Digital Strategy

Every digital project you create, every website you launch, every piece of digital content or functionality you develop should…

Support your organizational goals and strategy

Begin every project or effort with a clear understanding of the organizational strategy, goals and objectives it is intended to further. What does success look like -- not just digital success, but organizational success overall?
Understand the needs, goals and motivations of key project stakeholders. Where do they align (with each other and with the organization), and where might they be at odds?
Consider how those organizational goals might translate into SMART goals for the digital project or effort. Are they specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timebound?
In cases where the project intends to support multiple organizational goals, make sure to understand the relative priority of those goals for the organization. This can involve difficult conversations, but every project will encounter decisions -- in architecture, design, content planning, resourcing, or sustainment -- that will be informed by those priorities.

Review the organizational goals, strategy and priorities that you have already defined.
Determine what audience(s) will be most important in helping you to achieve those goals. The more specifically you can describe them, the more successfully you will be able to study, target and connect with them.
Inventory what you know, assume or believe about them up front – but be prepared to discover new things about them that will challenge your assumptions and beliefs.

Study your target audience, using a variety of appropriate methodologies -- analytics, market research, interviewing, focus groups, surveys, observation. Consider their entire journey: what occurs prior to them going online, what they look for or do when they are online, and what they do afterwards.
Use these methods and information to understand their motivations, their needs, and their typical/common behaviors, as well as the language and organizational/navigational structures that make sense to them.
From the findings and evidence that emerges from this research, identify functional goals or task objectives that are valuable for those users – as well as gaps between your organization’s expectations and your users’ expectations
Identify areas of natural intersection where you can help your users achieve their high-value goals, while simultaneously supporting your organizational goals. These areas of alignment should comprise the primary focus of your strategy and work.

Plan, design, build, and sustain all digital properties in a manner that is universally accessible to all members of your target audience:
- Create products that are standards-compliant and responsive, to function well on all devices (current and future)
- Create products that are accessible to users who employ assistive technology
- Understand the language and terminology that your target audience uses so you can create content that communicates clearly and avoids jargon
Use research and analytics to stay current with shifts in your audience's usage patterns
Stay current with emerging trends in platforms/devices, technology and standards

Design digital pathways, navigation and organizational structures around users’ top goals, using the words they normally use – not around the organization’s management/departmental structure or org chart.
Get to the point: streamline language, page design and navigation so that users can achieve their goals quickly and efficiently.
Make users feel comfortable: be friendly and expert, show you the organization supports the user’s goals (not the other way around). Explain clearly without patronizing.
Digest content and give enough context, so that the user understands why that content is important and how it helps them achieve their objective
Online users skim and forage to find direction to the content they need – they do not read in depth. Use shorter sentences, structure documents clearly with headings, and use lists where helpful. Don’t “bury the lede” – keep calls to action prominent and up-front.
Consider how users search: for every piece of digital content that you want to make findable, identify the word(s) or phrase(s) that your audience will use when searching for that information or completing that task. Build those terms into page titles, headings, body copy, and other areas as appropriate.

Digital is dynamic – plan from the outset for how you will sustain and enhance your digital projects and content going forward, including resources, management, processes and governance.
Measure your progress toward your goals on an ongoing basis – not just your web goals and user behavior, but your overall organizational goals
Organizational goals will evolve, so make sure that you understand and anticipate those shifts and are able to adjust your digital work’s alignment with those goals accordingly
Plan for ongoing, iterative improvement using a structured, regular cycle of assessment, analysis, design, development, and further testing.
Use flexible tools, methods and processes, such as templates and guidelines, to encourage participation, as opposed to limiting creativity through templates or restrictions.