In section 3.15 on strategic digital marketing the statement is made that: ‘Digital is simply one aspect of a marketing strategy. For some organizations, digital may be the foremost element of its marketing strategy, for others it may play a key role and for some it may play no part at all.’ Identify organizations, brands or products that fall into these three categories.

Section 3.15

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3.15 STRATEGIC DIGITAL MARKETING Before considering the importance of online objectives, let's consider the role of strategy in digital marketing. I am in that group of commentators who believes that it is not pos- sible to have a digital marketing strategy. To be effective, a strategy needs a certain amount of stability in the environment in which it is to be deployed. Arguably, the global environment is in such a volatile state that any strategy is difficult, if not impossible. However, the digital environment is in a permanent state of volatility that no strategy can ever achieve its objectives. Being rather pedantic, however, I'm going to emphasize the difference in the words strategy and strategic. The term strategy suggests some kind of document exists that has been agreed by all the parties concerned and that is then developed into a plan, which is then dissemi- nated around those interested parties (departments) who then unquestioningly follow the plan because not to do so would be more than my job is worth. That may work in more stable environments, but the digital environment continues to change on an almost daily basis. 66 the digital environment is in a permanent state of volatility that no strategy can ever achieve its objectives So if not strategy, why strategic? Definitions of strategy abound, but all allude to it being long-term in nature though the length of that term is rarely included within those definitions. The length of a strategy varies from industry to industry, but it is generally accepted to be over a year and normally closer to five years - more than that in some examples. Let's assume the average strategy is planned to be delivered over three years. With regard to digital marketing, that is three years in a discipline where new developments in technology not only change the tools at the prac- titioners' disposal many times over, but the way in which customers and consumers buy products is being changed by digital tools at their disposal. However, to be successful, any business needs to have a plan that looks further to the future than the next big thing - or even the Google algorithm change or alteration in Face- book's Newsfeed. Some aspects of business require longer-term planning: strategic plan- ning. Finance is the obvious example, something that is generally planned and assessed on at least an annual basis. Similarly, production requires raw materials to be ordered and shipped long before the production process starts. So, if strategy is a formal document, strategic is looking beyond day-to-day operations, but at the same time is flexible enough to react to change or be proactive when opportunities arise. For those who might argue that is too simplistic, I would suggest that simple generally means casy to understand and implement - something that cannot be said of the vast majority of strategies. GO ONLINE Throughout this book, references to the work of Gerry McGovern out-number ref- erences to any other single source. His view of online strategy, How online is changing the game and the playing field for strategy development, is available online. Follow the link from the chapter's website to read it in full. A further consideration is one that applies to other aspects of marketing and is an argu- ment made by many; that is, if the organization has a marketing strategy, then any element of that strategy cannot be a strategy in itself, though each element might be stra- tegic in its development. For example, some and I would include myself in this - argue there is no such thing as an international marketing strategy. If the organization trades internationally its marketing strategy addresses international issues. Similarly, I believe there is no such thing as a digital marketing strategy. Digital is simply one aspect of a mar- keting strategy. For some organizations, digital may be the foremost element of its mar- keting strategy, for others it may play a key role and for others it may play no part at all - as is recognized in the first section of this chapter: digital isn't the only option.