The Art of Digital Communication
We live in a digital world. There are positives and negatives to that revelation.
In the positive sense, we have never been so easily communicative with each other. Email, social media and texting has made it so easy for Person A to communicate with Person B, or Company C to communicate with Potential Customer D. It seems as if there is no question that cannot be answered, no product that cannot be found.
On the negative side, there can be a dearth of creativity in communication.
We send texts at will, and we create social media posts when an idea strikes us, with a desire to get our thoughts out quickly before they dissolve in the world of immediate gratification.
The role of marketing in performing the business of business is to find creative ways to send those messages and posts. Marketing is very much the Art of Digital Communication.
A Happy Tale
Recently, CSD Marketing signed up a client interested in a custom-designed website platform. In order to make the new platform unique and communicative, we participated in a workshop to delve deeply into what was desired. The client worked with a developer to ensure that her requirements were being met with every slide or page on her website. This “discovery workshop” allowed the business owner to look at each screen with a precise eye. Changes were easily made because nothing was set in stone. The client was able to compare and contrast information on each screen, and then look at how a website user would progress from one screen to the next. A clear path was being created.
The Discovery Workshop
A discovery workshop is a holistic way for business leaders to take their ideas for a large project and turn it into concrete plans. This can include app development, CRM databases, or projects with large automation that requires custom code.
The client meets with the development team to discuss the requirements of the project. Over the course of a month or so, there are ongoing brainstorming sessions to discuss the functionality of the project, usage, and any ideas for how it will appear in the market. They will also design the wireframes for each screen of the project.
Time is More Than Money
Admittedly, this is not a quick process. Examining each screen, with concerns over images and fonts and color schemes and backgrounds, takes time. But in inverse thinking from the historic belief that “time is money”, the discovery workshop process felt as if the time spent was value-added. In this case, the time spent was rewarded with a perfect website rather than something slapped together in order to save time.
Finger Painting as a Profession
Modern marketing in the digital age involves a great deal of math (we were told there would be no math).
There are Search Engine Optimization (SEO) numbers, consumer surveys, links and clicks and drops with numbers attached. Digital marketing can be very structured, and that is necessary to succeed in a business world dependent on internet search results.
But successful marketing can also be an art form. The creation of web pages and other material requires more than just arithmetic and good writing. So much of a website’s success is determined by visual appeal. Creating visually attractive websites requires an understanding of numerous artistic pushpoints.
So, on occasion, like the one described above, we get to work in the artistic world of digital communication. We get to go to art class rather than to calculus.
Which makes us VERY happy.
