Some reasons could be:
- You’re worried you’ve been sold the wrong dream
- You lack the advice or expertise to make your product sing
- Your business is trying to fit itself around the platform rather than a platform that fits the business.
We regularly see examples of all of the above and we fully appreciate the challenge our clients are facing in these situations. That’s why we are providing you with a way out of the confusion. Here is a rundown of what you need to do to start turning on the potential of your investment, and to make sure you start seeing the results you promised everyone you’d deliver.
Did we make the right decision?
There are lots of reasons why you might think you have ended up with the ‘wrong’ platform but don’t panic. On the whole, the leading platforms in the market tend to deliver much of the same general functionality. You should be able to get to where you need to be with most of them. Of course there are specific examples where you need a more powerful tool in a certain area but we’ll come to that later.
The first step is always to refer back to your original strategy and remember that you should be able to fit this platform around your business needs. It isn’t about fitting your business around the new tool as this leads to confusion, frustration and lack of outcomes. The chances are, the functionality you want is is there, you just don’t know how to make the most of it.
An easy win is to make sure that everything you do from now on is measurable. There is little point in guess work. If you can measure it, then you can refer back to that strategy and determine whether you’re moving in the right direction.
It’s all about being really clear on what you want to do and then using these tools to elevate your digital goals.
We are only using a tiny fraction of the functionality
"We bought the Cadillac but we don’t know how to drive it”.
This is a common one. In our experience, very few platform customers are using the full breadth of the platform they have invested heavily in.
That could be because you haven’t got the team bandwidth to focus on it, the agency you used hasn’t shown you the possibilities or perhaps they’ve stepped away from the project and therefore you aren’t getting the inside track anymore. Perhaps you underestimated how much focus this would need post purchase? Or how much cost…?
In this instance you need to force your team to revisit the decision of why you chose this platform to begin with. Are you just using it as a simple CMS? What are you actually trying to do with it? Once you are clear on those goals you can firm up exactly what is needed. Run gap analysis to determine what’s missing and plug the right gaps with your new investment.
Equally, you might have the right product in place but a team that hasn’t been enabled to use it confidently. If the product is technically sound but dotted with human error, you’re going to slow everything right down.
We often get pulled into rescue missions where clients have lost faith in their original agencies’ ability to deliver. They have found themselves in a situation where the product has been implemented without consideration for the business needs. Shiny and new isn’t always right.
Firstly, it’s important you have an agency that you can trust to assess the whole situation, look at the whole picture from the start and make sure that you’re getting the right platform for your business. Make sure you do the groundwork when you’re selecting that agency - who have they worked with / what have they delivered / how does that experience relate to your business.
A good agency will make sure you start delivering results early on.
