ALBA Graduate Business School & Socialab Presentation InfoCom World

Digital Strategy Goals & Implementa4on An Agency – Client Debate

Nikos Mylonopoulos ALBA

George Anagnostopoulos socialab

The Client on Strategy (Part 1)

•  The first and most pres4gious Graduate Business School in Greece

•  A not-‐for-‐profit associa4on

•  Facing the CRISIS

•  With mul4ple internal and external stakeholders


•  Turn the Crisis into an Opportunity: –  Lower costs + Raise quality –  ATract a bigger public + Remain selec4ve –  Broaden awareness + Focus on niches –  Respond to the market + Lead through innova4on

•  How we did it: –  Differen4a4on & Diversifica4on –  Career Guidance – AddFocus –  Scholarship pre-‐approval (FeeOrFree) –  “Test drive” (BeOurGuest, StudentForADay)

•  Mandate: –  Eliminate print –  Go all digital –  Accomplish more with less


•  I want a digital agency that: – Knows their stuff –  Is keen to understand our business model – Embraces our values – Gets the strategy –  Is willing to join in our risks

– We hit it off

The Agency on Strategy

What’s Socialab? •  Socialab is a digital marke4ng agency with an experience of 50 global and na4onal brands.

•  With a for-‐profit company with a very flat organiza4on.

•  When we first met with ALBA, we were 8 people. Now, we’re 26.


•  Gehng to know the client •  Listening to what they have to say •  Do your research (preferably before 1st mee4ng) •  Use your notes and the environment to get more informa4on about what you’re about to.

•  Examine what the client has done in the past. Go deep.


•  Turning offline communica4on to online has some merits: –  Broader/narrower reach (depending on what we want) –  Systema4c follow-‐ups –  Keeping people in the loop

•  But it has one major drawback. Want to guess what it is?

The Client on Implementa4on (Part 1)

•  Learn, learn, learn –  Experiment, take risks –  Absorb and infuse the experience –  Get the agency’s advice

•  Real 4me Campaign Management –  Small adjustments –  Change of direc4on

•  Measurement and Decision Making –  Gehng the data to confess –  Integra4on with internal analy4cs

•  Skills and Exper4se –  Within the Agency – within the

Client

•  The Human Resource –  Educate the stakeholders and

internal clients –  Allocate scarce resources

•  Alignment –  Internal processes and systems –  Follow-‐up on calls to ac4on –  Close the feedback loop

The Client on Implementa4on (Part 2)

•  I want the digital agency to: – Stay on top of things – Do good housekeeping (tac4cal) – Be proac4ve with analysis and advice – Look ahead to the next steps (strategic) – Evolve with the evolu4on of my thinking

– Keep the flame burning

The Agency on Implementa4on

•  Staying on top means having the resources that have to be: – Available (good at juggling projects) – Con4nuously educated – On their toes (and eager) – With analy4cal skills – Understanding of the market – Good chemistry with the client

•  Use experience to manage client expecta4ons •  Know how to guide the client into what the audience is looking for, and away from what it isn’t looking for.

•  When when to tell them to change their ad crea4ve or their page or their follow-‐up

•  Care about the part of the convers(at)ion process that you do not see in your Analy4cs.

The Agency on Implementa4on

Professional Diploma in Digital Marke4ng

•  Applied Knowledge.

•  Material validated by DMI’s Syllabus Advisory Council: Facebook, Twi4er, Google, Microso9, etc.

•  More than 175 people have aTended the course since March 2014.

•  Cer4fica4on in one month.

•  Material already updated twice in the last 8 months.

•  Free refresher course in 6 months.

Need more info?

digital marke4ng ALBA