Vision Reports - a view of the work a digital advocate produces
Last time I explained the thinking behind the digital marketing advocate, and the situations that led me to create the role. This time I want to start exploring the actual deliverables that I work on for clients and what they are, how they are produced and what their value is. Over the next few posts, I’ll map out quick sketches of several of the core services and what I believe they offer my clients.
Vision Reports
The Vision Report is a quarterly state of the union for the client. Report data comes from the client as well as any third party vendors that can contribute to the Reports value.
It begins by reiterating all current marketing goals and any new or in process hot items that are still in play. Given that goals within large organizations can change quarter to quarter and year to year, it is intended to be a current and historical snapshot for the organization of all digital marketing activities.
Next is a section on current channels that are in use supporting the various goals. This is a matrix of goals, activities and basic campaign reports - a marketing map of activity, helping the marketers better understand overlap and potential integration value from multiple campaigns supporting a single goal.
The Vision Report then focuses on current political challenges or opportunities that are being tracked. Current tactics in play as well as anticipated goals/timelines for these relationships is documented to help ensure people issues aren’t impeding marketing goals.
Moving into a section on competitive updates and tracking gives my clients a view of things happening in their market that they may or may not be aware of yet. The goal of creating this section is to ensure that clients have as much visibility as possible into their top competition’s site features, content, campaigns and channels they are using. Any metrics that are being tracked for competitive measure are also included in quarterly reports.
The report closes with coverage of emerging trends or channels that present opportunities in the client space. It also serves as a spot for updating trends that have been captured in past Vision Reports. The goal is to keep a historical record of all channels in play or under consideration in the overall marketing map.
Formatting
The Vision Report will be delivered as a PowerPoint deck in the clients templates, in MS Word format for easy printing, in HTML for use on a corporate intranet or email newsletter, and in client specific Wiki Markup so that it can go right into the organizations Wiki. Any other formats that the client believes will help in disseminating and spreading the Vision Report will be used.
Goal of the Vision Report
Give the client the best and most recent information on their market, their progress on core goals, and trends that could influence future decision making. Ensure that the client provides a consistent and strong voice within the organization. Establish corporate mindshare over digital marketing topics, emerging channels and current digital markeing activities.
Next time I’ll cover Executive Coaching and Training. This is an area that is often ignored within most marketing agencies because they feel like their client can do all of the fighting/explaining on their behalf. In the digital marketing world, the complexities of the business language along with the solutions means that most executives could use coaching intended to help them better articulate to their various audiences what they need to be successful.
© 2008 Keith Boswell
Tags: Digital Marketing Advocate, Marketing Intelligence, Vision Reports