Bridging the digital divide: Zuni and ADMA join forces to launch Strategic Development Programs

Australian companies are still struggling to unify their overarching business goals with their digital, CRM, metrics and content strategies in order to maximise return on investment in these areas and achieve their core objectives.

To solve this critical issue, Zuni, one of Australia’s leading digital strategic consultancies, and the Association for Data-driven Marketing and Advertising (ADMA), have formed an alliance to help marketers and advertisers transform their businesses through a series of new courses called Strategic Development Programs, a first-of-its-kind industry initiative.

The first course up in the overall program is a bespoke Digital Strategy course which will be followed later in 2015 with tailored Content Strategy, CRM Strategy and Metrics and Measurement courses.

Through a combination of classroom learning, Q&A and consulting sessions, marketers can develop individual strategies in these areas in a fast-track process, completing their strategy in just two months.

Digital divide to be fixed

The Digital Strategy Development Program is the first cab off the rank as it’s the one the association and digital agency say senior executives are most concerned about.

Zuni’s managing director Mike Zeederberg (above, left) says that one of the biggest challenges for business is keeping up in the digital space. Most companies have a web and social presence because they know they should, but their activities lack a cohesive plan and remain sporadic, fragmented or disconnected. The result is less for the bottom line.

Says Zeederberg: “Businesses are increasingly frustrated, sensing that digital could work much harder for them. There is little clarity on ROI across digital channels and we see many businesses that have not fully aligned their business objectives to their digital strategy and they’re missing out as a result.”

The Digital Strategy Development Program guides business leaders through the process of developing a digital strategy, helps them with an overall framework and implementation plan, and gives them the skills and knowledge to run with it.

Another challenge is not everyone can afford to bring in top-tier consultants to work on a digital strategy. The digital divide is now the separation between SMEs and the big end of town who can afford to outsource the strategy development process.

A lack of internal expertise to create digital strategies

Says Jodie Sangster (above, right), CEO, ADMA: “Our members have asked for help with their digital strategies because they know they need to have one but they often lack the internal expertise. So they might hire expensive external consultants to help and a strategy gets developed, but often independently. If you don’t have the buy-in from your team and the business, the strategy may not get used. The ADMA/Zuni Digital Strategy Development Program addresses this issue.”

Says Zeederberg: “Once digital touch-points are aligned around the needs of customers, businesses tend to transform. They see a real uplift not only to their bottom line, but also their ROI from digital.”

Interestingly, ADMA will be the first organisation to transform its current digital strategy through the Digital Strategy Development Program.

Says Sangster: “We’re huge providers of digital marketing training and development in Australia, and are always looking to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to new learning experiences in digital marketing.”

Says Zeederberg: “Through the Digital Strategy Development Program, businesses now have a solution for developing a digital strategy that is cost effective, practical and completed in two months. We’re excited to be partnering with ADMA to launch Zuni Uni in Australia. This alliance marries our extensive digital strategy consulting experience with ADMA’s expertise in the education and training of digital strategy and marketing.”

The Digital Strategy Development Program is part of Zuni Uni, an initiative blending educational programs with consulting services, created by Zuni to address clients’ strategic needs.