Digital Strategy Workshop & Roadmap

Below is a long-ish response — please bear with us:

As the saying goes, “Trust is earned, not given.”

During the last 20+ years we have delivered great results for others. We have earned our stripes.

We get it: Running a business takes serious grit. You pour your heart, mind, sweat and energy into it. Depending on the size of the business or company (or other entity type), you’re also wearing many hats. But there are only so many hats business owners and/or managers can wear (and be experts at)… AND only so many hours in a day.

Three questions that we suggest new clients ask themselves:

1. Have you spent 20+ years working as graphic designers, branding designers, website designers, website developers, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) professionals, digital marketers and digital advertisers?
2. Have you invested over $400,000 (in time and/or money) during that time in order to learn how to do marketing, digital marketing and digital advertising effectively,… and in ways that will actually yield significant results?
3. Even if the above answers are ‘yes’, do you actually have the time to be consistently doing your own digital marketing, digital advertising, content creation, marketing story-telling, social growth, list building, effective mail-outs, seasonal marketing campaigns, creative ideas, etc, etc by yourself AND also run your business at the same time? Put simply, do you actually have the time to do what it takes to gain actual effective growth?

We have invested well over $400,000 into our training, skill developing and real-world experience during the last 20+ years. It’s been a journey and we committed ourselves! This isn’t a boast. This is purely a fact.

We all have our specialist skills. When clients let us untie our hands and go to work for them, goals can be achieved (short-term, mid-term and long-term)… AND far more quickly than using a ‘trail and error’ DIY approach, which can be very hit and miss.

PLUS with the addition of AI, the playing field has yet again changed. Those not keeping up with ways to incorporate AI into digital marketing, time-saving (and money saving) tasks, are becoming less productive and less effective. Meanwhile their competitors who are using AI are getting ahead. 

If AI continues, there are many predictions for the next 5 years. No doubt you have been watching documentaries, YouTube videos and reading articles about this. 

[Note: Part of us wish AI was not part of business life, but unfortunately these are the times we live in. We’ve had to embrace it.]

Note though that nothing currently fully replaces creative and analytical skills of REAL human beings (professional digital marketers). It’s the strategies and how they are implemented that deliver the results! We will prove our worth to you and show that we are trustworthy, as we have with other clients.

Some do try this approach. The issue though is that it’s an extremely fast-paced industry and the technology evolves and changes rapidly! It’s also technical; it’s as much (if not more-so) a science vs a creative pursuit.

Techniques and strategies that may have worked 12 months ago, may not work well today due to algorithm changes, online platform changes, new online channels (eg. TikTok vs Snapchat), software changes and other factors. 

This means when you employ a digital marketer, you also have to budget for their ongoing learning and training. If you don’t they will be partially redundant within 12 – 18 months. They can also become bored and disgruntled by working for one business for 15+ months. Creatives often crave and need variety. If they don’t get it, this then can lead to staff churn.

As in, just when you feel they’re starting to initially show signs that hiring them and paying their wages is going to lead to the beginnings of positive results, they may leave. You’re then left having to find a replacement. By the time the replacement has got up to speed with your business, they too then could leave. It becomes a roller-coaster ride… and even ‘wheels spinning’ going no-where.

On the other hand, when you work with us, you’re not having to pay for our ongoing training and new learning. We do this in our own time. Plus we’re creatively happy. You’re also not just getting one person — you’re getting a team!

Sales and marketing are two very different skill-sets. Great sales people are great at sales. Great marketers are great at marketing. Great marketers who are also great holistic digital marketers are on a whole other level!

Growth from Digital Strategy Roadmaps are most powerful when excellent salesmanship and excellent off-line and online digital marketers people work together, in collaboration with the business owner(s) and/or most senior manager(s).

Yes we can help and/or point you in the right direction. We work with established businesses, companies (and other entity types) and also sole-traders and small businesses. No matter where you are at in your business journey, we can assist.

We also know first-hand what it is like to start a business from scratch. We did this 10+ years ago when Green Valley Digital first got started.

Yes we can help. We have experience working for (and with) businesses, companies (and other entity types) that are well above 50+ staff.

