“I liked launch better. It’s much more exciting. And it’s very different from any experience you can have on earth. Even though NASA tries to simulate launch, and we practice in simulators, it’s not the same — it’s not even close to the same. It’s a very exciting experience… The most anxious time was during launch, just because that is so dramatic.” – Sally K. Ride, NASA Astronaut
After Discovering, Analyzing, Creating, and Developing, just turn on the switch to deploy the product of invention, right? Not quite.
Launch the Digital Strategy
The fifth step of ETSZONE’s Seven Step Process, DEPLOY, is to launch the digital communication strategy into reality. Sure, there have been the tests, internal reviews, feedback from customers and vendors, technical tweaks, aesthetic refinements, and detailing throughout Development. There has been planning for topics and sourcing of content and metrics to track. Those are all forward looking. DEPLOY is about stepping out now, launching the digital assets that express your passion and that carry your unique message and your company’s value.
Isn’t this just a flip of the switch? The final step in the progression from imagined to real?
A Social and Technical Event
To DEPLOY involves the “real” of implementing all the remaining technical details, settings, provider relationships, and nuances of rendering your message live and real to where it can be accessed in the digital world. That can mean launching a website or revealing a new logo, tagline, company image, or political campaign. It is also a social cue that demarcates the before and after. Just like the seedling that sprouts to emerge above the ground, to deploy is to take the next step of growth and evolution in declaring “I’m here!”
The product of deployment reflects your organization’s introspection, reflection, and invention. Deployment is to affirm and embrace these as such. It is a real and live expression of mindset for and of your organization, its individuals, its relationships, and its audience. It is a constituent part of your organization’s growth, development, and adaptation. It is a statement of mission and value. It is an offer of goods and services crafted for an audience that values them and takes action to engage.
And yes, it is turning on the switch.
Deployment initiates the digital communication process that follows: the cycle of PROMOTE and RESPOND.