Digital Strategy Teamplate

[foliedouce]

Can anyone point me in the right direction of a basic Digital Strategy template?

This is in the context of a healthcare product that we currently sell B2B via telesales but I am keen to try and harness online which currently accounts for less than 10% of our sales.

As an online numptie, want a plan to follow

[andy-xr]

If I understand, you want to punt what you've got online as well as over the phone? You need a web application that's secure, can integrate into buying systems and be listed through the Healthcare buying process, be easy to use from a buyers perspective, have the info needed to make a purchase decision, and can deliver with minimal intervention?

You need a developer for the back end, one for the front, another for the user experience and an audit, together with a security assessment. Then start pushing people towards it using whatever means you want, could be that telesales direct people to the site for final purchase after doing the build up, could be that you use APIs to integrate it into another site

[foliedouce]

andy-xr said:

If I understand, you want to punt what you've got online as well as over the phone? You need a web application that's secure, can integrate into buying systems and be listed through the Healthcare buying process, be easy to use from a buyers perspective, have the info needed to make a purchase decision, and can deliver with minimal intervention?

You need a developer for the back end, one for the front, another for the user experience and an audit, together with a security assessment. Then start pushing people towards it using whatever means you want, could be that telesales direct people to the site for final purchase after doing the build up, could be that you use APIs to integrate it into another site

Half right

We currently sell via telesales & direct mail (B2B mainly)

We have 2 websites - basic shopify sites, 1 in the US & 1 in the UK, we've just had the front end of these refreshed (tactical / cheap refresh to keep us going for 9-12 months)

We have Brightpearl integrated into Shopify to link into the fulfilment warehouses (have stock based in US & UK)

We have a basic eBay shop & Amazon account which trickle orders through but we haven't really put any effort into them.

As an eComm numpty, I'm looking for help in how to leverage these resources by promoting them online, so looking for a Dummies guide to online strategy to cover things like:-

Google shopping / Google +
How to properly use eBay & Amazon
Google Adwords
SEO
Alternative search engines to Google
What else is there should be doing and how?

Thanks

[Stevanos]

This is what you need http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/see-think-do-conten...

Read it until it is laser'd in to your brain, then implement it and you will be in GOD MODE!!!

[Foliage]

I thought teamplate was gonna be a new management buzz word, thank god its a typo.

[foliedouce]

Foliage said:

I thought teamplate was gonna be a new management buzz word, thank god its a typo.

Sorry about that, was obviously keen to go grab a sandwich

[Frimley111R]

Consider using an agency to do this. You'll not be able to do this effectively on your own without a shadow of a doubt. PPC, for example, is far far harder to get right than it seems and not getting it right will cost you considerably.

[foliedouce]

Frimley111R said:

Consider using an agency to do this. You'll not be able to do this effectively on your own without a shadow of a doubt. PPC, for example, is far far harder to get right than it seems and not getting it right will cost you considerably.

We probably will eventually, but I want to have a bash at it myself first, purely for fun and see how far I can take it.

[foliedouce]

I've just knocked up some high level bullets to try and point myself in the right direction, so I can prioritise and then dig deeper into what actually needs to be done.

What else do I need to add at a very high level?

[j80jpw]

I agree with Frimley but if you do want to have a crack at it yourself fair play, be sure to set a budget that you can afford to loose.

I would lean towards learning Google Adwords first, it is a bit of a minefield but at the same time an extremely interesting and valuable tool once you get the hang of things. It will of course depend on many factors such as your product, the margins, how much you can afford as a cost per acquisition, the competition you have online, the ability of your website to sell the product, any negative keywords that could work against you etc etc.

Ultimately if you product is suited to being sold online and "if" adwords works for you it is just a case of increasing the budgets and seeing the return increase respectively.

Do some research on adwords first, look at search volumes for your product, related prodcuts and competitors products, search for all related terms and find out who your competitors will be, work out how much they are paying per click for their ads to appear and ideally how any click/hits on your site you need to covert a sale, this will determine your cost per acquisition, if the profit per sale can cover this cost per acquisition your on to a winner!

