Digital Strategy Consulting was set up in 2000 to help firms looking to succeed in creating strong digital properties. With requests from many countries and numerous sectors, we developed the consultancy practice to help brands with digital aspirations get their models right for the online services, publications, sites and communities they were looking to build. Today we work in more than 20 countries, providing proven product development strategies, supported by a comprehensive range of training courses for operational teams and management coaching for leadership groups.
Danny Meadows-Klue was the founder of Digital Strategy in 2000. On this page are a few links publishers have told us they found useful. Find out how we could help your business by emailing Danny@DigitalStrategyConsulting.com
We’ve been training teams in the creative and media industries since 2000 and our sole focus is on the digital aspects of classic business and publishing skills. From publishing strategies and media sales to marketing and design, our Training Academy programmes change the way companies behave.
Learning is fun, fast and focussed, with lessons structured around the theory, case studies and action plans for applying what we teach. Although we’ve worked for some of the largest newspapers and websites in the world, we can run intimate in-company classes for small publishers as well as large scale programmes for re-skilling hundreds of people.
Some of the most popular courses for publishers:
- Digital Media Sales Academy – Boosting advertising sales revenues
- Digital Publishing Strategy Academy – Executive coaching for leadership teams
- Digital Audience Building Academy –Increasing traffic to your websites
- Digital Email Publishing Strategy Academy – Creating powerful email publications
Our focus is on using the web effectively in marketing and publishing, and the origin of the 40 courses were in the training and coaching we began for internet publishers ten years ago.
Our Academy Managers customise the training to suit the specific needs of publishers and can normally deploy a course within four weeks. Email Admissions@DigitalTrainingAcademy.com for more.
Writing your email marketing plan. At Digital we hate training that sits on the shelf gathering dust. The aim of our Academies are to change the way you and your team behaves in the digital market and this exercise is designed to draw together some of the key points to help build your marketing plan. Even if you are not normally the plan's author, even if you have agencies and teams of digital specialists working with you, walking through the steps in the plan is key to experiencing the challenges and questions your colleagues will face. For many of our participants it's an exercise they can refer to throughout the next few years; for some it may even form the start of the plan itself.
Learn more about the Digital Email Marketing Academy
With rapid development continuing to be the norm, publishers need to be able to read the landscape and work as a team to set the right direction. Familiarity with the key principles behind different generations of websites is the starting point in that navigation. This reveals implications for the site's business models and explains why some add little value and represent false paths, while others lead through the easy ground towards strong commercial growth.
Learn more about the Digital Publishing Strategy Academy
Strengthening your team with the knowledge about how the online markets work is key to unlocking pent-up potential. Even a great sales person can be lost in the maze of metrics, daunted by the jargon and unclear about whether the products being pitched will meet client objectives. Get the knowledge to the right level and not only does each person's productivity increase, but the whole crew comes together to deliver better results. This practical one day course will cover the basics, answer those unanswered questions and help your team pull together to sell online media effectively.
Learn more about the Digital Media Sales Academy
Here is the place you can discuss issues with your coach or tutor, and other Academy participants. If you have perspectives or research to share, or if there is something that was not clear during your Digital Training Academy then leave a comment. Is there a new point you would like to make? Are there any new issues that you have discovered now you are applying some of the ideas covered in the Academy? Just remember to keep the posts on-topic, be courteous to your colleagues, and that these digital coaching classrooms are not intended to carry commercial promotions or "advertorials".
Enter the classroom...
The global recession accelerated structural change in the readership and advertising markets newspapers serve, creating a perfect storm that threatens the very survival of most newspapers – both on and offline. As the ad revenue shortfalls bite and online newspapers fail to get the same audience growth as internet pureplays, newspaper leadership teams are faced with tough choices. Many fail to monetize those audiences effectively, lacking the models and skills to raise advertising yields and additional revenue streams. It’s tempting to cut digital publishing rather than see it as core to future revenue platforms, however the decisions media firms take during the next 18 months will have disproportionate implications on the future of their brands. For some those futures will be painfully short: many newspapers will not survive the recession and its aftermath. After 15 years in the online publishing sector, Digital’s team share examples of their strategic insights and practical experience with publishing leadership teams. This Digital Insight Report accompanies in-company strategy programmes for media groups eager to navigate the storm and chart a safe course for blended on and offline publishing.
