Digital strategy is extremely necessary and relevant in today’s economic climate. Anyone who is starting a business or trying to breathe life into an established one already knows the importance of digital marketing and communications.

However, when developing a digital strategy (that is, a strategy that takes into account marketing and other communications), those who are not familiar with digital technologies—and many times, even those who are who can forget some of the basic and important tenants of these strategies.

Why CMOs and CIOs Need to Work Together

If you have a Chief Marketing Officer and a Chief Information Officer, it’s possible that those two are not sitting in the same room and discussing their department strategies often. After all, what does technology have to do with marketing, right? We say, everything. This means, if your CMO and CIO aren’t working hand in hand, you may not have a digital strategy that’s as effective as it could be.

This Businessweek article from a while back talked about how several companies found that their CIOs had a tense relationship with their CMOs, but also continued to stated that those two positions have more in common. Technology is now a huge factor in marketing and your company’s information systems will want to be at least slightly geared towards improving digital customer experiences. The only way to be competitive today in digital landscape is to make sure your CMO and CIO work together with a single focus to drive value for the company. This could be by attending department meetings on both sides to understand each department’s challenges and goals, resources (or lack thereof), as well as shared areas of concern to build more bridges than walls.

According to Forrester,“Seventy-four percent of business executives say their company has a digital strategy, but only 15% feel they have the skills and capabilities to execute it.” That’s a huge discrepancy and difficult to ignore. Forrester continued to state, “A piecemeal approach to your digital channels and methods is no longer sufficient. To win, your organization must harness digital technologies to deliver an excellent digital customer experience.”

We believe it’s true. Since we’re in the full swing of the digital age now, it’s no longer viable to be partially online and not know how to use digital tools to your advantage. Online is where many of your customers live, especially if you’re trying to target a market of a younger generation. Making use of the innovative technology available to us and using it to deliver the best customer experiences should be at the forefront of your mind if you want to attract and maintain customers.

That means that you will want to do two things.

First, you will want to expand your skills and capabilities. An easy way to do this is to farm out your digital strategy to a firm that understands those technologies and has those skills.

Second, you need to develop a strategy that reflects what you’re truly capable of doing. Most companies put the majority of their marketing budget into digital marketing—but it’s wasted if you aren’t taking full advantage of the technology or don’t even know what to spend it on. Getting your CMO and CIO together in more strategy conversations can solve this problem.

Five Things to Remember

When it’s time to start building to your digital strategy, here’s five things you should keep in mind.

1. Assess before you start planning.

If you don’t take a look at the current state of your business, you won’t be able to formulate a plan that makes any improvements. Before you actually start creating your strategy, take a look at your company’s weakest points. Look at your impact (if any) on social media, how you’re being received (what impression you’re making), and how often you’re being shared or talked about without your company’s interruption.

2. Consider your story. Customers love a good story—it’s what makes them want to do business with a company and one of the reasons that “About Us” pages are so necessary. They humanize your company. Think about your story and how it comes across to your customers.

3. Consider the platforms. This is where cooperation between your CIO and CMO is especially important. You’ll want to look at how customers look for and find your brand and what platforms they most prefer. Is it Twitter? YouTube?

4. Be realistic. As you launch your new strategy, it’s important to be realistic about the results. Set yourself goals that you can realistically achieve, through the communication methods and platforms you are utilizing.

5. Measure your progress. Whether it’s through asking customers directly or just through assessing page traffic, don’t forget to keep track of your progress, so you can look at what’s working, amplify those efforts and eliminate or tweak what’s not working.

If you’re not prepared to tackle the beast that a digital strategy can be, working with an outside strategy company that specializes in online communication and digital strategies is always a safe bet.