POWER OF A PLAYBOOK
What Is A Digital Playbook And Why You Need One?
Did you know that the digital marketing industry is worth $192 billion?
The digital marketing industry is changing as it's becoming more focused on customers' needs and wants. Is your brand changing with it? Do you have a strategy? Do you have a playbook?
Digital playbooks aren't hard to develop- but, what exactly are they? In today's article, we'll take a closer look at what a digital playbook is and why you need one. Keep reading to learn more.
One of the most important things that your brand can have in the ever-changing world of digital marketing is having a digital playbook. Investing the time into developing a digital playbook is essential if you're looking to take ahold of the best strategies and tools that your brand has to conquer marketing.
What Is a Digital Playbook?
A digital playbook is a document that will have all of your marketing tactics, strategies, and goals. This should be a complete list of all of the marketing stratgies that your brand has, the tools used to execute them and what situations you should deploy these different tactics in.
For example, a digital playbook will outline what to do when you're launching a new product or when you're looking to re-target old customers. A well-built digital playbook will allow you and your marketing team to quickly deliver a high-quality marketing strategy to your customers, ensuring a reliable result.
Why You Need a Digital Playbook as a Part of Your Marketing Strategy
Yes, your brand needs a digital playbook. There's so much that your company will have to benefit from developing a digital playbook.
The best part? It's super easy to make a digital playbook. No matter if you're a Fortune 500 or your business is still running out of your garage, your business needs a digital playbook.
In a digital playbook, you'll have developed a marketing landscape that your brand will depend on for marketing.
How to Develop a Digital Playbook
Developing a digital playbook doesn't have to take lots of effort to create. Taking steps to create a successful digital playbook can have a large impact on your business. Sometimes it's essential for you to work backward, so you can figure out where you want your brand to end up.
You can start drawing on a whiteboard, take out a piece of paper or a tool I love to use is Miro.com which is a digital whiteboard with unlimited space. You can have up to 120 people collaborate simultaneously so you can use Miro at an Enterprise level or you can also make a free account as a solo user.
Set Measurable Goals
To get started we need to first get clear on our goals.
"Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible." — Tony Robbins
If you don't have any specific goals for your company, then how do you know where you are going?
How can you benchmark progress? How does your team feel accomplished? How can you improve? Yes, goals can (and will) change and you will pivot. However, a starting goal (or goals) is crucial for your success.
Create specific measurable goals to start. These goals can be financial and also infrastructure goals. The most important thing is that they are measurable. Next we can create a play to put in your playbook to achieve these goals.
Understand Your Brand and WHO is Your Avatar
The first thing you need to do when building a digital playbook is to fully understand your brand's intent and what your brand stands for. Ask yourself about the problems your business is trying to solve and the customer bases you're trying to serve. Ask yourself who is your avatar (or your ideal client)?
Think about the competition that you have in your industry and what you believe your competition is missing. Asking yourself these questions will help you to get a solid base for developing an initial objective in your marketing strategy. Essentially we are online “fishing” and we need to identify WHO we are targeting. Salmon hangout and eat in very different places then Catfish. Get specific and do an audit of all your current customers. What are the common denominators?
Example: I was the COO of a company www.MelissaNeill.com who targeted women over 40.
They were very clear on who we marketed to and we dominated that audience. You will even get more specific like what is the education level, do they have children, do they have dogs…mothers and dog moms hang out in different places and we want to know where to cast our bait wether it be in person or online.
Once we clearly identify your ideal customer, then we find out WHERE they like to hang out, WHAT they like to eat, aka the BAIT and finally the JOURNEY we are going to take them on.
Create an Online Presence
You need to prioritize the importance of an online presence. If your customer base can't find you online on social media or on a website, you aren't taking full advantage of the power of the internet.
In your digital playbook, you need to have a solid plan on what the objectives for your website and online presence are. Go ahead and start jotting down what online channels you will use. Remember you can (and will) add more channels as you grow and expand your reach.
This includes what social channels you have a presence on such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, TikTok, Pintrest. You want to be on the social channels that your audience is primarily on.
Develop Your First Digital Play
Your digital playbook will consist of various plays depending on your objective and goals. You might have a webinar play, event play, or LinkedIn outreach play. We will create your first play based on your first goal and then build from there. Your play will consist of a sequence of events and actions that occur (or can occur) based on the user experience you want to create. You can map your play on a piece of paper, a whiteboard, or a digital mind map. Whatever your tech level is you can make plays that you keep in your playbook to use, so you can harness the digital power behind strategy and planning.
Understanding the Power Behind Digital Playbooks
Developing digital playbooks will save your company time, energy, and marketing dollars. When you’re developing a digital playbook, make sure that you take the time to include relevant and updated information in your playbook. Analyze how each play is performing.
Remember that if you can measure it, you can manage it.
You also want to stay up to date on the latest marketing trends and continue to add (and test) new plays. Whenever you’re in doubt, always go back to your digital playbook to use plays that had success and continue to grow your brand.
Are you ready to take the dive, build your first play and create a playbook?
What are you waiting for?
Get started on your digital business strategy today.