It occurred to me recently that what the world needs is strategy.  Strategy for man-kind to put an end to poverty, to senseless war, to global warming, to suffering and famine.  Vision, direction and focus through a global strategy.  Seems so simple doesn't it? Strategy is what makes the world of business turn.  It's what can determine success or magnify failure (through a lack of).  Strategy when carefully planned and implemented can lead to great success and with positive results. So why is developing an effective online strategy so difficult for B2B marketers?

What is Strategy Anyways?

When I think of strategy I think of direction and vision.  Where are we trying to go in the future?  How can we change the world and make it a better place?  How can we provide a better solution than our competition?  What resources are required to fullfill this strategy?  With regards to business, Johnson and Scholes' Exploring Corporate Strategy define strategy as:

"Strategy is the direction and scope of an organization over the long term: which achieves advantage for the organization through it's configuration of resources within a challenging environment, to meet the needs of markets and to fullfill stakeholder expectations."

It's a pretty comprehensive definition.  If we break it down and simplify it, strategy consists of:

• Direction - thinking about the long term
• Markets - where should you make the best use of your business?  What markets should you compete in?
• Advantage - How can you perform better than the competiton?
• Scope - What is required to  achieve an advantage in the desired markets?
• Resources - What assets, skill sets, partnerships, technical solutions are required to in order to carry out the strategy?
• External Factors - What are the external factors that will impact your ability to compete?
• Stakeholders - What are the values and expectations of those who have a vested interest in the business and potentially may pull the plug of the implementation of the strategy?

Online Strategy Adds a Whole Other Dimension

So why is online strategy so hard for B2B marketers?  For B2B marketers, online strategy adds a whole other dimension to "strategy".  For one, online marketing is still a relatively new avenue and there has been a lot of hesitation from many organizations when it comes to SEO and online marketing.  Many C-Suite Executives still do not understand or "get" SEO.  They feel that there is little value from it, when in fact it is a proven fact that search marketing yields higher returns with less investment than traditional media channels.  Without buy-in from the execs, and the rest of the company it becomes extremely difficult to create and implement an online strategy. 

Online strategies must be flexible.  The world of search and online marketing is changing at an amazing pace.  Those who do not have a dynamic strategy in place will quickly find themselves playing catchup. Personalization of search results is coming and many refuse to accept that this is the next wave of search.  Early adopters who develop online strategies to deal with personalization will be in a much better place than those who do not and as a result will develop a competitive edge in the search space.

Competition in the online world is potentially endless.  Anyone can set up and market a website.  In the B2B space there are often misleading sites that distract the searcher from finding the best solution for their needs.  Not to mention the complexity of the search engine algorithms that can have a direct impact on your sites visibility with one major indexing update.

Traditionally many SEO's focus on tactics and not strategy.  This is something that we have seen with the serach industry shows.  Take the recent Search Marketing Expo in Seattle for instance.  It was billed as a strategic show, yet from what I have heard it featured traditional tracks that focus on search engine marketing tactics.  This is really no different than other industry shows including the popular Search Engine Strategy conferences. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of good stuff that comes out of these shows, it's just not strategy that comes out. 

Of course establishing an online strategy usually means that you have to be aligned with the overall company strategy.  This means incorporating the strategy at different levels of business.  From the overall corporate strategy down to business unit strategy to operational strategy and how each part of the business is organized to deliver to the business unit and corporate strategies.

So you see there are numerous reasons why online strategies are not easy to accomplish for B2B marketers.  If you are fortunate enough to get buy-in from the stakeholders and are able to align the online strategy with the company's overall corporate strategy you are still faced with the hardest part… strategy implementation.  Translating it into action resulting in a positive return on your investment.