiness, a great baseline for stakeholder management, ensuring your team focuses on what matters, a faster strategy definition overall, and every time you have to iterate, maximizing your marketing dollar dollars, which is super important, creating efficient, systematic processes, and making sure your team works cohesively, and, of course, delighting your clients, delighting the rest of the business with what your marketing vision is, having it clear, articulated, executable, strategies, with a clear line of sight from strategy right through to execution and why you're here. So if that's not enough reasons, you know, I can't give you any more other than nailing your strategy, and delivering your vision. So let's go over the framework again. You need a clear marketing strategy framework that is gonna allow you to input what you know, allow you to control the definition of the business, the marketing strategy, the marketing channels, the tactics, and so on. And that needs to be repeatable, so that you can do it every time.
Ben:You can have it predictable. You can create a language and a culture around marketing strategy. So what are the steps? You create your marketing fundamentals, your brand values, your mission, and brand voice. What's your value proposition as a brand?
Ben:Defining the products and services and the customer profiles. How are they linked together? How does one serve the other? And how does that sit on top of your brand, purpose and objectives? Setting goals, objectives, and KPIs that are relevant to the business and relevant to the products and the and the customers you have.
Ben:And marketing, of course, is not just about sales. It's around bringing those things together. Marketing is driving your need, driving the inquiry. So those objectives and KPIs need to be around growing your influence, growing your profile, growing your customer base. Your channels and properties and tactics are critically important to define well from that framework of purpose and focus and being able to clearly outline which channels, which properties, which tactics are relevant, and then laying a campaign over that for extreme tactical purposes, all in a format which is easy to talk to and and and manage.
Ben:That gives you your complete marketing mix, the ability to see that in one place, view it, act on it is really invaluable. And when all those things come together, you know, that that that allows the strategic vision to be delivered. You can control it. You can interact with it. You can, verbalize it.
Ben:You can have that discussion with your team and other stakeholders and help you deliver that strategic marketing vision to great effect. You're gonna save time. You're gonna improve process, and, the the marketing dollars are gonna go where they should be, bringing customers in, making customers happy, adding to the bottom line of the business. When all those things are in line, you're gonna enjoy creating that strategy and enjoy delivering it, enjoy tracking it, and get more and more creative, spend less time wondering about whether or not it's being understood, more time getting in deep for, enhancing that strategy and making it work like never before. Thanks for listening.
Ben:We'll have more soon. In the meantime, if you'd like our completely free my digital CMO strategy launch checklist, just follow the link below. Enjoy marketing.
