Digital Strategy Conference

Wrap up: Digital Strategy Conference Vancouver 2014

by Kelly Kubrick on May 2, 2014

From April 29 – May 1, 2014, I had the pleasure of watching our second Digital Strategy Conference Vancouver unfold. We returned to UBC Robson Square and expanded the content to offer two tracks per day for all three days; nearly twice as many sessions as 2013. As co-founder of the event, I was pleased to moderate two tracks as well as present the latest on digital maturity.

On the presentation side, Andrea Hadley and I presented the Six Dimensions of Digital Maturity and provided initial findings from our dStrategy Digital Maturity Benchmark Survey 2014. I also facilitated three “Mapping Your Digital Maturity” sessions, each one intended to help our attendees better understand the benefits and mechanics of mapping their organization’s digital maturity.

Digital Strategy Conference Vancouver 2014 Key Stats:

In anticipation of testing an experimental session format – a Google Hangout with a virtual panel of speakers scattered across North America, we published a series of “Future of Work” blog posts in advance of the panel, to introduce everyone to those speakers.

As a digital analyst, I thoroughly enjoyed the task of moderating our Data Strategy and Analytics track, especially as it brought together analytics friends and colleagues old and new:

  1. David Jenkins, VP Data Intelligence, Traction
  2. Bryan Robertson, Senior Analyst, OpenRoad Communications
  3. Brent Dykes, Evangelist for Customer Analytics, Adobe and Author, Web Analytics Action Hero
  4. A panel that tackle how to Drive Competitive Advantage with Analytics and Data

On a personal note, my favourite sessions included Tim Goudie for the intriguing way he deconstructed Coca-Cola’s sustainability efforts via our digital maturity model; Ann Handley of MarketingProfs, simply because I’ve been a fan for years (I have her and C.C. Chapman’s book Content Rules on the bookshelf behind me) and Eric Hellweg for his thoughtful presentation on the impact of digital on the Harvard Business Review‘s processes and organizations.

Mark your calendars for Digital Strategy Conference Ottawa 2014

It was another great gathering and I’m already excited for next year. However, before then, we’ll gather Canada’s digital strategy community here in Ottawa, from September 30 – October 1, 2014 at Carleton University. Be sure to mark your calendars and join us for Digital Strategy Conference Ottawa 2014!

read more
Kelly KubrickWrap up: Digital Strategy Conference Vancouver 2014

Dear Diary, I had a Content Marketing Makeover Today

by Kelly Kubrick on April 30, 2014

First published Digital Strategy Conference blog, authored by Tara Dong: Lover of learning, coffee and all things digital. Social media junkie, digital strategy consultant, SFU instructor and raiser of super heroes with puppy breath. Want to know more about me? Visit spryberry.co

When I read through a conference line-up and see a name such as Ann Handley, that same little part of my brain lights up like it does when I find out my favourite shoe store is having a sale. The cynic in me then says: the deals won’t be THAT good, they won’t have my size left, I’m sure she just has a great content strategy and PR team. Well folks, the woman ahead of me in line just handed me the last pair of boots I was lusting after. In my size. At 95% off.

Ann dove into Dear Diary: A Content Marketing Makeover with an terrifyingly accurate representation of my day. She claims that this is a fictional marketer character, and I appreciated her use of a highly attractive model standing looking wistful and lost in a field…rather than one of me (covered in mud and pulling out my hair).

Dear Diary: Today I created a blog post and I tweeted four times. No one commented or retweeted me. I felt alone, especially when I went to my company Facebook page, and saw that my PTAT score is -42. How is that even possible? Only our Google+ is hopping. (Ha! Just kidding)

We emulate publishers, but the question is:

Are publishers the ones to emulate?

 

We can borrow much from what we know about publishing and modify it, but it’s not enough to be a publisher anymore. We need to give it a makeover:

  1. Focus on empathy and experiences instead of articles and blog posts
  2. Focus on relevance and inspiration
  3. Focus on useful

Useful x Empathy x Inspired = Great Content

 

The multiplication sign here is key, because if any of the three elements is zero, the result is ZERO.

I know, it’s easy for Ann to say this, but how do I know if I’m inspired (My mother thinks I’m brilliant – does that count?)? Fortunately she provided us with an easy to follow list of questions to ask to ensure that you’re useful, empathetic and inspired.

