This is best practices for digital transformation in Marketing that results from my experience.

My start is the status quo analysis. To understand customer preferences, I create the classic marketing analyses, such as

• Google Analytics
• Product portfolio analysis
• target group
• USP, SWOT
• Sales & price development
• Social Media Presence & Activities
• Competitor analysis
• Market environment and trends
  

In this way, I make the customer data transparent and understand the current situation. This step also includes the analysis of the team, such as

• employees
• hierarchy
• Working environment (agile, remote, cross-functional etc.)
• Software (CRM, ERP etc.)
  

How do you start your projects? Do you already have this information in your projects?

After the status quo analysis we develop the goals together in a workshop. It is important in every project that all participants fully know, understand, and accept the goals. Together we work out, define and agree on the targets. After the workshop, it is clear to everyone which direction the journey will take.

How do you define the goals? Are they set by the management or by the departments?

In the next step, we work out the gap between the status quo and the target.

• What software is needed? Can the goal be achieved with the existing software, or does it require an upgrade or additional software?
• Which departments and processes are affected?
• Can the necessary tasks be managed with on-site staff, or will additional external experts be needed?
• Which processes will be changed? Can these processes be implemented in the current structure, or do they need to be adapted?
• What will the cost framework be? Are the expected costs within the budget?
• etc.
  

The focus in all changes is always:

1. First and most importantly, do the changes add value for our clients?
2. Do these changes simplify processes? Do we increase our agility (adaptability)? Can we react faster to changes in the market?
3. Do we minimise our costs and material requirements with the change?
4. Do the changes increase the quality of the working environment for our employees? Do they make things easier for the employees, e.g. less routine work, more time for optimization?
   

Only after all these analyses and questions, which we work out together in workshops, do we reach the implementation stage. We develop work packages that bring us closer to our goal step by step.

Sounds like a lot of time in preparation. What are your experiences? How do you approach the transformation projects?