What is SOSTAC?

SOSTAC is a framework for building digital strategy that's been around since the 1990s. PR Smith originally developed it, and Dave Chaffey later adapted it specifically for digital marketing. And the reason it's stuck around is simple… it works.

The framework breaks strategy down into six practical stages:

• Situation analysis (where are we now?) - This means you'll look at and completely understand your current market position and the environment you operate in, your competitors, and your capabilities.

• Objectives (where do we want to be?) - Having understood your situation, you'll define clear, measurable goals with clear outcomes.

• Strategy (how do we get there?) - This is your high-level approach for achieving those objectives. This leads to the more granular bits that support your strategy - the tactics, actions and controls.

• Tactics - What tools, channels, and methods will we use to execute the strategy?

• Actions - Who's responsible for what, and when does it need to happen?

• Controls - How will we measure progress and adjust the approach and direction when needed?

What makes SOSTAC particularly useful today is its iterative nature. In a world of AI, automation, and real-time analytics, you need a framework that can adapt quickly to changing conditions.

Understanding where you are now

Before you can set meaningful and informed objectives, you need an honest assessment of your current digital landscape. This means gathering both quantitative data and qualitative insights.

Your situation analysis might include things like SEO performance - organic traffic levels, your rankings in search results, and technical health of your site. You'll want to look at content performance, including how AI-driven insights are influencing lead generation and visibility. UX factors matter too, like usability of your sites and apps, mobile optimisation, page load times, navigation, accessibility, and conversion flows.

And as part of your analysis, take a hard look at your analytics infrastructure - is your data quality good enough to make decisions with?

Tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, Similarweb, and SparkToro can provide market intelligence and competitor insights. Platforms like Hotjar, Maze, or Lookback help you understand actual user behaviour and sentiment.

Methods like SWOT analysis, competitor benchmarking, deep analytics reviews, and audience research help bring all this information together into a clear picture of where you stand today. This analysis becomes your baseline for measuring future progress.

Setting clear objectives

Once you understand your current situation, you can set objectives that actually mean something. These could be SMART objectives - specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. But most importantly, they should tie directly to business outcomes like revenue growth, efficiency gains, or customer delight and retention.

Your objectives might include things like increasing organic search traffic to drive more qualified leads, reducing abandonments on key landing pages through UX improvements, or raising conversion rates through systematic testing and optimisation. You might focus on improving repeat engagement through personalisation or push notifications. Or you could look at introducing new ranking methods to increase visibility and citations in AI responses and search results.

The key is making sure these objectives align teams around common goals, create clear accountability, and give you concrete ways to measure progress.

Deciding how to get there

This is where strategy becomes about making choices. What can you do to meet those objectives and where should you focus for maximum impact?

Your strategic approach might involve segmentation - focusing on high-value customer groups rather than trying to appeal to everyone. You'll need to clarify your positioning: how do you differentiate through superior UX, better content, or AI-powered personalisation?

Think about your channel mix too. How do you balance organic search, paid advertising, push notifications, and nudges? What role should newer technologies like AI, automation, and predictive analytics play in your approach? Where can UX improvements remove friction and optimise key customer journeys? What digital tools, platforms and touchpoints do you need to reach and engage your audience effectively?

A good strategy sets clear direction without getting bogged down in every detail. It leaves room to adapt as markets and customer behaviours evolve.

Turning strategy into action

Tactics are where strategy meets reality. This is about translating your strategic approach into specific activities and campaigns.

On the SEO side, you might optimise for AI citations, look to increase featured snippets, focus on your content strategy or improve structured data - wherever there's opportunity for improvement to meet your objectives. For UX and conversion rate optimisation, you could focus on mobile-first experiences, frictionless checkout processes, and AI-driven testing approaches.

Your engagement tactics might include personalised content flows, AI chatbots for self-service, or highly targeted social media advertising. For analytics and optimisation, you could implement real-time dashboards, anomaly detection, and predictive insights.

The key to successful execution is clear ownership, so everyone knows who's responsible for what. You need agile workflows that allow for quick adjustments, good collaboration across teams, and adequate budget to actually make things happen.

Creating your action plan

Once you've defined your tactics, you need to turn them into a concrete action plan. This is where the ’actions’ part of SOSTAC comes to life.

Your action plan should specify exactly who's doing what, by when, and with what resources and budget they need. Break down each tactic into specific tasks with clear deadlines and owners. Consider dependencies between different activities, like what needs to happen before something else can start.

Think about the skills and tools your team will need. Do you need additional training, new software, or external support to execute your plan effectively? Make sure you've got realistic timelines that account for other priorities and commitments.

A good action plan also includes regular check-in points to review progress and adjust course if needed. This keeps everyone accountable and ensures your strategy doesn't lose momentum.

Keeping track of what's working

Controls ensure your strategy stays on course rather than drifting away from your objectives. Your KPIs - things like traffic, engagement, conversion rates, retention, and lifetime value - should align directly with the objectives you set earlier.

Real-time dashboards help you spot trends as they happen, while regular reporting keeps teams accountable for results. AI insights, predictive analytics, and ongoing market feedback should feed into continuous improvements to your approach.

Here's the important bit: strategy is never "finished." It's always evolving based on what you learn and how conditions change.

Strategy as a living document

One of the biggest mistakes organisations make is treating strategy like a one-time exercise. They spend months creating a comprehensive document, then file it away and get back to day-to-day work.

But digital changes constantly. Algorithms evolve, competitors adapt, new technologies emerge, and customer behaviours shift. A strategy that sits untouched quickly becomes irrelevant.

Your strategy needs to be a living document that gets referenced and reviewed regularly, and updated continuously. Think of it as a compass that guides decisions, not a fixed map that never changes.

With this in mind, here are some practical ways to keep your digital strategy alive:

• Hold quarterly reviews to check alignment with business goals and changing market conditions.

• Always reference the strategy in every major initiative - campaigns, experiments, and projects should all connect back to your strategic approach.

• Make small but frequent adjustments rather than waiting for major overhauls.

• Assign someone to be accountable for maintaining the strategy as a useful, working tool.

This way your strategy will remain relevant and central to how your team makes decisions.

Making it work

A digital strategy isn't optional, or a one-off piece of work, in today's environment. With AI, advanced analytics, evolving UX expectations, and increasing focus on engagement and conversion, you need a clear framework to navigate complexity.

SOSTAC provides that framework, understanding your current situation, defining clear objectives, building a strategic approach, implement specific tactics, assign clear actions, and put controls in place to measure progress.

But the real key to success is treating strategy as an ongoing practice. Regular reviews, reference, and ongoing iteration transform strategy from a static document into a dynamic engine for growth.

Don't just create a digital strategy, make it part of how you work every day. That's how organisations stay relevant, adaptable, and results-focused in a rapidly changing world.