Ask yourself:

  1. Who do you want to reach?
  2. What value do you want to give?
  3. What do you want them to do next?
  4. “Will my customers thank me for this content?”

If so, then you know you are doing it right.

And so began a wonderful wander through examples from what best-in-class marketers are doing to create content.

Pillar Properties, an apartment rental firm in Seattle, is getting it right. Check out their development, The Lyric. They are providing real content that is useful, empathetic and inspired. They are using a lot of “you and yours” and not “us and them”. They are sharing about the community, and in it they are building community.

Don Murray, Author of Lessons from America’s Greatest Writing Teacher puts it this way, “Does what you’re delivering to your reader make them say: ‘Now listen to this, Ira!’?”

Wistia, a video marketing platform demonstrates both through their initial series, “Top Hat Tuesdays” and its deconstruction demonstrate a profound level of mastering Ann’s formula.

Levenfeld Pearlstein, a law firm, asked their employees revealing questions like “what did you want to be when you were a little girl” “If you could time travel where would you go?” telling the inner story of their people.

How do you do this?

  1. Tell stories about people
  2. Use fun language (“Don’t want to sign up for our email list? It’s ok, but you’re breaking our hearts”)
  3. make a commitment to think about things differently

What about SEO, does it matter?

Bottom Line:

The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing,

it feels like content.

Be sure to ask for an Indigo or Chapters card for your birthday because Ann is releasing a new book in August: Everybody Writes: Your essential guide to publishing content you’ll be ridiculous proud of.

About the author: Tara Dong
Lover of learning, coffee and all things digital. Social media junkie, digital strategy consultant, SFU instructor and raiser of super heroes with puppy breath. Want to know more about me? Visit spryberry.co
~ Tara Dong ~

read more
Kelly KubrickDear Diary, I had a Content Marketing Makeover Today

Every Bottle Has a Story: Digital Maturity Lessons from Coca-Cola Sustainability

by Kelly Kubrick on April 29, 2014

First published on the Digital Strategy Conference blog, authored by Tara Dong. Tara Dong:
Lover of learning, coffee and all things digital. Social media junkie, digital strategy consultant, SFU instructor and raiser of super heroes with puppy breath. Want to know more about me? Visit spryberry.co

There is no doubt in my mind, or likely anyone’s, that Coca-Cola is an international brand with serious clout.  This clout can raise both kudos, questions and criticisms.  Having volunteered extensively in some of the poorest regions of Mexico, I’ve watched with deep concern as parents gave their children bottles of Coca-Cola to drink because it is cheaper than bottled water and contain desperately needed calories.  Empty calories yes, but when your family is struggling to survive in a region with undrinkable water, you do what you can. I wondered to myself if Coca-Cola cared about these families, these impoverished communities…

Enter Tim Goudie, Social Media Director, Sustainability for Coca-Cola.  His presentation was powerful, but for more than its emotional impact on our attendees and organizers.

The Coca-Cola Company is 125+ year old organization that didn’t just transition into the digital and social business age, it is leading the way. Among many achievements in 2013: the Company was named the Cannes Lions Creative Marketer of the Year; it is in a 13-year run as Interbrand’s Most Valuable Global Brand; and the Company’s marketing strategies and innovative consumer engagement work earned it a place among Fast Company magazine’s Top 15 Most Innovative Companies in the World.

No small part of the Coca-Cola Company success is due to its strong leaders, including Tim. In 2005 Tim led a team of four people responsible for designing, building and delivering global interactive marketing experiences for key Coca-Cola Company brands across multiple markets in multiple languages; and contributed to the design and launch of coca-cola.com.  The organization journeyed towards sustainable growth by instituting five key “Principles for Change“.

Tim began by entertaining and moving us with how digital has both made us ridiculous and transformed lives.  He challenged the room to realize that sustainability is the next frontier, how we are giving back, treating the resources and communities that are entrusted to us is our Social Purpose.

Social Purpose becomes the single most important factor in distinguishing you from your competitors.

Coke is seeking to: refresh the world, inspire moments of optimism and happiness, and create value and make a difference.

These are wonderful ideas, but how do you tell someone who is making less than $1 a day that you want to “inspire moments of optimism and happiness”?  You don’t, instead you move to the third element and create value and make a difference.

The model behind Coca-Cola’s magic

Social Business Strategy | If you have a hierarchical structure that is not nimble and responsive, and you’re compensated to operate within that structure, human nature says that’s where you’re going to operate.  That structure needs to be turned on it’s head if what we want is nimble and responsive.

