The Importance of Having a Digital Strategy
“A company without a strategy is willing to try anything.”
That observation was true when this post was first written a decade ago, and it is more true now. The online landscape has grown significantly since then; it has also restructured itself around fundamentally new technologies. Social media platforms have matured and fragmented. Privacy regulations have reshaped how data can be collected and used. And AI has arrived as a force that touches every layer of how businesses market themselves online, from the content they produce to the channels through which customers now discover them.
When the environment shifts this quickly, a clear strategic plan tells you what to adjust and what to hold. React without that foundation and you end up chasing trends, burning budget on activity that pulls in different directions, and losing ground to competitors who knew where they were going.
This is what digital strategy actually provides: a shared framework for decisions. Not a rigid plan that blocks adaptation, but a defined direction that keeps effort coordinated and measurable.
01
Why a Digital Strategy Still Matters, and Matters More Than Before
Ask most marketing professionals whether they have a documented digital strategy and you will hear a range of answers. Some will point to a slide deck from a planning day. Others will describe something that lives in a spreadsheet or in the head of one senior person. Very few will show you a living document that connects objectives, channels, audiences, measurement and AI capability into a coherent whole.
The gap between having a strategy and merely intending to have one is where budget gets wasted.
In 2015, that gap was costly. In 2026, with AI tools proliferating and the cost of misaligned activity higher than ever, it is a serious competitive disadvantage. AI amplifies whatever direction a business is already pointing. If that direction is unclear, AI simply accelerates the chaos.
02
Objectives and Benchmarks Give AI Something to Optimise
A digital strategy forces you to define what success looks like before you spend anything. That sounds obvious, but the discipline of writing down specific, measurable objectives, such as visitor targets, lead volumes, conversion rates and cost per acquisition, creates the foundation that every other decision rests on.
This has always been the case. What is new in 2026 is that your AI tools need that same clarity. The major advertising platforms now run on machine learning that optimises towards the signal you give them. Feed in a vague goal and the algorithm will find something to optimise, but probably not what you actually care about. Feed in a precise conversion objective, backed by clean data and a clear audience definition, and the same technology becomes genuinely powerful.
Benchmarks also protect you when AI-generated reports start presenting activity metrics as success. Sessions, impressions, and engagement rates are easy for AI tools to surface and easy to misread as outcomes. A clear strategy defines what outcomes matter, which makes it far harder to be dazzled by numbers that do not move the business forward.
03
Understanding Your Audience in an Era of First-Party Data
A well-constructed digital strategy requires you to define your audience in detail: who they are, where they spend time online, what they are trying to accomplish, and what would make them choose you. That exercise was valuable a decade ago. It is essential now.
Third-party cookies, the invisible infrastructure that underpinned much of digital advertising’s audience targeting for years, have been progressively phased out across browsers. The industry has shifted its weight towards first-party data, meaning information collected directly from people who have voluntarily engaged with your brand. That shift rewards businesses that have built genuine relationships with their audiences and invested in owned channels like email, CRM, and direct content.
AI changes the analytical side of audience understanding significantly. Behavioural patterns that would have required a specialist data analyst to surface are now accessible through AI-assisted tools integrated into most analytics and CRM platforms. The insight is available. What organisations still need is the strategic framework to act on it consistently rather than on a case-by-case basis.
Your digital strategy should define your audience segments clearly enough that when an AI tool surfaces a behavioural insight, you already know which segment it belongs to and how to respond.
04
Channel Integration Has Become More Complex, and More Consequential
When this post was first written, the main digital channels were broadly familiar: search, social, email, display. The question was how to make them work together rather than operating as isolated activities.
That question remains. The answer is harder.
The channel mix in 2026 is significantly broader and includes platforms and formats that did not exist or had no commercial relevance ten years ago: short-form video, podcast advertising, connected TV, influencer partnerships, and, critically, AI-powered search. This last category is changing how people discover businesses online in ways that are still unfolding.
AI search engines and generative AI tools with browsing capability are increasingly becoming the first point of contact between a potential customer and a business. Users ask a conversational question and receive a synthesised answer that may or may not include a reference to your organisation. Whether you appear in those answers depends on the quality and structure of your online content, your brand’s authority in your sector, and how well your digital presence is designed for AI to interpret and cite.
