6 Reasons to Invest Time into your Digital Strategy & Planning

Whether you are scrambling from an email request sent by your boss or simply trying to get ahead of your marketing efforts, putting time into strategy and planning is something we rarely have time for, but benefit greatly from. After all – what’s the point of planning when you can just coast and create cool content, right? Spoiler alert: it will help you and your team tremendously. Here’s why:

1. It allows you to create content with a goal in mind.

When your team is preparing and executing content, the first question should always be, which of our objectives does this relate back to?  If you can’t identify an objective, you should scratch it from the list.

2. It inspires your team to work towards an achievable goal.

Is your goal is to increase revenue by 10%, build a community of rallying supporters, or drive engagement by 5%? Having a goal to work towards will be inspiring for your team. It gives you the opportunity to provide updates when appropriate, and constantly find ways to optimize and refresh your content.

3. It opens the dialogue for collaboration and discussion.

It’s not uncommon make significant project into a process without realizing that nobody has stopped to ask, what are we truly trying to achieve here? If you are working on behalf of a client, it’s even more important to put time into this. You will be pleasantly surprised at how many thoughtful dialogues this will spark – possibly even beyond what you are immediately tasked with.

4. You will spend less time putting out fire drills and more time creating high-quality content.

The seasonal/cultural holidays & days worth marking down will be different based on what your team focuses on – but by slating this carefully at the beginning of the year, you will be well prepared by the time Memorial Day comes around for your military clients. Instead of rushing to create a one-off asset, you can have a 360 campaign planned and executed.

5. It’s a place to refer back to when you hit a wall.

Your strategy is your creative backbone when you are struggling to produce content. If you’re feeling uninspired or not quite sure where to start, referring back to your strategy can not only get the left side of your brain going, but it can also point out creative content that you have yet to execute

6. It will allow you to take a 50,000 foot review.

Pausing to look at the bigger picture in your role, dealing with your client, or completing something you are tasked with can be difficult on a day-to-day basis. While checklist mentality is needed for deliverables, taking a step back to review the overall picture will help you get far fast. It will assist you when working through difficult situations, point out opportunities to bridge a gap that you may have not even known existed, and most importantly, push you to avoid complacency.