Data & Technology | Measurement is essential, you need tools, good ones to measure if your campaigns are having any effect on consumer trust.  You need to know who, what, when, where, why.  And tell your data story, Coke turns each 60+ page report into a one page infographic summary that can be given to executive, etc.

Content Strategy | Once you know your data and demographics, adjust your content to suit your followers.  Coke liked creating documentary style stories, some upwards of 5 minutes.  To respect and engage their audience these lengthy videos needed to be turned into 30 seconds “shorts” that engage on mobile devices, and then funnel their audience to YouTube. On YouTube their longer videos were there for those interested.  More shockingly Coca-Cola discovered if they dropped their branding off the first posts (30 second videos) their engagement rates went up all the way down the chain, ultimately leading audience to the journey website .

Channel Strategy | Stick to the meat and potatoes (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) and avoid shiny pennies (Pinterest, Vine) where you can’t target by demographic. Don’t pay to target people you’re not trying to reach.

Tim Goudie, Social Media Director, Sustainability, The Coca Cola Company

read more
Kelly KubrickEvery Bottle Has a Story: Digital Maturity Lessons from Coca-Cola Sustainability

Six Dimensions of Digital Maturity – Introductory Review

by Kelly Kubrick on April 29, 2014

Originally published on the Digital Strategy Conference blog; republished with permission from dStrategy Media. Author: Jeremy Whittingstall – Professional communicator with a penchant for filmmaking on the side. Masters Degree. Accredited Business Communicator. Husband. Dad.

Take a deep breath, here is the Digital Maturity Model™ from 10,000 ft

The Digital maturity Model exist to give perspective on your current state and prepare you for moving forward. In 2013, Andrea Hadley and Kelly Kubrick introduced the dStrategy Digital Maturity Model™ and over the past year have conducted research that suggests the point in which an organization graduates from one level of maturity to the next. When you understand how the dimensions of digital maturity are measured, you’ll be better positioned to rate where your organization stands today and how to anticipate the next curve in the road.

Let’s dive in!

What is Digital Strategy?

Digital strategy is the process of identifying, articulating and executing on digital opportunities that will increase your organization’s competitive advantage.

So – if digital strategy is a process, remember that a process presumes a progression – from an initial starting point, to the approach of and overtaking of milestones to destinations both identified and unknown.

However, most of us need something far more concrete to take those first steps into digital. A practical and efficient way to do this is to take advantage of established planning tools, such as a maturity models. “Maturity Models” are a tried and tested planning tool and can be found across industries and topics.

Maturity Model = Planning Tool

“Maturity” relates to the degree of formality and optimization of processes. Think about a process in your organization, complex or simple:

  1. Opening a new store
  2. Publishing a web page or email newsletter issue
  3. Producing a conference

As a planning tool, maturity models can be used to help you improve these processes by assessing your approach to them today. As with other maturity models, the Digital Maturity Model™ is also a business planning tool. It is intended to help your organization assess and improve its digital processes.

The Six Dimensions of Digital Maturity

Think of these as the resources and capabilities your organization must have in place in order to identify, articulate and execute on digital opportunities.

  1. Human Resources
  2. Technology Resources
  3. Data Strategy
  4. Content Strategy
  5. Channel Strategy
  6. Social Business Strategy

Ratings of Digital Maturity

The second key component in the Digital Maturity Model™ is the rating scale. The model contains assessment criteria you can use to rate your organization’s current approach to each dimension.

Image of dStrategy Digital Maturity Model™

dStrategy Digital Maturity Model™

Breaking down the dimensions

Human Resources

The first dimension of digital maturity is Human Resources. Think of your people in three different groups:

  1. People currently working with digital technology and process.
  2. Senior management / C-suite looking at threats and opportunities resulting from digital, and the impact of digital on the organization’s business model
  3. People who are not using digital technologies, processes or media who could be; finding increased efficiencies

Now, think about your organization’s approach to its people working on digital:

  1. Who are they and what level are they at?
  2. Is digital their primary responsibility or is it an ‘off the corner of their desk’ prioritization?
  3. What kind of organizational support is provided?
  4. Do they work alone or as part of a larger team?
  5. Do they report to management that has digital training and or expertise?
  6. If part of a team, is the team predominantly working on digital or non-digital initiatives?
  7. What kind of training – in digital – is provided to those resources?
Technology Resources

The second dimension of digital maturity addresses your organization’s approach to the technology resources your organization uses to implement its digital initiatives. Think about your organization:

  1. Which technologies have you invested into support your digital initiatives?
  2. How are those technologies used / supported?
  3. Are the technologies used by individuals? By teams? Or across the organization?
  4. What policies and procedures do you have in place to govern the use of the technologies?

