Earlier this summer, I had the privilege of providing in-house digital marketing training for the amazing folks at TIFF. As a film nerd growing up in Toronto, this was a huge thrill for me. I love picking my films for the Festival every year and spending time hanging around the Lightbox. It was also thrilling for me to work with TIFF as a digital marketing nerd. The organization has built TIFF into a strong and well-respected international brand, and is also a savvy digital marketer. The content that they share through their digital platforms and social channels is very impressive (and addictive), see for yourself here.
One of the reasons that I was invited to TIFF was to talk about how brands can better integrate digital tactics more effectively within their overall marketing plans. Many organizations find it challenging to ensure that all of their digital content, platforms, and activities (not to mention people and investments) are working together cohesively and align with a larger marketing strategy. This challenge is compounded as digital touchpoints grow, marketing priorities change, and ownership of “digital” begins to be shared across the marketing organization.
There are a number of facets to tackling this challenge, but a good place to start is by ensuring that everyone is looking at digital marketing in the same way. Investing the time to train teams to use common frameworks and terminology when planning digital marketing can dramatically improve communication and results. Here is a simple slide that I used to propose how digital can be placed within a larger marketing context.
It illustrates how digital marketing strategy must serve an overall marketing goal and strategy. It also demonstrates how an effective digital strategy must provide structure for organizing tactics and measuring results. Often these basic frameworks help to provide clear and common grounding for marketers to ‘connect the dots’ in digital and beyond.