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These notes are the write-up from a product development discussion about the travel sector. They reflect key elements media brands would want to consider in developing travel-focused online services, and also underscore the challenges in getting the formula for product development right. In the web environment, consumers can have many needs met without relying upon classic media brands, so as publishers and broadcasters complete their migration to multi-channel providers, they need to broaden their proposition and reposition their role. If the business model relies on acting as intermediaries between buyers and sellers – bringing together focused audiences that become value in the advertising proposition - then the formula for success online means developing services that are so strong and compelling they draw in audiences time and time again through a 'must-have' proposition.
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Building a successful online media property means building a sustainable and resilient audience. The dynamics of audience acquisition and engagement on the web are different from those in classic media channels and although they hinge on the delivery of great content that satisfies audience needs, marketers have to work hard to acquire the right audiences at the right price. Add to that the competitive landscape where every other site is only a click away and there are many challenges in getting the model right. In this report we collate smart tactics for getting audiences into and back to the content.
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Blogging moved from the margins to the mainstream of digital publishing around 2003, changing the way firms could relate to their customers, and offering the potential to transform the role of corporate communications. By developing their own blogs, or carefully raising discussion and comment on those run by others, brands can extend their footprint and reach wider audiences. It can be an exceptionally powerful, cost-effective and intimate way of developing a message, but comes with real risks and limitations. The digital networked society has given a voice to anyone, and this democratisation of access to discussion creates a new landscape for messaging. It’s a powerful reminder of the new era of communications we all work in, and getting it right demands strategic thinking and a sustainable plan, as well as authenticity and tenacity. This Digital Insight Report explores how and why this is the case, and gets you thinking about how you might be able to harness blogging for your brands.
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The switch to online continues to accelerate in Europe’s lead digital media market. The internet's share of all advertising swelled to almost 15% in the first half of 2007, with further record-setting leaps in real growth. Boosted in particular by massive increases in the supply of media from social networks, and the continued switch of acquisition budgets into search, the wider media sector is hurting as budgets are displaced and advertisers follow their audiences. The big changes are now starting.
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The world’s largest online ad market is still enjoying the largest annual growth in real terms. Spend surged ahead by 25.4%, crossing the $5bn mark in a single quarter. Boosted in particular by massive increases in the supply of media from social networks, and the continued switch of acquisition budgets into search, the wider media sector is hurting as budgets are displaced and advertisers follow their audiences. The big changes are now starting.
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The sudden arrival of in-stream video advertising formats presents new challenges for commercial directors, ad operations teams and media planners. Minor variations in the way video advertising messages are delivered can have a disproportionate impact on the effectiveness of the commercials and the quality of the campaign. These best practice tips for video advertising reflect techniques that have proven to be effective for both media planners and online publishers in getting more value from the media space and creative assets.
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Accelerate your team’s understanding of digital publishing, online advertising and web content with our intensive programme of courses. We’ve trained digital teams in over 20 countries and this new programme of open access digital publishing coaching will instantly boost your team’s results. Our training is practical and focused, designed to have an immediate impact on your business and change the way your organization works. Our tutors and business coaches have been teaching online media or online marketing for more than a decade and can help you get more from the investment you’ve already made in the web.
Who should attend?
If you work on a media website, then you’re the right type of web publisher for these digital publishing coaching programmes. These Digital Training Academies are specifically geared to the needs of publishers, commercial directors, editors, business strategists, and online marketers for media groups.
Need to know more?
Call us on +44 (0) 20 7244 9661 or email Admissions@DigitalTrainingAcademy.com.
