Digital transformation playbook

Follow the RACE planning framework to plan, manage and implement your digital marketing transformation initiatives

How will this playbook help me and my business?

Digital transformation projects are complex because there are so many potential marketing activities across different paid, owned and earned media which can be improved. Changes to improve internal processes, team structures and skills, technology, data management, insight, and reporting will all also be required. For larger organizations, transformation projects are complicated further before more teams and functions need to be involved.

This playbook will provide you and your business with a comprehensive structure to follow. It will help you plan and prioritize transformation activities across different marketing communications in the customer lifecycle using the Smart Insights RACE Planning framework.

For the maximum impact, revised omnichannel communications need to be integrated across web, mobile, email and traditional platforms, plus in-store/phone-based communications, if relevant. Potential opportunities from updating revenue and business model may also need to be considered.

Who is this playbook for?

This guide is aimed at managers responsible for digital transformation who are creating or rolling out improvements to marketing communications required by digital transformation. These include:

Senior marketing managers such as CMO, VP or Head of Marketing and Marketing Director
Managers accountable for digital marketing results for a business including Digital Director and Digital Marketing Manager
Managers responsible for technical platform delivery who need to learn about digital marketing activities and insight sources they must support including CIO, Head of IT and E-commerce manager

How is the playbook structured?

To provide a comprehensive coverage of all marketing activities, this guide is based on the Smart Insights RACE Planning framework. For this playbook, the framework is broken down into 25 more detailed activities for you to review in a checklist format. For each of these 25 activities, we recommend specific actions to take with links to resources and tools giving more detailed advice on best practices.

The five parts of our multichannel RACE planning framework will help you:

Plan – Define your digital communications strategy and digital brand
Reach – Build online awareness for your brand(s) by tapping into search intent for your products and using advertising and PR to generate
Act – Encourage digital interactions with online prospects and customers via improving customer journeys and sign-posting relevant lead-generation
Convert – Increase conversion rates through multichannel approach to turn subscribers into customers through online and offline conversion
Engage – Improve customer loyalty and advocacy using digital customer communications including email marketing, marketing automation and social

How does this playbook support transformation?

The playbook provides a structured checklist of integrated digital communications activities that should to be reviewed and optimized to increase the digital contribution of leads and sales for a business. It links to more detailed templates to help you review and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of activities.

Latest updates

This playbook has been updated with links to over 20 new resources, including Smart Insights templates, Quick Wins, and blog posts. This ensures that you are using the most up-to-date resources while putting your transformation project into action.

Resource Details

Authors: Dave Chaffey
Format: 20 page Playbook with actionable checklists and tables

About the author

Dave is co-founder and Content Director of Smart Insights and creator of the RACE planning framework. He is editor of the 180+ templates, ebooks and courses in the digital marketing resource library created by our team of 25+ digital marketing experts. Dave has worked as a digital strategist, consultant and trainer since 1997.

Dave is author of 5 bestselling books on digital marketing including Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice. In 2004 he was recognised by the Chartered Institute of Marketing as one of 50 marketing ‘gurus’ worldwide who have helped shape the future of marketing. For my full profile, or to connect on LinkedIn or other social networks, see the About Dave Chaffey profile page on Smart Insights.