The Agile Evolution
According to a blog on FlexMR, “Insight-Led Brand Strategy: A Guide to the Essentials,” by Emily James, there seems to be two foundational elements that together combine to enhance an insights-led brand strategy—agile research and customer-centricity. Agile research allows the brand strategy to be flexible, and gives it the ability to adapt to changes that are happening in real-time as actionable insights change and evolve over time. This agile approach will engage with stakeholders. This is said to work better than a structured market research strategy, as it gives the business more flexibility as they pivot to changes taking place in the market.
Customer-centricity, meanwhile, is not a business strategy per se, notes FlexMR, but more the culture of the business as a whole. It is vital to gain customer input. And, just as importantly, FlexMR notes that agile research will drive insights into the current consumer perception of the brand, and which marketing channels are causing that perception. This will enable brands to identify ways in which they can evolve.
Put the Customer First
In a blog on All Things Insights, we recently looked at the strategy of “Driving Consumer Focus.” Consumer focus is a strategy that focuses on understanding the needs and wants of customers in order to better meet their expectations. This, in turn, can lead to better brand strategies. This approach involves gathering customer feedback, creating strategies based on consumer insights, and continuously improving products or services to provide value for the customer. It also involves adapting marketing messages and tactics according to what consumers want in order to drive sales growth.
With brand insights, it’s still important to always keep the customer front and center. In the All Things Insights blog, “Investing Insights into Product & Brand Innovation,” we discussed how customer insights are a key cog in driving brand and product developments. And so, it’s imperative that the insights discipline invests in product and brand innovation.
TMRE will be held this year from October 23-25, at the Gaylord Rockies Event & Convention Center, Denver, CO. In the session, “The Future of Insights: Agile, Faster and Consumer-Obsessed,” Oksana Sobol, Insights Lead at The Clorox Company, explains what the insights department should really deliver for the business (but often doesn’t), why up to 80% of insights are ignored by decision makers, and how insights as well as marketing organizations need to evolve to maximize business impact.
Register for TMRE now to see the session.
Leverage the Data
Growing a brand strategy using insights involves leveraging data and understanding gained from various sources to inform and optimize your brand’s approach. Adaptation and flexibility to your company’s approach are key. According to ChatGPT, here are some basic steps to help use insights effectively:
- Define Your Objectives: Start by clarifying your brand’s long-term objectives and the specific goals you want to achieve. Whether it’s increasing brand awareness, expanding your customer base, or improving customer loyalty, having clear objectives will guide your strategy.
- Collect Data and Insights: Gather data from multiple sources, including market research, customer feedback, social media analytics, website metrics, and competitor analysis. Use surveys, focus groups, and data analysis to understand customer preferences, pain points, and behavior.
- Identify Key Trends and Patterns: Analyze the data to identify key trends and patterns that emerge. Look for common themes, customer preferences, and areas where your brand is performing well or needs improvement.
- Understand Your Target Audience: Use insights to develop a deep understanding of your target audience. This includes demographics, psychographics, behaviors, and preferences. Knowing your audience’s needs and desires will help tailor your brand strategy to resonate with them.
- Competitive Analysis: Study your competitors to identify their strengths and weaknesses. Learn from their successes and failures, and identify opportunities to differentiate your brand in the market.
- Brand Positioning: Based on the insights gained, refine or establish your brand positioning. This is how you want your target audience to perceive your brand relative to your competitors. Ensure your brand promise aligns with the needs and values of your audience.
- Messaging and Communication: Craft compelling and consistent brand messaging based on the insights you’ve gathered. Tailor your messaging to address your audience’s pain points and showcase your unique value proposition.
- Channel Selection: Use insights to identify the most effective channels to reach your target audience. This could include social media platforms, content marketing, email campaigns, influencer marketing, or traditional advertising.
- Measure and Optimize: Implement your brand strategy and regularly measure its performance. Monitor key performance indicators to gauge success and adjust your strategy as needed based on new insights and feedback.
- Incorporate Feedback Loops: Continuously collect feedback from customers and internal stakeholders. Use this feedback to refine your brand strategy and stay agile in a rapidly changing market.
- Cultivate Brand Advocates: Encourage satisfied customers to become brand advocates. Word-of-mouth marketing is powerful, and happy customers can be your most effective brand ambassadors.
- Evolve with Insights: Stay open to learning from ongoing insights and adapt your brand strategy as the market evolves and customer preferences change.
Make Customers Your Obsession
Ideally, by using data-driven insights to shape your brand strategy, you can create a more impactful and customer-centric approach that sets your brand apart and fosters long-term growth. Agile resourcing is one of the ways to optimize towards these goals. Ask yourself, just what does customer centricity really mean in a consumer-obsessed organization? According to FlexMR, they are really two sides of the same issue, just varying in intensity: “Customer centricity is a mindset that focuses on providing positive experiences for customers, but customer obsession takes that a few steps further by actively disrupting organizational structures and regulations in order to mold the business to best fit their customers’ needs.”
Video courtesy of Talks at Google