Training starts a week before with research and exercises we send you and your access continues after.
Getting to grips with online media sales
Strengthening your team with the knowledge about how the online markets work is key to unlocking pent-up potential. Even a great sales person can be lost in the maze of metrics, daunted by the jargon and unclear about whether the products being pitched will meet client objectives. Get the knowledge to the right level and not only does each person's productivity increase, but the whole crew comes together to deliver better results. This practical one day course will cover the basics, answer those unanswered questions and help your team pull together to sell online media effectively.
Media planners in six countries told us the same thing: there's nothing more frustrating than having sales teams get the numbers wrong. "It wastes our time, and if they don't know the difference between impressions, uniques and reach when they're selling, how can we trust the numbers after?" Our tutor's message: get the numbers clear before taking anything out to your agency. And if you're not proud of the traffic stats, look at whether the product is really up to the job.
Visit the Digital Classroom and download resources from the Digital Media Sales Academy
Masterclasses for web publishers
With rapid development continuing to be the norm, publishers need to be able to read the landscape and work as a team to set the right direction. Familiarity with the key principles behind different generations of websites is the starting point in that navigation. This reveals implications for the site's business models and explains why some add little value and represent false paths, while others lead through the easy ground towards strong commercial growth.
Visit the Digital Classroom and download resources from the Digital Publishing Strategy Academy | Information about the Digital Publishing Strategy Academy
Understanding online communities
The digital networked society creates new models for social interaction. Online communities may have been prospering long before the web, but only in the last few years have they crossed into the mainstream. Social software has unlocked the enthusiasm to self-publish, but while every brand now aspires to owning a community, few will ever succeed.
Visit the Digital Classroom and download resources from the Digital Web 2.0 Academy
Corporate communications directors: Blogging, CSR and getting to grips with a new corporate communications channel
All you need to know, packed into an afternoon! Blogging has suddenly arrived in the world of corporate communications. Whether we like it or not people are out there talking about our brands and our businesses. They are doing it in public and, thanks to Google and those other search tools, anyone can find out what they are saying within a click of a mouse.
Visit the Digital Classroom and download resources from the Digital Blogging Academy
Getting to grips with online ad trafficking
Designed for newcomers to the world of online ad trafficking, getting you up to speed with ad traffic processes and giving you a framework you can apply to future campaigns. This hands-on course for advertising operations teams teaches the basics of advertising trafficking and scheduling. It's an orientation to the principles and theory, and a roadmap for applying them to your work-flow. You'll see how popular tool-kits work them and get a clear picture of how trafficking fits into the bigger picture.
Visit the Digital Classroom and download resources from the Digital Ad Traffic Academy
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| The world's business newspaper | Digital Media Sales Academy in London and Paris | Management coaching in New York |
The International Herald Tribune (IHT) is one of the world’s leading newspapers, and its long established award-winning websites are among the best digital services of any newspaper in the world. However, as advertisers migrate their spend from classic channels to online environments, there are new pressures on media groups and new skills their internet teams need.
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| Brand Republic | The leading site for marketers | Product Strategy Development |
The UK's leading online resource for marketers needed a world class website. BrandRepublic.com is the online home for a dozen magazine titles including Media Week, Campaign and Revolution. Its news services are subscribed to by the whole UK media industry and whatever the group writes reflects the pulse of marketing and media in Britain. Their digital marketing reporting includes Revolution Magazine which has tracked the growth of the digital media sector in the UK for more than a decade, as well as dedicated sections in all of the media titles and an online television property. This is the definitive voice of British marketing and the home of the digital marketing community.
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| The leading loyalty programme | Building customer relationships | Digital Community Academy |
When Nectar's parent company were looking for additional input to give them the edge in online strategy and marketing, they chose Digital. The UK's market leading loyalty card programme has a reputation for cutting edge marketing, and a business model that has aligned leading high street brands behind a single transferable card scheme. Their understanding of personal data is second to none and their marketing skills are world class. That's the typical background of a firm who engages Digital's team, because together the Digital training Academy and Digital Strategy Consulting can give world leaders a commercial edge.