We’ve identified four core technology categories:

  1. Content management systems
  2. Analytics
  3. Channel management
  4. Social business
Data Strategy

Data strategy reflects all the ways you capture, store, manage and use information. What do we mean by data? Your data sources might include:

  1. Email marketing, Social media and/or campaign data from ad networks or paid search
  2. Market Research data from surveys, focus groups or usability testing
  3. Sales, prospecting or lead nurturing data; or CRM data; ecommerce data
  4. Call center data from call logs, interactive voice response (IVR)
  5. Web analytics data from tools such as Adobe Analytics or Google Analytics
  6. Data from Content Management System or social business tools

In our “digital” world, it is a key dimension of our digital strategy. Data is the output of the implementation of our digital initiatives and it is what’s driving continuous improvement processes (or optimization); as well as increased accountability and the opportunity for making more informed business decisions.

Content Strategy

This section relates to your organization’s approach to content. content strategy is a comprehensive process that builds a framework to create, manage, deliver, share and archive or renew content in reliable ways. Remember, your content assets could include:

  1. Sales / advertising collateral
  2. Product support and / or customer service content
  3. User generated content such as reviews, testimonials, customer service tickets.
Channel Strategy

Our model assumes three potential channels you may be leveraging:

  1. Marketing/Communications channels
  2. Transaction enabling channels
  3. Distribution channels

You’ll notice that “mobile” is not a channel – instead, our model assumes your digital channel interactions regardless of the customers use of desktop web vs mobile environments.

Social Business Strategy

“Social business” is an emerging term with a three pronged approach. It presumes an intent to interact and collaborate:

  1. With your community (Requires a foundation in social media)
  2. Between your employees (Requires the culture and technology to support a collaborative work environment)
  3. Between your customers (Requires infrastructure to support their efforts)

The Social Business Dimension speaks to the organization’s approach to interaction and collaboration with all three audiences.

So that’s it! The Digital Maturity Model from 10,000 ft. Over the next three days we will be going into granular detail on what each dimension means and how to map it for your company. Stay tuned!

kellykubrick_100

Kelly Kubrick, President, Online Authority / Partner, dStrategy Media

andreahadley_100

Andrea Hadley, Conference Chair, Digital Strategy Conference Vancouver

read more
Kelly KubrickSix Dimensions of Digital Maturity – Introductory Review
rating scale

How mature are we, digitally?

by Kelly Kubrick on February 3, 2014

Originally published on the Digital Strategy Conference blog; republished with permission from dStrategy Media. Post updated with availability of subsequent Benchmark surveys.

Share your digital experience

Consider participating in our digital evolution by completing the dStrategy Digital Maturity Benchmark Survey online.

When we first formed dStrategy Media to launch Digital Strategy Conference, we kicked off the Vancouver and Ottawa events by introducing the dStrategy Digital Maturity Model™. Not only did the audience confirm the tremendous value that our digital maturity model provides, they promptly asked, “what’s next?”

Benchmark our industry’s digital processes

Both in answer to that question, and to help our digital strategy community plan for the coming year, we are fielding a research study. Our findings, along with a review of the Six Dimensions of Digital Maturity, will be delivered at the next Mapping Digital Maturity Workshop.

We welcome your participation by completing the dStrategy Digital Maturity Benchmark Survey online.

How does your organization compare?

Interested in learning more? Consider our Mapping Digital Maturity corporate training – a practical, hands-on day of learning help your organization create its road map for digital success.

To learn more about the Digital Maturity model, research or workshop, contact Kelly Kubrick.

read more
Kelly KubrickHow mature are we, digitally?

Digital Strategy Conference Ottawa 2013 Wrap Up

by Kelly Kubrick on June 6, 2013

Digital Strategy Conference Ottawa 2013We did it! Ottawa came together to get strategic with digital – and what an adventure: Digital Strategy Conference Ottawa 2013 has finished. Thank you, thank you, thank you – to our attendees, to our speakers, to our sponsors and to our team – you ALL rock.

