WHAT PERFORMANCE DATA CAN’T TELL YOU
The Role of Your Digital Footprint
Across Marketing, Sales, Product, and Service, your digital footprint includes:
This digital footprint isn’t typically managed as a whole, until problems bubble up…
Results are falling short of expectations, posing risk to plan attainment
Optimizing each tactic individually doesn’t have a significant impact
No obvious root cause is emerging from your data and reports
Your frustrated team is running out of ideas for what they should try next
These are signs you may need to rebalance the macro-level content allocations across your digital footprint, and/or within programs.
What exactly are content allocations?
Content allocations are the % of your content devoted to program dimensions.
They include (but are not limited to):
- Customer journey stage being served
- Audience being addressed
- Product / service types and offerings
- Features / benefits cited
- Key messages
*** These allocations are a SIGNAL ***
to prospects and customers who engage with your content – giving them an intuitive sense of who you are and what you do.
Few companies think to manage or measure their content this way.
Even fewer companies measure their competitors’ content.
What do content allocations show your prospects and customers?
Primary research tells us that content allocations are the most influential dimension of your digital footprint. They are your best tool for SHOWING the market who you are, rather than TELLING – which is essential if you want the public to form accurate perceptions about your organization.
Content allocations are also the best predictor of how prospects and customers will interpret your brand positioning, answering questions such as:
Do your PRODUCTS and SERVICES fit my needs?
What makes you DIFFERENT from other providers?
Are you a SPECIALIST or GENERALIST for what I need?
Does your BRAND fit my values and lifestyle?
Can you help me in my stage of the PURCHASE PROCESS?
What topics do your ONLINE RESOURCES cover?
That makes sense – but why do we need to measure our content allocations?
Most content portfolios evolve organically. Whether it’s website pages, self-service resources, or sales collateral, items are typically developed one at a time, by separate teams, in response to specific needs.
At some point, when it’s time to make these collections available as a whole – we tend to focus on ways of organizing it for easy access – using tools like architecture, taxonomy, tables of contents, or other directory-style tools to help people find the piece they need.
We forget the importance of managing the amount of content devoted to each topic, to align with our overall strategy.
Bottom line: a Digital Footprint Analysis will help you identify macro-level problems that your tactic-level reports won’t catch.
We should do this. Where is the best place for our organization to start?
Your website is the natural starting point, because it serves as a hub to link your digital footprint together. By comparing your website content allocations to those of your competitors, you’ll get immediate insight – both strategic and tactical.
If you have a team with extra time on their hands, and experience in qualitative coding and text mining, you can tackle this in-house.
For organizations who lack qualified internal resources, Sequent offers a fast, affordable Website Footprint Analysis that can get you started with this type of measurement.
Depending on your needs, you may also consider working with us to analyze your:
- Sales Collateral Footprint
- Demand Gen / Lead Gen Footprint
- Self-Service Resources Footprint
Ready to
get in touch?
We’d love to understand the challenges you are facing, to see if we can help.
Send us an email at info@sequent.solutions and we’ll figure it out!
We look forward to connecting with you!
Ready to
get in touch?
We’d love to understand the challenges you are facing, to see if we can help.
Use the form to the right, or send us an email directly, to info@sequent.solutions
We look forward to connecting with you!