Investing in the perfect technology is only half of the puzzle to creating a beautiful digital experience. No-one just buys a flashy website tool and that’s the end of it – we wish that was that simple.
As your business scales, your digital infrastructure must grow too, and to accommodate for future growth, this often happens faster than the growth of the business itself.
Alongside the obvious expansion in your technology, you’ll also need the team to support it. From technical teams and designers, to project managers and content editors, there are a whole host of people involved in the discovery, design and implementation of your digital ecosystem.
Up until only quite recently, small Digital Marketing teams of a handful of multi-skilled people were able to handle most of the marketing activities alone.
Now with extensive demand on creating more content, more personalisation and more speed, no marketer can be expected to handle this enormity of work from creative to technical, on their own, no matter how skilled they are or for how long they work.
Critically, a digital transformation is powered by cutting edge technology, quality content and an experience-lead strategy to fit the needs of your customers. So you need to ensure you have the best possible teams ready to work on this throughout your project.
Strong ongoing relationships with your internal and specialist agency teams with defined roles is essential for managing your digital marketing projects. Yet this isn’t always something digital leads consider BEFORE embarking on a digital transformation and this means problems later down the line.
So how do you choose the right internal and third party teams for digital success in 2022? We’ve rounded up 4 things we advise clients to consider when planning their digital teams.
1. Look at the landscape of your business and your digital marketing goals.
As with any planning, understanding your needs and priorities is always key. Even if you don’t have a strategy yet, your goals will help you map out who you need.
At this stage you’ll be able to identify which platforms you want to use and where to allocate the most budget.
It may seem basic, but if you are trying to increase acquisition, spending time designing beautiful ads to build brand awareness may be a less effective use of your team resources than, for example, having personalized sales pages for customers depending on where they are in your funnel. The key is understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your funnel across all your digital channels.
2. Conduct a skills audit for your current team members and identify any gaps.
A lot of the time, we find clients have strengths in some departments but are missing team members who are vital to an upcoming project. This can mean delays in getting your new website, app or programme live (we all know the time taken to get new budget sign-off and recruit team members!)
Maybe you have a lot of content editors but no developers to implement the tech or a design idea but no designers to make it a reality. Perhaps you have an in house development team but no real strategy or maybe all you have is the big idea and need an experienced agency to help guide you in how to make that vision a reality. When you know your skills gaps you can hire in the best teams and be sure you’ll hit the ground running!
We much prefer this method than simply opting for an agency which takes everything from you and hides their process behind smoke and mirrors without really understanding the specific technology which works best for your business. The most successful client-agency relationships require buy-in from client teams who are also heavily involved in digital transformation to get the best results.
You can even select a few specialist agencies and teams which are experts in the skills gaps you have identified, rather than paying a hefty fee for things you already have.
3. Imagine your ideal team, who you need at each step and what their role will include
There may be a number of roles you haven’t considered yet, so working with experienced consultants, like Nemetos Tanasuk, in the discovery phase can help you to work out roles before you allocate the budget.The last thing you want is to have to go back to the finance department to ask for more money for full-time roles!
Some roles to consider:
> Content managers/editors
> Digital strategists
> Developers
> Project managers
> Front end UX developers
> Designers
> Security and privacy experts
If you’re outsourcing anything, consider the credibility of your hires. Agencies may have a lot of testimonials but check these are backed up with support, not just from a skill-set point of view, but also from a personal perspective. You will be spending a lot of time with your agency, so make sure your personalities align!
Remember, sometimes bigger does not mean better, and you could end up being a little fish in a big pond rather than getting the personalized, hands-on experience you deserve.
4. Set up an ongoing upkeep plan
Getting to “go live” date is a mix of exhilaration and relief (trust us, we’ve done it over 100 times) But once everything is up and running, the next step is a plan of action to keep your technology up to date, with brand new content which achieves your vision.
One of the ways Nemetos does this is by handing over our skillset or upleveling teams with skills that your teams need in-house, so that you’re not locked into a partnership that makes you dependent on us, but allows you to reach out if you need.
Of course, we ensure clients are always supported in the long term if they choose, so we will be your go-to for any technical difficulties, and offer a helping hand whenever you need us. This way, our clients get as much or as little support as they like after projects and can always trust our team if they need anything new.
If you’d like to work with us, we’d love to hear from you. We run coffee and croissant consultations where you can come in and meet our team with all your digital questions.
If you prefer to speak to us online, please send an email here.