Following the success of Digital Strategy Conference Vancouver 2013, Ottawa dove deep into the fundamentals of digital strategy. Over 20 speakers delivered a packed agenda of content, tackling key areas of learning including digital maturity, content strategy, mobile strategy social business strategy. We heard some amazing keynotes and case studies – from arts to tourism to pizza – from a wide range industries, and across sector.

Digital Strategy Conference Ottawa 2013The room buzzed with great conversations and the #dstrategy Twitter hashtag was on fire!

As in Vancouver, I was particularly pleased about the audience’s response to both our definition of digital strategy and to the dStrategy Media Digital Maturity Model. The model is a business planning tool that my business partner, Andrea Hadley and I developed to help organizations identify necessary resources / investments to implement digital strategy.

Digital Strategy Conference Ottawa 2013To learn more about the model, please feel free to listen to “Understand Your Organization’s Digital Maturity” podcast from IABC Ottawa’s The Voice – many thanks to Danny Starr for a great conversation about digital strategy!

I’d also like to thank Chamika Ailapperuma and Arianne Mulaire, who put in yeoman’s effort to capture the sessions via the Ottawa 2013 blog posts and  Twitter.

What a great experience – I can’t wait for next year!

Updated – thanks to Les Faber of WebFuel and David Bird of Bird’s Eye Marketing for their blog posts on the conference – enjoy!

  1. WebFuel: Digital Strategy Conference Ottawa 2013 Recap
  2. Bird’s Eye Marketing: Ottawa Digital Strategy Conference Review of Day 1 and 2

See you next year!

 

read more
Kelly KubrickDigital Strategy Conference Ottawa 2013 Wrap Up

Establishing Digital Maturity

by Kelly Kubrick on June 3, 2013

First published on the Digital Strategy Conference blog by Arianne Mulaire. Arianne is a co-founder of Reachology, an Ottawa-based digital marketing firm. As managing partner, she creates and manages online presences for organizations both large and small, private and public. Follow her on twitter @amulaire.

Session Presented by:

Kelly Kubrick, Partner and co-Founder, Digital Strategy Conference and President, Online Authority   – @KellyKubrick
Andrea Hadley, Partner and co-Founder, Digital Strategy Conference  –  @AndreaHadley

“Maturity models exist to give perspective on your current state and prepare you for moving forward. You will learn how to assess your organization’s level of maturity with respect to digital, and the degree of formality and optimization of processes currently in place.

Understanding your organization’s digital maturity provides an effective approach toward improving related processes. We’ll help you recognize key signposts to help with your planning so you’ll understand where you stand today and how to anticipate the next curve in the road.”

This is to help you planning your digital strategy by first determining the digital maturity of your organization.

The maturity model is a traditional tool that has been reformatted to reflect the digital world.

This is a process where you move from milestone to milestone.

The dimensions for digital maturity are:

  • human resources
  • technology resources
  • data strategy
  • content strategy
  • channel strategy
  • social business strategy

These are the dimensions that should be considered and rated individually. From level 0 to level 3 (none, low, medium, and high).

Over the next three days you will be able to assess where your organization is and how to move it forward.

As you map your organizational readiness, you will see how it maps out. There are no right answers. All organizations map differently. The goal is to have a balanced maturity level through all dimensions.

Use the summary of indicators, dimensions and ratings to define where your organization is.

Human resources

Level 0 – There is no presence.

Low – Very limited resources and not supported by training.

Medium – Teams are forming around digital (internal or external), limited support, some expertise by leads, management has no training. Still have to sell digital to the organization.

High – Resources are embedded in cross functional teams, digital specialists are on staff, ongoing training including industry certification, resources are supported, management has understanding or expertise.

Technology resources

Technologies necessary: marketing and communications, collaboration tools, customer relationship management tool, analytics to measure

Level 0 – There is no presence, no investment in technologies necessary.

Low – Little bit of everything, everyone in different directions, using different tools, it’s like “herding of cats.”

Medium – More organization, uniformity in training, can manage complex processes, some departments are looking to participate, it is a dedicate line item – budget.

High – Everything is talking to one another, you use the systems and help them talk to one another,  you have the people that are part of the system, in the center of it.

Data strategy

Data strategy: reflects all the ways you capture, store, manage and use information. How you use data is key to your success.

Level 0 – Information is in cabinets, there is no digital data.

