In this presentation, Paddy talks about how to think about digital strategy during uncertain times, exploring the concept of deliberate and emergent strategy as a way to navigate them.

1. TTLPRESENTS2020GETTINGYOUNOTICEDONLINE
Changing your Digital Strategy
and Approach due to COVID-19
Paddy Moogan, Co-founder, Aira

2. My job

3. I make decisions about Aira

4. I help clients make decisions
about their digital strategy

5. “Paddy, should we do this thing?”

7. Six months ago...

8. “Will adding content to a page help with SEO?”

9. “Should we try Dynamic Search Ads within
paid search?”

10. “Should we use AMP?”

11. “Should we invest more in technical SEO?”

13. Now...

14. What does digital strategy
look like during a pandemic?

16. It depends...

17. No one knows all of the answers

18. I want to give you one a method of thinking
about things and how you can approach
strategy during uncertain times

19. What hasn’t changed?

20. Digital channels are still there

21. People are still searching
Source

22. Algorithms are being updated
Source

23. Time is still being spent online
Source

24. Bing is still Bing

25. Basically, many fundamental things are still
as true now as they were 6 months ago

26. The same may be true of your product

27. The things that made it great before will still
be there now

28. Others have enhanced their offering

29. Comparisons are being made to recessions

30. I don’t think this is a fair comparison

31. In 2008, the system that sold the product
(subprime mortgages) was the problem

32. This recession isn’t because of the underlying
economy or a broken system

33. What has changed?

34. A lot!

35. Customer behaviour
Source

36. Teams, resources and budgets

37. Your culture and productivity
Source

38. Stakeholder expectations

39. This is what clients (or their bosses) often
expect growth to look like...

40. Results
Time

41. The silicon valley / VC world version...

42. Results
Time

43. It’s hardly ever this straightforward

44. The reality...

45. Results
Time

46. Usually, this is fine. During a pandemic, the
pressure has been cranked up

47. What should we do?

48. We play to our strengths

49. Why did most of us get into digital?

50. Why do most of us stay in digital?

51. Things change a lot

52. We’re SEOs, what are we good at?

53. No, not just spam

54. Adapting to change

55. New opportunities present themselves all
the time

56. But the fundamentals rarely change

57. There’s a name for splitting out strategy and
decision making like this...

58. I thought I was being super clever

59. Source

60. Deliberate strategy vs. emergent strategy

61. Deliberate strategy Emergent strategy
Provide the organisation
with a sense of purposeful
direction
Implies that an
organisation is learning
what works in practice.

62. Deliberate strategy
“Provide the organisation with a sense of
purposeful direction. When a deliberate
strategy is realised, the result matches the
intended course of action. Controlled”
Source

63. Emergent strategy
“Emergent strategy implies that an organisation
is learning what works in a practise. Based
around day to day working practises, not
specific goals or objectives over time.”
Source

64. Right now, we’re all learning very quickly

65. In an uncertain world, your baseline strategy
needs to be very deliberate

66. How?

67. What actions can we take, that
we know won’t be wrong?

68. Indexable, fast, readable pages
SEO

69. Genuine relationships, positive coverage in
relevant publications
Digital PR

70. Expertly created and informative
Content

71. Fully-opt-in, engaged subscribers
Email

72. Super targeted, bottom of funnel keywords
Paid search

73. Who is not going to want
low prices, personalisation
and fast delivery?

74. Then, embrace the changes you
see and adapt quickly

75. Your CEO won’t see this

76. Emergent strategy is for those of us on the
front lines of digital - we see the changes
and landscape

77. Accept that things may change quickly

78. Learn what your safe bets are

79. Look for your emergent strategy

80. One thought to leave you with

81. True strategy is about placing bets and
making hard choices. The objective is not to
eliminate risk but to increase the odds of
success.
Source

82. I lied

83. True strategy is about placing bets and
making hard choices. The objective is not to
eliminate risk but to increase the odds of
success.
Source

84. Decision making is about placing bets and
making hard choices. The objective is not to
eliminate risk but to increase the odds of
success.
Source

85. TTLPRESENTS2020GETTINGYOUNOTICEDONLINE
Thank you!
paddy@aira.net
@paddymoogan