Research holds the key to developing a sound marketing strategy
At firebrand labs (FBL), as a high-quality marketing advisory, we have a simple rule of thumb: We don’t begin work on a client’s mandate unless we have understood their business very well.
This one principle helps us shape our creative strategy for the client. It helps us keep the strategy sharp and relevant. Importantly, it helps us deliver whatever we have conceived remarkably well.
Most marketing teams focus on the glossier and superficial aspects of a marketing plan for brands, products and services. They imagine that marketing is all about helping the brand amass a social media following. If they are a tad more creative, they throw in some innovative designs in their campaigns that make their communication and content look different. Truth be told, nothing can be more myopic about a marketing strategy than following this approach.
At the heart of marketing lies the responsibility to create an aspirational need in the consumer’s mind for a brand’s product or service. This means everyone who is in the marketing team must dive deep into the market to understand what their business is really all about and how their product or service is aiming to create value for their customers.
Simply, coming up with a sound marketing strategy involves doing a lot of research, learning a lot from that research and understanding the space that the brand, product or service occupies very well.
At FBL, we have every member of our team work with a framework when we
accept a client’s mandate:
How has the industry segment that the client operates in performed over the past decade? Who are the top players in this market? What are the top trends?
What are the client’s competitors up to? What marketing strategies have they executed in the last three years? What are their customers talking about these brands, products and services? What does the internet tell us about these players?
What is the value proposition that the client’s product or service is offering the market? Compared to other competing brands, products and services, how can our client’s offering occupy a unique position in the market? And, importantly, in their customers’ minds?
If the client is an established player in the market, what are people talking on the internet about this client?
In some cases, we conduct offline research as well. Which is, we talk to some of our clients’ customers directly. We do this over email, phone calls or in one-on-one meetings.
At the end of weeks-long research, we come up with a strategy that focuses on telling the client’s brand’s story. The story is often a simple one. It highlights the value that the client’s product or service is bringing to the market. And the story urges both trial and purchase. But to get to that point, to be able to tell that simple story, a lot of effort and time has gone into researching, learning and understanding the client’s business space.
The more marketers know of their industry, of their competitors, the better they get at marketing the goodness of their brand, product and service.
Researching, learning and understanding the business space is a prerequisite to building a sound marketing strategy. As an outsourced chief marketing officer/office (ext. CMO), FBL helps our clients with this crucial aspect of marketing.