Low – Online and offline data, but still in silos, decision velocity is quarterly or annually, you are therefore using old data, there are data gaps and denial of the risk (lack of governance) of not having digital data.

Medium – Value the data, use the data in some strategic ways to optimize/improve, tools are implemented, decision velocity is daily or weekly, act on the data regularly, nothing is automated, governance is planned and initiated.

High – Data is an asset, decision velocity is now realtime, can take advantage of data, automated, secured, formal risk management plan.

Content strategy

The term is starting to come up more frequently.  It’s a comprehensive process that builds a framework to create, manage, deliver, share and archive or renew content in reliable ways.

Looking at: inventory and formats, location and storage, development process, publishing process, performance measurement and evaluation as well as archiving process.

Level 0 – Developing content for single use.

Low – Digital format is now starting to appear, not consistent, silos of production within the process, awareness of repurposing through different formats, content is becoming available digitally, but not online.

Medium – Source content is now consistent, centralized production, multiple digital formats, starting to allow user generated content (e.g. comments), content is available on the network, objectives are set and evaluation is now ongoing rather than once a year.

High – Adaptive content (format free, device independent, transformable and in an automated fashion).

Channel strategy
Three categories :
  • Marketing – paid, owned
  • Transaction enabling – financial/e-commerce, application forms, voting online, lead generations
  • Digital distribution – OEM, direct, partner and affiliate
Level 0 – No digital communications, no use of transaction enabling or distribution.

Low – Pieces are in play, but not aligned with business objectives, vertical siloes, ad hoc.

Medium – Multichannel marketing, objectives are validated, planning and funding are in place, a need for governance is articulated.

High – Multichannel strategy, regular evaluation, governance established.

Social business strategy

“Ways social media tools and practices are being adopted within organizations to support both internal employee collaboration and external customer engagement.”
– Dion Hinchcliffe and Peter Kim, Designing a Social Business (recommended reading)
  • External – YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
  • Reviews and ratings
  • Internal applications for employees and suppliers

Level 0 – No use of any customer facing application, low awareness of social business.

Low – Silos of social activity, fragmented, ad hoc representation, an employee is becoming the defacto social media person, sporadic usage.

Medium – Awareness across the organization that social media can be used above marketing and communications, understanding of value, key performance indicators, cross usage.

High – Customers help you, social media and collaboration is both internal and external, social media is no longer only a marketing tool.

 

 

References:

  1. “Social Business By Design” · Dachis Group · June 3, 2013 · www.socialbusinessbydesign.com
  2. “@jeffhorne” · Jeff Horne · June 3, 2013 · Twitter
  3. “@mandirv” · Mandi Relyea-Voss · June 3, 2013 · Twitter
  4. “@ResultsJunkie” · Laura Wesley · June 3, 2013 · Twitter
  5. “@StruttinMyStuff” · Lisa Georges · June 3, 2013 · Twitter
  6. “@scottduncan” · Scott Duncan · June 3, 2013 · Twitter
  7. “@joegollner” · Joe Gollner · June 3, 2013 · Twitter
read more
Kelly KubrickEstablishing Digital Maturity

Digital strategy for Ottawa Chamber of Commerce Members

by Kelly Kubrick on May 23, 2013

First published in the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce email Newsletter, May 23, 2013

What is Your Company’s Digital Strategy?

Many businesses are aware of the potential digital represents – perhaps for cost savings and improved efficiencies; perhaps for increased sales – but ultimately, for improvement in the overall business. Yet, there is also a sense of feeling overwhelmed by digital and its never-ending waves of change. Which path to take: web? Email? Mobile? Social? All of the above? What to do?

Digital strategy is about competitive advantage

Take a step back to see the larger horizon: your company’s digital strategy is about more than the latest buzzword. Instead, its potential makes it about the larger issue of competitive advantage – identifying it, articulating it, and achieving it.

Yesterday, digital opportunities were limited by bandwidth and a lack of critical mass in the marketplace. Today, digital allows us to better connect our people – customers, constituents, donors, employees, partners – to improve the experience of doing business with our organization. Improving that experience pays off – retaining a customer, employee or supplier is simply more cost effective than acquiring new.

Yet, we’re also challenged by the simple reality that the way our digital stakeholders interact, learn and share has outpaced business’ ability to respond. And every succeeding generation appears to have an instinctive understanding of this world which most of us are still learning. Great. Now what?

