What to consider for your digital presence…
In the twenty seven years that the Internet has existed, it has revolutionized the way we do things – in business not only from a marketing point-of-view but also from an online, networked operational and transactional perspective. In organizations generally, not an element remains unaffected.
The penchant for enterprises has always been to remain true to the crux of their activities, be that producing or supplying products or services, preferring to delegate non-core work not directly associated with profitable productivity to agents who would be specialists thereof.
The techspeak barrier
In the past, however, the delegating party would have some insight as to what could reasonably be expected of outsourced service providers; not so the IT industry in the current environment. What started off as a simple ‘website-&-search’ milieu took on additional elements and, necessarily, become vastly more complex and complicated in order to (1) mature into an effective infrastructure and (2) to deliver some sort of authenticity and transparency to internet users through user profiling and qualifying the layers in internet use. Our view is that a great failing of the IT industry, generally, is to offer the less-initiated solutions couched in ‘geekspeak’ – failing to clarify – in no uncertain terms – how they may serve the client’s needs, in profitable terms. At PlanMatrix we tend to differ, having developed out of the profit objective rather than technological ones.
A comprehensible strategy
Much as brick-&-mortar organizations have a footprint based on their geographical presences, internet users have a virtual footprint, but this is based more on the number of media an enterprise manages to be present – and active – in. We offer you the PlanMatrix Digital Footprint…
The integrated total solution
To begin with, we need to absorb the nuances and significances of the Foot metaphor as to its purpose and relevance to humans. It is the most-worked part of human anatomy and, for the most part, carries the physical weight of the entire organism. Often out of sight and the furthest distance from peoples’ sensory centres – particularly the eyes – feet are often overlooked for their significance to the success – and mobility – of humanity’s lives.
From the diagram above, one can see that your website takes occupation in the ‘heel’ of the Digital Footprint. It absorbs the impact of organizational activity first, and most. It is situated at the anchor point of the foot and, indeed, the entire ‘organism’.
Radiating outward from your website are the other major worldwide web points-of-presence – your blogging activity, advertising, social media accounts, search engine optimization, and email marketing and communication. These may be viewed as the ‘toes’ of your Digital Footprint.
Finally, somewhere in between the elements of your virtual personality – your website and your social media accounts, for example – are other places where you may be able to establish a listing and take advantage of mass targeted browsing spurred on by the activity, promotion, and encouragement of others. Directories, booking systems, review sites, and industry collaborations are examples of where you have minimal control over the appearance of your appearance but where you are exposed to large volumes of internet traffic. This would form the ‘arch’ area of your Digital Footprint.
What is important to note, however, is that everything in the above model is interconnected, integrated. This would suggest that a piece of material or data that is appropriate for your website is also suitable as adapted for your social media, may be emailed out to your stakeholder database, may feature as lucidity on directories, and such.
Much as continuity in corporate culture is axiomatic in advertising lore, so must strategic messages radiating out from your website communications.
The agency conclusion
This leads one to conclude that one’s website work, email comms, social media activity, etc. cannot be hived off to a range of ‘specialist’ agencies. To maximise effectivity, cognitive cohesion and to leverage common sense out of your situation, a single party should be able to run your critical communications and data dispersal through your entire internet presence without losing identity, theme, letter, or spirit.
Very few agencies can. Or will.
PlanMatrix is an exception – priding itself on a whole, integrated internet and web solution. It’s time to ask PlanMatrix Web what it can do for you – not how much money you can pour into the digital space…