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Revenue Uplift 1: Technology audit
Ad-serving price rate analysis - what should they be paying.
Targeting - analysis of all form or targeting and their impact on sales and inventory.
Independent Evaluation of BT Vendors and Technologies in light of their business models.
Contextual targeting - how to create unlimited virtual ad categories.
How to increase page impressions - through associated links to content.
Revenue Uplift 2: Partners
Ad exchanges - how to monetise every impression.
Yield Management - how to work with remnant inventory providers most profitably.
Revenue Uplift 3: Knowing what you have got
Understanding your sites profitability.
Creating Bespoke management Revenue Reports and predictions.
Revenue Uplift 4: Training Audit
Online Advertising involves matching advertiser's needs to complex pieces of ad technology.
Training sales to understand the value and possibilities of the technology they use.
Advertiser experience - How to be better to work with than your competitors and gain more business
Building your e-newsletter publishing strategy
- Reviewing your content
- Working with your team on a segmentation model
- Examining the scope of what can be used from different the sections of the site
- Developing the key performance indicators you'll need to measure success
- Coaching your team on building up a list of prospective recipients
Best practice: SEO for magazines, newspapers and media sites: processes and tips
Search engine optimisation is critical for driving traffic and raising audience numbers. Every website wants to increase users and page impressions, but for media sites this is at the heart of their business model. The problem is most publishers fail to give it the attention it needs.
http://www.digitalstrategyconsulting.com/articles/2007/12/seo_for_magazines_newspapers_a.php
Best practice: Online moderation - deciding when to moderate comments in social media
As a web publisher, how do you deal with conversations between viewers that descend into a flame war? Social media tools are great ways to engage audiences and boost page traffic, but moderation needs to be taken into account from the very start.
http://www.digitalstrategyconsulting.com/articles/2008/03/best_practice_online_moderatio.php
Best practice: Video advertising duration and structures
The sudden arrival of in-stream video advertising formats presents new challenges for commercial directors, ad operations teams and media planners.
http://www.digitalstrategyconsulting.com/articles/2008/04/best_practice_in_video_adverti.php
Best practice: Dayparting – how online ads can learn a lesson from broadcast media
If you’re McDonald's and selling breakfast products, when do you want to advertise? Broadcast media has always been strong in using the times of day to talk to customers when they are most receptive, but why have web marketers missed the trick?
http://www.digitalstrategyconsulting.com/articles/2008/03/best_practice_dayparting_how_o.php
Best practice: Advertising sales structures - how to structure internet ad sales team effectively
Selling online advertising is harder than selling print. While the Google interface may have made search listings easy enough for anyone to buy off the screen, selling brand building graphical ‘display’ space is tough because it opens up so many questions, often at a time when there just isn’t the knowledge inside the client team or the sales force.
http://www.digitalstrategyconsulting.com/articles/2008/03/best_practice_sales_structures.php
Seven simple steps for getting more from your website
Every firm has a website these days, but that's only the start of internet marketing. Why do some websites do almost nothing for their companies and others change the perception of a brand or generate massive numbers of leads? Could you be getting more value from the time and money you've already invested in your site?
http://www.digitalstrategyconsulting.com/articles/2008/04/seven_simple_steps_for_getting.php
A blog is for life and not just for Christmas
What started out in a techno ghetto moved to the mainstream of digital publishing over three years ago. These days many small company websites are run entirely by blogging software and many big company CEOs are itching to write their own blog.
http://www.digitalstrategyconsulting.com/articles/2008/02/a_blog_is_for_life_and_not_jus_1.php
Creating a digital strategy for a television station, newspaper or magazine
There’s been rapid change already, but the pace will accelerate from here.
http://www.digitalstrategyconsulting.com/articles/2007/11/digital_strategy_for_a_televis.php
