It might seem obvious that if your business is about to increase its’ digital engagement, that some sort of plan, structure or process is developed to support the efforts of the individuals, teams or vendors that are to be included in the process. However it is surprising to learn how many businesses go about this very challenging process with little no know plan or strategy.
We believe the three most significant reasons a business tends to dive into a digital strategy head first without a plan, boil down to time, money and knowledge.
These three things are intrinsically linked and the balance of each in the project will play a powerful role in the overall success of your campaign. The more of each of these items we have, the more likely it is that the project will be successful. In a perfect world, we would have an abundance of time, an unlimited budget and a wealth of knowledge available to us to indulge in what ever project we chose to take on.
In most cases, it is rare to have an abundant amount of all of these precious commodities available to us at any one time. More often then not, we have one of these commodities in greater volumes than we have the others. If we are clever we can use the strength we have to compensate for our weaknesses.
| More of | Less of | |
| Time |
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| Money |
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| Knowledge |
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For example, if a small business has inadequate knowledge on a project, it can be easily overcome if there is a healthy budget to engage expertise from an independent vendor.
Alternatively if a small business has a lack of budget for a project, it may be overcome if the small business is knowledgeable on the concept of the project and is able to perform or produce some of the work them selves.
Regardless, the end goal is to create an environment where there is a harmonious balance of time, money and knowledge. Then to have these key components defined and documented so it can be used as a roadmap to navigate the challenges that will undoubtedly lay in front of us.
We call this vital documentation a project scope. It will require a good deal of effort and hard work, but the pay off will be well worth it. Choosing to take a path based on research, thought and preparation is what will give your small business the winning advantage over those that have chosen to ignore this vital step. Instead they run full blast into unknown; unprepared and ill equipped.
We believe that no project should ever be attempted without a project scope. It would be like building a house without a plan, or navigating without a map. It is just far too risky to set off with nothing more than intention.
Every project scope will be different, but over the countless websites, platforms and digital strategies we have successfully executed on behalf of our clients, we have defined a key set of information that we believe should be included in every project scope:
- Marketing Plan
- Functional Scope
- Creative Brief
- Domain Names
- Technology
- Budget
- Timing
- Vendors & Service Providers
Over the coming weeks, we will take a look at each of these in more details.
