Putting Digital at the Heart of your Brand CultureMike McDougall – Head of SEO, Stickyeyes@stickyeyes

About Stickyeyes:

Formed well over a decade ago we’re a full service digital agency who balance the technical and creative to deliver ROI for our clients.

Stickyeyes has assisted numerous businesses with training and strategy around integrating Digital into their broader company culture.

About Mike:

With over 14 years in digital Mike has helped build teams and worked in a variety of roles in agencies in the UK & North America.

In his current role, Mike heads up the Search team ensuring Stickyeyes’ clients are leading the way with forward thinking, content-led digital strategies.

The Evolution of Digital

Revenue generation channelAt the heart of many brand communication strategies.

Customer complaints no longer resolved in private – now resolved in the public domain of Social Media

The continually changing pace of digital presents significant challenges for established business & organisations

Many still see Digital as a non-essential secondary channel.

Digital a primary source of Brand and Product discovery

The need for agility has never been greater….

• Sites like Trip Advisor made everyone a restaurant & hotel critic

• Consumers can communicate with brands via the social sphere

• Comparison sites have driven a consumer mind-set of “price first”

• Significant challenge to brands as they try to respond to these trends

• Keeping track of customers across multiple touchpoints & devices is a headache

Digital as a disruptive force• More customer-focused and digitally agile businesses are winning

• Long-established brands can been over-taken

• Brands like Netflix are a prime example

• ESPN lost an estimated 7.2 million subscribers as more people “cut the chord”*

• Uber shows how a brand can solve consumer problems and change traditional behaviours

• Relying on your brand strength, operational scale and reputation could be disastrous

*Source: Nielsen

The changing face of Google• Google serve as a stark example of digital

evolution and change

• Constant change and flux has driven them forward

• They’ve sought to hone the Search Engine experience

• The elements that effect Organic rankings are hugely diverse

• Challenge for a business is in equipping digital teams to deliver this.

• Not a 1 person job anymore.

Organisational culture holding digital back

It’s not easy – operational complexity & structure, large staff headcounts across multiple languages, cultures & time zones, multiple external agencies and stakeholders all cloud the waters.

The challenges facing organisations can be categorised into 4 key areas.

Technical – “it’s too difficult to do”

• Technical challenges can slow down transition within large organisations

• legacy platform limitations, system infrastructure, out-dated CMS systems and e-commerce platforms

• Systems not build to meet the demands of modern digital strategy

• Developing them is hard, time consuming and expensive

• Code freezes and Dev queues make business unresponsive

• Companies who aren't investing will be left behind

Resource – “There’s nobody to do it until…”

• Digital now spans the breadth of organisations – touching most departments

• Digital now everyone’s remit – traditionally not the case

• Department collaboration is much more necessary

• SEO, e-commerce, PR, Content, Merchandising – all key players for digital projects

• Schedules are already stacked – adding digital responsibility can meet resistance

Vision – “We don’t see the value in doing this”

• Making the business case for digital strategy is one of the biggest challenges

• Not everyone is a digital native who “gets it”

• Getting executive level buy-in is vital

• Change is part of the process in creating a digitally focused brand

• Failure to convince leads to delays and poor digital performance

Corporate inertia – “That’s not how we do things here”• Inertia leads businesses to remain in a state of normality

• Challenge existing processes, structures and visions to adapt to modern consumer habits

• Lack of digital proficiency within the business

• Many Brands are led by people from traditional, non-digital backgrounds

• Natural to focus on areas where they feel most comfortable

Championing a digital culture

• Established businesses used to traditional ATL marketing will find it hard to adapt

• Investment in tech & people hasn’t always scaled with Digital growth

• Younger working cultures have more of a digital DNA

• Digital professionals must “Evangelise” their channel

The new digital practitioner

• The narrow focused digital specialist has had to evolve

• Training and education now a key pillar of their skills

• Inspiring, skilled presenter and a strong orator

• Ensure that the digital message is heard at all levels

• Create a new generation of digital believers

Creating a digital roadmap

• You need to know exactly what you’re trying to achieve – build a detailed plan

• Breaking down into bite-sized chunks makes change less daunting

• Use data and projections - what does that digital opportunity look like in 6, 12 and 18 months?

• Use training & education to Identify key stakeholders and players

• New digital converts will help to push through change & combat natural inertia

Key Takeaways

• Understand your audience!

• Invest in tech & infrastructure

• “Sell” the digital dream to get buy-in

• Remove traditional roadblocks

• Make a detailed, granular plan

• Test, Learn, Refine - Repeat www.stickyeyes.com/marketingforchange

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Tips for helping you stop digital marketing apathy

Key steps to help you build a structure for digital agility

A list of practical action points to drive digital change in your organisation

Thanks for listeningmike.mcdougall@stickyeyes.com@Stickyeyes

www.stickyeyes.com