Majority of marketers have competent digital marketing skills, however where they often fall off is connecting their digital strategy to their wider brand strategy. If this is the case for you or your team, you’ll be pleased to learn that aligning your digital and brand strategy is actually quite straight forward.

In order to develop and execute a successful digital marketing strategy, you need to ensure it aligns with your brand positioning. More often than not, digital strategy is developed without the brand in mind. Marketers need to adopt a new mindset when it comes to digital activation and the frameworks with which they execute them.

Digital activation needs to be more than aligned with brand – it needs to be inspired by it! A consistent and relevant brand positioning ensures marketers stay on track with the brand messaging and brand experience. If consistency is achieved between digital and brand activation, consumers benefit from a consistent brand experience across all touch points and interactions with the brand.

It’s crucial that marketers don’t lose focus on brand positioning and sacrifice it for short-term wins. Long-term brand equity is the key to creating an enduring brand that is consistent and helps build engaging relationships with customers over their lifetime. In the digital age, marketers need to acknowledge that the content they post online doesn’t expire. The brands that execute digital in a way that’s consistent with their brand positioning will be the ones that succeed long-term.

Digital activation has blurred the lines between consumers and brands. Channels such as social media have led to more effective two-way communication that has both pros and cons. If a brand says the wrong thing at the wrong time online, they will pay the price. Brands need to work hard to control, or influence, how their employees represent the brand when engaging online. This holds true for all employees, even those outside the digital marketing team. Employees in IT, finance and HR all need to consider how their actions will impact the brand during all their online engagements.

Here are some of the digital areas where employees need to be considerate of brand positioning:

Content Development

Content can take many forms and is key in maintaining a brand position across a variety of channels. Consumers expect a brands content to be informative and educational, while the company wants the content to drive results. If the content does not represent the brands values, then customers will disengage and consume other content. Content needs to be viewed as more than just a sales tool and more of a way to engage consumers and remind them of what the brand stands for.

Social Media

Employees need to ensure that all their social media activity stays true to brand positioning. Employees need to be aware of the different stakeholders of the company and how they might use social media. It’s crucial that business leaders communicate to employees that the brand positioning ties together all company and employee activity that occurs online. To improve employee behaviour on social, one tactic used is to adopt a company wide social media platform that gives employees easy access to new company and industry news, while enabling them to share their thoughts and measure engagement. This can often lead to more brand advocates and improve the way they interact online.

Customer Service

Delivering amazing customer service that aligns to your brand strategy is crucial in building customer engagement. Many companies are utilising video content to improve customer service and build long-lasting relationships. Brands need to ensure they don’t limit customer service to traditional means such as phone or email. Customer service is an opportunity to show customers how insightful and helpful your brand can be across various formats.

Final Thoughts

When done correctly, digital activation across these categories will result in further opportunities for brands to improve sales and improve customer experience. By ensuring brand positioning is front of mind, companies can build engaging relationships with customers that ensure the long-term success of the brand.