4 Reasons Why Thorough Discovery Improves Marketing Strategy
While it is common knowledge that comprehensive strategy is fundamental to ensuring marketing plans their reach goals, too often there is a flaw that occurs in developing strategy which can hinder even the most creative remedy.
The flaw is typically found in the discovery phase of strategy development. What we see in client requests is a desire for creative problem solving and direction, without expanded research and meticulous diagnosis.
The advantage of working with an experienced marketing agency, is a honed process of discovery and diagnosis based upon an unbiased, broad analysis which is unlimited by internal constraints. Deep discovery of both opportunity and threat, overall brand health, and competitive landscape through multiple research gathering methods and persona development is essential to creating and executing a winning strategy.
If you find your team struggling with strategy, here are four reasons to get started with superior discovery.
The Top 4 Reasons for Thorough Discovery:
1. Reduce Risk - The purpose of a discovery phase is to reduce or eliminate risk during strategy execution. It’s a marketing agency’s responsibility to have an integrated understanding of the entire brand environment. To make recommendations or move forward without this understanding would only be speculative.
2. Competitive Edge – It would be amiss to move forward with strategy without completely measuring a brand against the competition. To get a competitive edge one must accurately conclude the stakeholders’ grasp of similar brands to establish a value proposition which will win in the marketplace. Seeing competitor opportunities that have been missed and knowing the pain points which have been overlooked by both direct and indirect competitors will lead to a truly innovative strategy.
3. Improve Your Value Proposition – Through strong discovery, marketers are able to get into the minds of ideal customers. This is imperative in creating a strong value proposition. It’s not the tactics; like email, landing pages, or direct mail which create great marketing and persuasion, it’s the ability to connect with the minds of the ideal customer and provide a value in which the customer believes at a psychological and emotional level.
4. Set Realistic and Achievable Benchmarks based on Data – Making decisions and goals based on conclusive data is key to an esteemed strategy. Digital site analytics, transaction analytics, as well as focus groups, surveys, and interviews can provide genuine insight leading to proper objectives. All of these discovery points may be more readily acquired and interpreted by an independent enterprise.
As professional marketers with brand strategy expertise, it is our job to do everything to ensure that our clients’ projects are successful. We know from our 24 years of experience that deep discovery provides an excellent foundation for the most productive strategy.
Continue reading: why brand strategy leads to success.
