Managing Strategically Vs. Tactically – What’s the Information Gap?

Are you getting the best out of your marketing team?

One of the biggest challenges within marketing teams is the information and expectation gap between strategic and tactical thinking.

Usually both sides (the senior manager and the team or agency) are at fault. The reason is that while the team wants to think they’re providing “strategic” guidance – the reality is that before the ink has dried on the dry erase board, everyone wants to jump right into projects, hours, account management, deliverables and deadlines. All too often projects are started from the tail instead of the head.

Much of this can be chalked up to a lack of experience. It’s very easy for those that are focused on delivery to quickly jump into “what do I need to deliver”. But more attention needs to be paid to the “why” rather than the “how”.

One of the most pronounced places you can see this actually happening is how businesses deal with their marketing agencies. Studies have shown that less than 15% of agency fees go into strategy work – while 80%-90% of fees go to tactical execution. Is it any wonder that clients want “ready-made” solutions and agencies are more than willing to provide them?

So, how do we close that gap?

You’ve got to devote resources and focus for strategic work. Similarly, your agency should be challenged to focus on, and should charge you for strategy work. There should be no reason for a “b” team from your agency – because you recognize the value in the “A” team. Recognize that the teams have a common goal – and that goal is the success of your account. You hire an agency for the same reasons you hire key members of your team – for experience and the relationship that will give you the best, strategic, chance for success.

At Boyd one of the practices we commonly employ is to schedule regular meetings to review strategy and see how we apply the tactical projects to that strategy. We want to set and review the strategy with the key stakeholders and management team members. The goal is to see if we’re both reaching the objectives we jointly set. And at the end of the day, that’s what we want – for you to see us as a partner in strategy.

We strive to make sure that the strategic thinking we bring to bear is truly original to your business – and not a ready-made solution that is working its way to an efficient, but mediocre conclusion. You want and deserve breakthrough thinking – and in order to do that – we both need to invest the best people and thinking. This, will not only help you succeed – but it will also ultimately save both time and money in the execution.

So, as you look at your next marketing initiatives, let’s increase the percentage of time and resources to be more weighted toward the strategic thinking. Let’s spend our real effort on strategy - and on breakthrough creative that sells. Then, jointly figure out the best way to tactically execute that strategy – whether it’s with internal team members or Agency personnel. With your internal team, that’s how you develop the strategic thinkers that will ultimately lead the organization. And, that’s how an agency goes from being an outsourced body shop – executing tactically (and efficiently) to a strategic partner that can help you succeed.

The Next Chapter Of Branding – Immersive Engagement

So, if Branding 2.0 was engaging in a conversation with our audiences – how do we now deliver creative messages to these audiences. In today’s world, Web-Savvy consumers sniff out advertising fast.

Enter Immersive Engagement

Just over a month ago, Lexus launched a new online campaign for their newest model – the Lexus CT 200h Hybrid. If you haven’t seen it (it’s definitely worth it) the site contains technology that integrates the user experience. Webcams will take a picture of your face. Microphone integration will record your voice. And, Facebook integrations will pull information about you. All of this is to build a personalized, and immersive experience into a compelling and exciting storyline featuring the new car.

The whole idea is to start to attract a younger, hipper and more stylish audience to a new hybrid automobile – provided by Lexus; a brand noted for it’s older demographic.

Will it work? The answer is yet to be determined – but it’s definitely the sign of things to come. The next chapter of branding may be pulling consumers into the storyline – and immersing them in the brand promise.

Now, of course, not every brand can afford to hire actors and to create interactive entertainment at that kind of scale. Large, consumer brands are the ones exploring this new technology. But this immersive content is coming to brands of all sizes – and beginning to look at it now is key.

One thing is certain, the biggest obstacle in rolling out an immersive campaign is not the cost of production – but a commitment to content, interactivity and a singular brand promise that the organization can immerse their audience in.

It’s time to rethink our static Web presence as a digital brochure and start to think of it as a place where we can immerse our consumers in our brand promise. Now, regardless of whether that’s just interactive video, audio – or just quite simply great textual and photographic content - the key is that it provides our consumers with an amazing experience.

At Boyd – that’s where we focus our branding efforts. We help brands to bridge this experience. How can we create an experience for your audience that fulfills and immerses them in your brand’s promise? Maya Angelou once said “people won’t remember what you say. They won’t remember what you do. They will remember how you make them feel.”

If your brand can make people feel you want them to feel – then you’ll be successful.

Are You Marketing For The Next 3 Months Or The Next 3 Years?

Everybody is marketing short term – is there a reason to market long term?

Whether most organizations will admit it, most of them are marketing quarter to quarter. Even with the promise of a better economy, even private companies are nervous about looking beyond a quarter or two. Unfortunately when we market for quarterly results – long-term thinking suffers.

But here’s the question – is that okay?

We may just be shifting our thinking into more short term mindset – and one that we just have to adapt to.

But we can’t lose long-term marketing strategy. Short term marketing may give us results – but they will be short term results – and not long-term value.

Consider what Nike has done with its World Cup campaign. Look at the epic commercial called “Write the Future”. It’s an amazing piece of filmmaking directed by Alejandro Inarritu. It features cameos by Kobe Bryant, Roger Federer and even Homer Simpson. And, the campaign features the opportunity for a lucky fan to get an invitation to Nike soccer camp where they will be scouted by professionals.

That’s not a marketing campaign that was created for results in the next quarter. That’s a campaign that, itself took years to execute, and is squarely focused on building long-term brand value.

We have to make room for both the short term results – and the long-term strategy. The planning and strategy development processes are critical.

The consulting firm McKinsey & Company conducted a study a few years ago looking at large corporations that had successfully balanced both a long-term and short-term strategy. What they found was that the majority of companies didn’t have the financial assets to do both – but instead engaged the leaders in the company to make smart (but sometimes difficult) tradeoffs to emphasize the priorities of both.

They found that these companies revised strategies frequently on an ongoing basis, to ensure they could enable management to be nimble. In this way they could decide to expand, change, or even delete short term objectives against long-term strategies.

At Boyd we are constantly working with clients to revisit long-term objectives. It’s always helpful to have periodic “check-ins” to review what we’re doing – and how it’s reaching the overall long-term goals.

It’s important that we reach those quarterly goals – but we’ve got to make sure that while we get there, we don’t lose ground in building long-term value.