It's digital - i dispels doubt

In December 2007 the BBC's new-fangled iplayer received 3.5 million requests to download or view programmes. In December 2008 that figure had grown to 41 milllion.

That's how much digital media are growing, and it's why, if you haven't started yet, you need a digital marketing strategy.

And before you ask, yes, it is your target market who are using the web. In fact, it's everybody's target market. When, with Nurtural, we survey University alumni we ask what their preferred medium us for receiving communications from their alma mater. Between 75% and 85%, right across the age range, say email.

My co-director tells of sitting on a train listening to a group of older women discussing needle point. The interesting thing is that a main topic of discussion was which websites to go to to download the best patterns.

But let's get a few things straight. Digital hasn't replaced other media it's added to them. Digital hasn't killed print any more than video killed the radio star. Direct mail is still highly responsive, telemarketing still has its place, and just last week I saw an excellent set of results that showed we can still recruit donors off page at a profit - even for quite difficult causes.

And that means that 'having a digital strategy' doesn't mean keeping your website up to date and sending out an e-newsletter once a quarter. What it does mean is planned, sequenced, targetted communications.

As such, it offers us the greatest opportunity I've ever seen in my marketing career.

Digital offers the opportunity of relatively frequent, relatively low cost communications with supporters, and if it's permission based, people love it. Frankly, it's God's gift to the marketer in a recession. On a limted budget, you can retain contact and loyalty at a time when limiting the budget and retaining loyalty are more important things to do than ever before.

Use it cleverly, and when you send direct mail, or telephone, or meet up, you'll have all the more success, because you've laid the foundations properly. In fact, it's not a really a 'digital strategy' at all, it's a strategy that contains digital.