Creating a Digital Strategy with Limited Internet Just Means a lot of Planning

Creating a Digital Strategy with Limited Internet Just Means a lot of Planning

March 3, 2019

 

Whether you’re in a major city or a small, rural village, if you plan to grow your startup in the 21st Century, you need to create some sort of digital marketing strategy. These types of strategies help startups determine where to allocate their resources, and time, in order to generate hits on platforms such as Facebook or Google.

But what do you do if you have a weak internet connection, or only access to the internet a few times a week? Even in areas with limited connectivity, it is still possible to develop an effective digital strategy that grows the online presence of your startup. It just takes a lot of pre-planning and strategic thinking.

During the GIST TechConnect: Growing Your Startup through Digital Marketing, two digital marketing experts weighed in on this very issues. Both noted that despite connectivity challenges, there are marketing tools that entrepreneurs can use to maximize on the moments when they do have internet.

“Some tools can be used offline,” said Andrew Nelson, President of Silverback Strategies. “Even just Google Drive is a tool that we use at our agency often, to be able to put together marketing plans or to do keyword research, for example. You can work on those documents offline and then when you’re connected to the internet eventually, it can all get synced up.”

Using these types of tools can help reduce the impact little to no connectivity can have on planning a digital marketing strategy. This is because as soon as there is an internet connection, these programs update documents automatically, ensuring everyone gets the latest information as soon as possible. It can help a marketing team quickly sync up when internet is restored and continue working when internet is lost.

But in order for these tools to be effective, an entrepreneur also needs to think strategically about what they can do and when.

“One thing you might want to do is create a marketing plan offline,” said Scott Sorenson, President of Compete Agency. “Digital marketing is internet marketing. You need to find a way to connect to the internet. But you can do a lot of work just on a Word document or something like that.”

Sorenson said an entrepreneur can focus on planning parts of their marketing strategy that don’t require an internet connection, such as identifying keywords or the types of images that should be used. This way, when they are able to get access to the internet, they know exactly what they need and can maximize on the time they are online.

Once a digital strategy has been created, implementation also takes a level of strategic planning if access to the internet is restricted. Both Nelson and Sorenson said many social media marketing platforms, such as Hootsuite, allow users to schedule posts far in advance. An entrepreneur with limited connectivity can use this function to maintain a presence online for their startup.

“If you can map out the things you want to say and when to say it, you can set that all up ahead of time if you know you’re not going to have internet access for an extended period,” said Nelson. “It would be essentially posted for you while you’re not there, automatically.”

Sorenson also highlighted that many of these platforms offer their basic services for free, which means there would be little to no cost for an entrepreneur to use one as part of their digital marketing strategy.

If you are an entrepreneurs operating in a region of the world with limited connectivity, both Nelson and Sorenson said it is still possible for you to make an effective digital marketing strategy. As both pointed out, with determination, the right digital marketing tools, and plenty of planning – even startups with limited access to the internet can thrive online.

Find out why Sorenson and Nelson both said data is one of the most important resources entrepreneurs should use in creating and implement a digital marketing strategy. Watch the full TechConnect below.

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