Reflection: A marketing manager’s approach to digital strategy
I have been working in marketing and communications since 2010.
The fact that I was a fresh graduate when social media was up and coming in the marketing space meant that I naturally fell into digital marketing.
This was fun initially, as we had a lot of room to experiment, grow and learn.
However, as I gained a few years of graduate experience, I found myself looking for a consistent approach. Something that would bring some structure to our digital strategy and ensure that social media was managed as part of a broader strategy and not in isolation.
My research led me to discover a digital strategy approach known as SOSTAC. Since discovering SOSTAC, I’ve applied this approach to various marketing and communication strategies and plans with excellent outcomes.
SOSTAC
SOSTAC is an acronym that stands for situation overview, objectives, strategy, tactics, action, and control. I’ll go into more detail about each of these below.
Situation overview
Start by providing an overview of the current situation. For example, you might use this template to develop a business case for a new social media channel or a proposal to launch a new campaign. Describe where the business, department or strategy is currently.
Objectives
Outline what you want to achieve (keep your objectives high-level, and consider how they align with the organisation’s vision).
Strategy
Provide high-level details about how you are going to achieve these objectives. Outline the plan.
Tactics
Provide more details about individual components. Suppose you were preparing a business case for a new social media channel, for example. In that case, the strategy might identify how this aligns with your broader marketing and communication activities. The tactics section provides an opportunity to develop a more granular plan - e.g. set SMART goals, and consider what you will employ to achieve those goals. In the case of a business plan for a new social media channel, that might be to have a paid advertising component, an organic content component, a paid influencer component, etc.
Action
Provide details about how you will execute the plan. For example, identify stakeholders, timeframes, budgets, approvals etc.
Control
I like to think of control as a measure or reporting. What are the key metrics that you will report on to determine success?
Good luck - I hope you find SOSTAC a helpful tool when developing your next marketing strategy!