[andy-xr]

foliedouce said:

online strategy to cover things like:-

Google shopping / Google +
How to properly use eBay & Amazon
Google Adwords
SEO
Alternative search engines to Google
What else is there should be doing and how?

Thanks

Outsource it. You'll spend time, money and effort on something that will take a while to do, and could be done quicker and cheaper by giving it to someone else. A decent agency will have this sorted out in next to no time at all, and keep it going as well.

[j80jpw]

andy-xr said:

and keep it going as well.

This, it is a full time job to do it properly and remain competitive.

[jonamv8]

Frimley111R said:

Consider using an agency to do this. You'll not be able to do this effectively on your own without a shadow of a doubt. PPC, for example, is far far harder to get right than it seems and not getting it right will cost you considerably.

THIS ^^^^

A complete digi strategy - how long is a piece of string. You simply cant learn from a 10,000 page guide what has taken a multifaceted agency years to learn, and even they don't know it all. Plus Google changes the goalposts tomorrow and everything you read just changes... It's a tough constantly changing industry that unless you're involved in it I wouldn't recommend trying to do yourself.

I liken it to accounts. I could learn accounting and save myself a few £k each year, then HMRC (the google of uk accounting) change the goalposts and I have to relearn everything.

Also you can spend hard cash on integrating your strategy which turns out to be wrong. You could damage your link profile and get penalties from Google. You could lose loads on Adwords with a poor campaign. the list goes on and on.

[foliedouce]

Thanks and normally I'd agree, but I've just moved from a CEO role which I've done for the last 5 years for a £50 mill t/o business, and now I'm just enjoying myself back in start up mode, learning some new skills and having some 'fun'

It would be boring to just outsource it! I want to do it myself at least to start with, and I know PH has a lot of expertise in this area hence the Q.

[j80jpw]

How competitive is you current online market?

Can you share your current product web site to give some context?

[jonamv8]

foliedouce said:

Thanks and normally I'd agree, but I've just moved from a CEO role which I've done for the last 5 years for a £50 mill t/o business, and now I'm just enjoying myself back in start up mode, learning some new skills and having some 'fun'

It would be boring to just outsource it! I want to do it myself at least to start with, and I know PH has a lot of expertise in this area hence the Q.

In that case I would engage with an agency of some description to run your ideas past and also to provide you with the knowledge to know that the strategy you are implementing is in fact the correct one that will guarentee some ROI.

The implementation isn't often that difficult but having the correct intel to base your decisions on is.

[foliedouce]

jonamv8 said:

In that case I would engage with an agency of some description to run your ideas past and also to provide you with the knowledge to know that the strategy you are implementing is in fact the correct one that will guarentee some ROI.

The implementation isn't often that difficult but having the correct intel to base your decisions on is.

Thanks, I have this afternoon (by pure chance!) sourced a lady that used to be Head of SEO / Online Marketing for a successful mid tier business who has agreed to mentor me in this area for a day rate.

[foliedouce]

j80jpw said:

How competitive is you current online market?

Can you share your current product web site to give some context?

I can't post the web link as I value my anonymity on PH

The market is very competitive and we (obviously) claim to have a USP around the 5 or so products we sell, however the reality is that they are commoditised.

Our products are in the healthcare arena and are upper quartile in quality (important to buyers in this market) but we are able to offer it at bottom quartile price.

We have a global exclusivity with the factory, so it would be difficult for anyone else to enter with exactly the same product. But we don't have a brand.

We started the business as a side business a few years ago but haven't had time to spend on it, during that time we still managed to take 70% of the NHS business for 1 of the products from our nearest competitor, so that tells me it's got legs.

Now we have time on our hands (and money if required, although part of the fun is doing it on a tight budget) I want to leverage what we've done so far into the online world. I know the square route of fk all about online as I've previously run a face to face service based business with a static website.