This is sometimes called Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) or Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO). It is distinct from traditional SEO, though the two overlap significantly. The businesses that will be recommended by AI search tools are those that have produced genuinely useful, well-structured, expert-led content over time. That kind of content programme requires a strategy. It cannot be improvised.
A strong digital strategy maps out which channels serve which roles, covering awareness, consideration, conversion, and retention, and ensures they are aligned rather than competing for the same audience with conflicting messages.
05
AI as a Strategic Layer in Its Own Right
It is worth separating how AI gets used from what AI means strategically, because these are different questions.
Many businesses are already using AI tools in their marketing: generating content, editing copy, scheduling social posts, summarising reports. That operational use is valuable, but it is a different thing from having an AI strategy, and a different thing again from having a coherent digital strategy.
An AI strategy asks: where in our marketing operation will AI generate the most leverage? Which tasks are being done manually that AI can handle reliably? Where are we at risk of over-automating in ways that erode quality or brand voice? What data infrastructure do we need to put in place to make AI tools actually useful? How do we train our team to work alongside AI productively?
These questions sit above the level of any individual tool. They belong in a digital strategy. Businesses that treat AI as a series of standalone product subscriptions rather than a capability to be developed and directed will accumulate cost without strategic gain.
For organisations in tourism, travel, and hospitality particularly, AI raises specific questions about how to maintain the warmth, specificity, and genuine helpfulness that differentiate great destination marketing from generic content. A strategy that addresses AI capability alongside brand voice and audience relationships will navigate that tension far more effectively than one that treats them as separate concerns.
06
Budgeting and ROI When AI Changes the Attribution Picture
"Most digital strategies I see are either a list of channels or a set of wishes. The ones that work are the ones that connect a clear objective to a specific audience to a measurable action. "
A digital strategy defines how budget is allocated across channels and how return is measured. In 2026, both sides of that equation are being reshaped by AI.
On the investment side, AI-powered advertising platforms increasingly manage their own bidding, targeting, and creative optimisation within the parameters you set. The strategic question has evolved from “how much do we spend on search versus social?” to “what inputs and constraints do we give the algorithm, and how do we audit its decisions?” Budget conversations now require a working understanding of how platform AI works, not just how much inventory costs.
On the measurement side, AI is surfacing attribution data at a level of granularity that was previously inaccessible to most organisations without specialist analyst resource. That capability is valuable, but only if you know what you are attributing to what. A coherent channel architecture, grounded in defined objectives, is what turns AI-generated attribution reports into actionable insight rather than noise.
The businesses seeing the clearest ROI from their digital activity in 2026 are those that have maintained strategic discipline: defined goals, consistent measurement frameworks, and a clear-eyed assessment of what is working. AI has made the tools more powerful. Strategic direction is what determines whether that power is applied usefully.
07
Where to Start
If your digital strategy is out of date, incomplete, or only exists informally, the most practical starting point is an audit of your current digital activity against your actual business objectives. Where are you spending time and budget? What is that activity generating? Where are the gaps between what you are doing and what your audience actually needs from you?
That audit almost always surfaces a clearer picture than organisations expect, and it gives you the raw material for a strategy that reflects the environment you are operating in today rather than the one that existed five or ten years ago.
AI makes that audit faster and more data-rich than it has ever been. Human judgement about what matters and why remains the irreplaceable part.
Manu Kastia
Manu Kastia is Founder and AI consultant at Digital Dialog, an AI consultancy specialising in tourism, travel and hospitality. With over 15 years of experience, Manu's expertise encompasses AI strategy, training, and advisory services for the sector. He has successfully worked with major brands including Switzerland Tourism, British Airways, Eurostar, Tourism Ireland, and Marketing Manchester. Manu's passion for making AI practical and accessible has positioned him as a sought-after speaker at industry events and a trusted consultant for organisations across tourism, travel, and hospitality. He helps businesses navigate AI decisions through strategic advisory, hands-on training, and comprehensive AI literacy resources. Manu has played a pivotal role in advancing AI knowledge through training sessions and strategy consulting, empowering professionals to harness AI for genuine business outcomes. His extensive sector background and practical approach make him a trusted advisor for those looking to navigate AI opportunities with confidence.