In 2016, our industry continues to rapidly shift from TV-led to digitally led marketing, making it more important than ever for marketers to reimagine their approaches to marketing and take steps to move the industry forward.
To kick off the new year, we’re sharing a page from our Marketing Leadership Playbook week by week, to help set marketers up for success in this digitally led era. This post marks the third of our Marketing Leadership Playbook blog content series “Reimagine (Almost) Everything.”
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In Post III of our Series, our Chief Strategy Officer Lee Maicon reminds us that, “What got us here, won’t get us to where we need to go next.” Tweaking last year’s marketing plans for a version ‘2.0’ will not yield marketers the brand success they are capable of seeing in the digital age. We are in the age of new approaches, “Decisions can now be driven by real-world data, behaviors and cues, allowing marketers the flexibility to optimize performance in days where it once took years, and to create campaigns that are right for right now,” reports Lee. By treating strategy as constant set of decision making, marketers can tap into incredible opportunities to build larger brand audiences and deeper connections.
Lee shares four ways for marketers to strategically get ahead in 2016, including tips on gathering decision making insights, takeaways from our client case studies, and inspiration around finding reasons for consumers to believe.
Marketer Takeaways:
- Make Strategic Choices on Current Data. Consumers act, and their actions produce a wealth of data marketers can tap into for strategic planning. “These data points are often leading indicators for where the broader population is going and where brands need to be right now,” says Lee. He touches on the key tools and data trends for brands to consider for when developing a strategy, including social listening, search trends, and Application Program Interfaces (APIs).
- Provide Briefs That Focus on Business Problems Rather Than Tactical Outputs. Bad briefs are unfortunately far more common and typically too tactful. Lee shares the importance of developing briefs that focus on challenges brands are currently facing. “Strong briefs frame problems clearly first, provide insight into the consumer or category second, and then pose a strategic direction that can open up possible solutions.” Strong briefs lead to better ideas, which lead to better work.
- Find Hidden Differentiators by Combining Feelings to Believe with Reasons to Believe. “Research continues to prove that even if a product or service can be differentiated in its rational qualities, or reasons to believe, people over time will not be convinced of its superiority,” says Lee. Brands must tap into consumers’ feelings to believe.
- Plan for a Second Act. Don’t only plan for the possible negative contingencies, but set aside a fund for a ‘Part II’ or even ‘Part III’ for when campaign results come in positive. “Now more than ever, marketing ideas and activations need to exist as part of a bigger whole, a point along the path to telling a great story,” Lee shares.
To download the full Playbook click here. To read more on how to reimagine digital as an organizational mindset, scroll to page 10.
In case you missed it, be sure to check out Post I of the series: “Reimagine (Almost) Everything: Establishing New Success Metrics,” and Post II of the series: “Reimagine (Almost) Everything: Digital as an Organizational Mindset.”
Cover photo via Huffington Post.
