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The definition that best fits my understanding of strategy is that which says ‘Strategic planning means deciding what we should communicate to a given group of consumers’. What to say and to whom. This definition makes clear the importance of market research as a starting point for a good strategy.
Because marketing is not a war of products, but of perceptions. It is often said that what decides the success and failure of a product, apart from the product itself, is the strategy; or as Bill Gates said, “They have a product, I have a strategy”. But I would add that, for success, it is vital that this strategy is built on consumer perception.
Some advertising agencies tend to do strategy in-house, given the strong link between strategy (WHAT to say) and creativity (HOW to say it in a memorable way). However, I am in favor of the market analyst doing the strategy themself, given their greater knowledge of human behavior, how people perceive and value brands, and the markets in which they operate.
Because if you have nothing to say, nobody will have anything to remember, because what we remember is the content. With creativity you get people’s attention, but if there’s no content, there’s nothing to remember.
Contact with the brand manager is essential to clarify what we want to achieve with the strategy, i.e. what is the marketing objective:
Thus, the definition of the strategy should always have the following structure:
DEFINITION OF A DIFFERENTIAL AND CREDIBLE POSITIONING AXIS FOR OUR PRODUCT/BRAND THAT IS RELEVANT TO OUR TARGET AND THAT ALLOWS US TO ACHIEVE THE MARKETING OBJECTIVE
Because in order to know how to get somewhere, we first need to know where we are.
Deciding who will be the communication target and what we are going to tell them about the product/brand.
Knowing why they buy from us:
Motivation to buy/consume our brand/product
Why they don’t buy from us:
Barriers to buying/consuming our brand/product
Why they buy from the competition:
Needs not covered by our brand/product or better covered by our competitors
Etc…
These needs/motivations may be:
RATIONAL “I have a conscious reason”
EMOTIONAL “I identify with the brand/product”
3.1 Analyzing our brand image and those of our competitors
3.2 Analyzing our market positioning
Detecting the possible positioning axes for our brand
Victoria and I have collaborated on a number of multi-market qualitative research projects and I have found her a joy to work with as everything is expertly managed as well as offering clear strategic thinking. I wholeheartedly recommend working with her.
Propietario
Field & Track Research
Market research and opinion institute
UK
I’ve been working with Victoria on a couple of projects. In both, she showed knowledge of smart tools, a clear point of view and allowed us to achieve excellent results.
Director creativo
Saatchi & Saatchi
Agencia publicidad
Spain