Many of us have worked many years in Brisbane; working with companies, brands, NFP’s, universities, etc (and we still do), plus we have many years experience working with small businesses as well.

We are everyday people who choose to work well with others. We have systems that we have refined over many years that ensure we can collaborate, communicate, and be highly productive & effective. 

The process starts with communication and conversation. We also sign a non-disclosure agreement if you wish.

We take the time to understand the ins and outs of your business (as much as is needed for us to be of greatest help); we ask questions, we do research, we seek information,… plus we also learn what marketing and advertising you have found to be beneficial in the past and what hasn’t been.

We then begin the marketing auditing process, including the website(s). We audit everything that you’re happy for us to audit, provide feedback, recommendations and also look for additional opportunities.

We learn about your needs and your goals (both short-term, mid-term and longer-term). It is up to you to share as much or as little information with us as you want.

We then start investigating your competitors. We use software tools that are not cheap but provide us with a lot of insights.

We don’t then copy your competitors.

We instead help you effectively present, show and share your uniqueness, authenticity, value for money, selling points, etc to your target markets (ideal customer types) using a selected range of online and offline channels, platforms, methods, strategies, tactics, etc. This then is just the start.

Productisation of services, other packaging techniques, market positioning strategies, and many other strategy types may also be employed. Plus the building of your mailing list, and much more.

We look at everything from all angles.

We help your business eventually tower over your competition, so you gain market-share and the level of growth you want.

A healthly dose of social-proof is also often added as well. [If you’re not sure what “social-proof” is, please Google it. There is plenty of information.]

Authority leads to trust, trust leads to growth, growth leads to more growth.

Or if you simply want to maintain your current market position, to help future-proof your business, company (or other entity type) we can do that too.

We also, “Meet you where you are at.” We don’t overwhelm, or use unnecessary jargon. We aim to help educate as we go so you’re learning why we are recommending certain growth strategies and so you become increasingly informed and empowered.

As we all know, an informed person can make the best decisions moving forward.

Plus we measure our performance and teach you objective ways to effectively measure our performance as well.

There is a lot more to it. But it’s all logical, analytical, data-driven and easily understood… PLUS creative! Visual aids like graphical maps (using software like Lucidchart) can often help too.

Contact us to ask us questions and find out more.

We’ve been asked questions like this over the years.

Yes we can help. We have friends who work at SBS, one that used to work at Netflix, friends in Japan that used to work for Tesla & Facebook, other friends working at other large media companies, friends who are retired that used to work at ABC, and other contacts.
One old friend also won an Emmy in recent years.
We can help connect you to those who can help.

We can also do brand development, create website(s) and utilise our growth skills to help in many, many ways,… just like those responsible for documentaries like the Biggest Little Farm movie (and many, many others) have done in the past.

Many of us have worked in the Film and TV media and marketing industry for a long time.

This question probably prompts another question: “You tell us?” We know that everyone’s ultimate outcomes differ. They are unique. They are your goals.

The ultimate outcomes are yours to choose and manifest. We simply help.

We know though there are some usual commonalities: The desire to succeed, grow, thrive and to retire well,.. and maybe the desire to sell one or more businesses successfully, and/or to provide succession. 

We’re purely here to serve and help play a part, if you would like us to.

We can say though that some of the outcomes we can help provide, if we work together long-term, is that we help you build and assemble an arsenal of ‘ready-to-roll-out’ highly effective battle-tested (proven) strategies, marketing tactics, website(s), and campaigns (both off-line, online and combined) that you can trust, implement and rely upon whenever you need to.

Plus strategies and campaigns that are innovative and can’t be easily (or at all) predicted by your competitors. Some of which would be hard to replicate by them.

If you choose to, you’ll know what works best at any given time of the year, what works in a tougher economy, what needs tweaking or modifying when algorithms and/or platforms change… and/or a new platform becomes ‘flavour of the month’ (a trend)… or turns into a long-term mainstay (… which may include certain technological advancements that Meta, Google and others are developing atm… that will reveal themselves in coming years). Or simply rely on us, knowing we’re doing what we do best and you’re experiencing the growth results.