Creating Strategies and Ideas — Marketing Strategies For Beginners — Session 12
It is not about what you are going to do, but about what you are not going to do!
Strategy — Summation, progression, reflection and expression of our vision and strategy statement.
It is a magical combination of elements extracted from strategy statement, although one element would be the driving force behind the creative process. Strategy is approach, based on research and insights as to how to position/reposition a product or service in the market.
The idea has to communicate the proposition to the right audience, all in constant tone. This would be virtually impossible if relevant, well-defined strategy is not present.
Types of strategies
Strategies can never be definitive!
‘Before-and-after’ Strategy
This is a common strategy — show life before the product and then show life after the product. It is a simple way to understand the benefit. The subsequent execution that comes from this strategy is usually a negative visual (w/o the product) followed by a positive one (with the product).
‘Before only’- Strategy
Let the consumer figure out the after-stage themselves. E.g.: Economist
‘After only’ strategy
This only shows how life would be after the product.
‘Advice’ Strategy
This is a lateral ‘we can help’ approach. This majorly focuses on benefits for a particular type/segment. Eg. Macy’s Ad for student discounts and sales. (Skip the line/jump the queue if you are a student.) This strategy helps to create a positive image in the minds of the customers.
‘Knowledge’ Strategy
This is like an advice strategy. This approach talks about how knowledgeable the brand is about a certain subject. Majorly, focused on
- About their own product
- Subject related to the product
- Market in which the product exists
The demonstration of the knowledge about the above segments communicates the quality of the product or service.
Eg: The mattress company making an Ad, We understand sleep. Understanding is mainly about how the customers perceive the usage or the product itself.
‘Empathy Strategy
This approach showcases how the product is empathetic towards the consumer. It talks about how the product understands the target audience.
We understand or care about you and/or your relationship with the product.
This strategy focuses more on the consumer rather than on the client.
Eg: J&J — Having a baby changes everything!
‘Demonstration’ Strategy
This strategy is the purest form of showcasing benefits through demos. A clever way is to direct a form of communication regarding the benefit the brand wants to showcase.
Eg: Hussain’s Ad on Water Purifier/Heinz Sauce (thickness)
‘Testimonial’ Strategy
This idea can be used at a very conceptual stage where the brand can showcase. This approach will use a famous or a non-famous person to report their positive experiences with the brand.
‘Heritage’ Strategy
This is an effective strategy because companies will have a different history. This becomes a unique strategy to communicate a unique value proposition.
‘Owner or Staff’ Strategy
Using the client or the owner can be a hit or a miss.
For example — Ranvijay Singh’s Add-on Doner and Gyros.
The benefit is down-to-earth integrity since the owner is the heart and soul of the brand. If the actual employees are used, it brings out the brand’s authenticity.
Product positioning Strategy
This is the most basic and broadest strategy to position a new or established product in a different way from its competetion.
E.g.: Hagen-Dazs (Positioning the ice cream in the most sensual way)
Product re-positioning Strategy
If a product loses money despite a healthy advertising spend, it must reposition itself. To reposition the ideology, one must remember that it must be believable, logical, and marketable. This type of strategy focuses on the Niche market but does not necessarily target a particular type of audience.
Competitive or Comparison Strategy
All the clients/organizations compare themselves with one or the other product/company in the market to a greater or a lesser degree. One should be equally aware of the good and bad competitors in terms of money, size, market, etc. This approach can make a subtle or overt reference to the GTM.
Examples of overt are Sprite and Mountain Dew OR Pepsi and Coke, while Subtle is DHL vs. FedEx vs. UPS.
Challenge Strategy
This strategy is all about the ‘Have you got it?’ strategy. This GTM talks about doing something rather than just buying the product. The Best example of this Naukri Ad is Hari Sadu.
Negative to Positive Strategy
This concept focuses on turning something that is boring or a negative perception about a product/brand or market into a positive one.
The best discussion over here would be ‘Think Small’ by Volkswagen to promote Beetle. This ad was more about the advantages of buying a smaller car in the traffic. But most of the audience has always been focused on bigger and better slogans; to tackle this, small but tough or David and Goliath were used to capture the market.
Another Example was Hertz vs. Avis. Both are car rental companies. Avis used a genius strategy called We try Harder! This made the brand capture a hidden segment they never knew about! Also, they owned a segment out of it called the Service line.
Logic Strategy
Example: You would not do that, Why would you do this?
Price Strategy
Turn a boring, common proposition into a price related one. Eg: This is an expensive chair, this is a cheaper but elegant option.
Honesty Strategy
By Honesty, it means product honesty. It means the product is self-honest about appealing to the most skeptical customer. This requires an extremely brave client to invest in it. So you cannot say that, ‘our product is bad, thus buy it.’ One needs to offer a reason why a consumer needs to try this product in a different way. So, an organization going out and saying, We screwed up! is a good way to begin with. (My advice to the teams here sometimes.)
Eg: Cough Syrup: Tastes bad as usual! But, Makes the disease go away.
The best ideology here is to challenge and honesty strategy!
‘Brand Action’ Strategy
Here we talk about how the company delivers on their brand promise or product benefit. The words should send out a message in a literal sense. An action provokes a reaction but it should add up to credibility. Eg: #OptOutside Ad which says everyone needs to spend time with family and nature. (IT companies)
Assignment: Create a strategy plan with diagrams to deliver a brand promise. Create the pay-off in words and explain the idea in concepts of art.
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