Want Digital Success? Think Big, Start Small, Learn Fast

By David Sauter, CEO

Published: July 6, 2016

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Gone are the days of having to do it all. The slow, cumbersome days of media buys, TV spots, and large software licensing projects are over. Today’s advertising world looks a lot different than the traditional world we once lived in.

[quote align=”left”]Break out of the traditional box.[/quote] 

Yet, many are stuck – stuck still in the traditional box. The key to breaking out of that box is simply stated but much harder to implement: think big, start small, and learn fast when it comes to digital.

Think Big, But Clear Your Mind

It’s not necessary to totally abandon everything you’ve learned, but it is important to set it aside to think about doing something differently. Consider marketing 101: starting with your customer’s or prospect’s needs and desires is at the foundation of any successful marketing. This is still the case with digital. But unlike the old way of marketing, digital requires a comprehensive understanding of audience personas, the channels they’re using, their customer journey (and there are likely many), their context, and ensuring you have the right content delivered to the right person, in the right channel, at the right time – at the drop of a hat.

Start Small, Pick a Realistic Goal

Pick a goal that is not too risky, not too scary, and not too crazy. With a clear mind, apply this new approach – set a reasonable goal, think through all of the requirements to attain that goal, and come up with a series of small, baby steps to validate the method.

Think of it this way. Perhaps you’d like to position your company as a thought leader in the industry – providing relevant resources for your core customer. Rather than redesign your entire website, pull a team together to implement a stand alone blog site filled with resources and information useful to your potential customers, and slowly roll out this portion of the site to a highly targeted audience.

Maybe you’d like to sell 10,000 products in six months. Rather than take on an eCommerce initiative, pick an offer, create a small landing page, and run some digital advertising to test your efforts to specific, targeted audiences. Learn what works and what doesn’t.

Learn Fast through Validation

Testing small portions of your site or running test digital advertising campaigns are an efficient, fast way to learn what works, what doesn’t, and gain a comfort level with a new process. Is your expected path of success valid or not? If it works, simply multiply your efforts! If the results aren’t what you expected, you haven’t wasted too much time or resources.

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