Address organizational expectations vs. operational readiness

Make a plan that addresses the realities of organizational expectations and operational readiness. It will become the road map that connects the reality of where you are and where you need to go, to meet those evolving expectations. Identify the risks digital might bring, but don’t let them stop you from uncovering new opportunities. Finally, take advantage of the insights digital data generates – it’s what makes digital fundamentally different from our offline world.

In reality, digital is impacting across all channels, is forcing transparency, and is making it easier for new competition. Organizations that take digital out of its marketing and technology silos and see it a competitive advantage are weaving their digital strategy into their business strategy – challenging what was, acknowledging what is and planning for what could be.

Get advice from other companies facing the same challenges

What’s the next step? Attend Digital Strategy Conference, the first of its kind in the National Capital. From June 3-5, 2013, benefit from three days of advice on how to articulate your company’s digital strategy.

Ottawa Chamber of Commerce members receive a special discount!. Please visit members only section on the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce website.

It’s time to get strategic with digital.

read more
Kelly KubrickDigital strategy for Ottawa Chamber of Commerce Members
rating scale

Understand Your Organization’s Digital Maturity podcast episode from The Voice

by Kelly Kubrick on May 22, 2013

Assessing digital maturity can help your organization prioritize

With Digital Strategy Conference Vancouver 2013 behind us and our next edition, Digital Strategy Conference Ottawa 2013 only days away, I was very pleased to be invited to participate in IABC Ottawa’s the Voice podcast, to talk about the concept of digital maturity that we proposed last month in Vancouver.IABC Ottawa’s the Voice podcast logo

I had the chance to sit down with Danny Starr, host of The Voice podcast for a chat about the launch of dStrategy Media, our proposed Digital Maturity Model and the upcoming Ottawa conference. The podcast, The Voice Episode 58: Understand Your Organization’s Digital Maturity with Kelly Kubrick runs about 20 minutes long, and in it Danny and I discuss:

  • What digital maturity is
  • Why is it important for an organization to assess its maturity
  • Why digital maturity should be looked at horizontally, across your organization, not simply as a marketing-communications issue
  • The Six Dimensions of Digital Maturity, and how they are rated
  • What types of indicators are used in the dStrategy Media Digital Maturity Model
  • How to manage an organization’s tendency to rate itself too highly
  • Who could take charge of the effort to rate your organization’s digital maturity
  • Symptoms or signs that your organization may not be as mature, digitally, as it thinks
  • What the next steps are once an organization has assessed it’s maturity

My thanks to IABC Ottawa, supporting sponsor of Digital Strategy Conference Ottawa 2013, and the crew from The Voice, for giving me the chance to explain more about our proposed business planning tool

Listen: Understand Your Organization’s Digital Maturity podcast from the Voice

Have a listen to episode 82 and let us know your thoughts. During the Ottawa conference, we’ll be presenting two case studies – from a non-profit and from a for profit company, who undertook our digital maturity assessment.

read more
Kelly KubrickUnderstand Your Organization’s Digital Maturity podcast episode from The Voice

It’s a wrap: Digital Strategy Conference Vancouver 2013

by Kelly Kubrick on April 30, 2013

What an excellent three days!

I’m back from Digital Strategy Conference Vancouver 2013, where we dove deep into the fundamentals of digital strategy. Over 20 speakers / 20 sessions, great conversations in-person and via Twitter (search for the hashtag #dstrategy).

My brain is full.

In particular, I’m very pleased about the audience’s response to the dStrategy Media Digital Maturity Model, a framework that my business partner, Andrea Hadley, and I developed. It’s intended as a business planning tool, to help organizations better understand all the moving parts needed to develop their digital strategy.

Thanks to the furiously-fast writing of Joanne Probyn, we were able to capture an overview of the sessions via the Vancouver 2013 blog posts.

Finally, huge thanks Big thanks to Juliana Loh and Trevor Jansen for their expert photography and visual media services. Take a moment to enjoy the show for yourself via the Vancouver photo gallery.

And the countdown is now on… we’re only a few shorts weeks out from Digital Strategy Conference Ottawa 2013 – hope to see you at the University of Ottawa from June 3 – 5, 2013!

read more
Kelly KubrickIt’s a wrap: Digital Strategy Conference Vancouver 2013

Featured Blog Post

Six Dimensions of Digital Maturity: dStrategy Digital Maturity Model™

Recent Posts

Categories