Strategic planning is the foundation for having an effective marketing communications strategy.
Every time that I am working on a new project, I come across some clients with a very clear idea about the digital media channels that they wish to use to connect to their potential clients.
Then when I ask them why they want to use a specific social media channel, I receive many types of answers that reflect no strategic planning. Similar to “because it is the most popular social media channel right now”, “because it is the one that I use and I have some followers…”. Then my next question will be, does your target audience use that channel? Do you know who they are? What follows is the sound of silence.
Strategic planning requires research and a deep analysis, so it takes time, but believes me it is worth it! It is the foundation for having an effective marketing communications strategy.
Which would you chose, to sail on the sea with no compass or direction, or to have a clear idea about where are you going to and a plan to get there? I´m sure no one wants to get lost at sea, at least not me.
That´s why strategic planning is the step that anybody who really wants to have a return on their investment shouldn´t avoid.
A brief theorical introduction
What is strategic planning?
Let´s start at the beginning, what strategic planning mean. If we first divide the term into two, we have two separates words: strategic and planning.
Looking at the term strategic, it comes from the term strategy, which has a military background, but at the end of the nineteenth century the term was extended to other fields that have the existence of situations of conflict in common and where it was necessary to adopt decisions in circumstances of risk and uncertainty. That´s why today we can hear the term in different fields such as finance, administration, politics and of course, in marketing communications.
Delving into the term planning, we can find that it is the process of “submitting a certain activity or process to a well thought-out plan”. It “implies order, organisation, to proceed through reasoning and guidelines previously studied” (Moliner, 2007). By putting the term planning and strategic together, the concept acquires an enriched dimension; we are now not only talking about a plan. We are talking about a way of doing such a plan.
Strategic planning applied to marketing communications implies the adoption of one´s own system of planning. It is a way of managing and organising strategic thinking with the purpose of subsequently using it for the development of the set of communications actions that the advertising agency devises , plans and executes for a client. So it means planning strategically the marketing communications for brands and products (Solanas y Sabaté, 2008).
How to develop a strategic marketing communications plan?
To develop a marketing communications plan in a strategic way, it is necessary to demonstrate an inquisitive mind-set from start to finish. You must question all the aspects that surround the brand, you also must be very clear about what´s the problem of the client, and to question the problem itself, is it really the problem or is X or Y? Last but not least, knowledge is indispensible to succeed in your strategy.
Whether you work for an advertising agency or if you work in-house in a company, it is quite important to get involved with other departments. Don´t think only about communications actions, being a strategist is about looking at the big picture.
Here below I´m going to share with you some of the steps that I follow when I start working with a new client, in which case you need to start from zero.
Diving deeply into the product or service
For me, the first step to develop a strategic marketing communications plan is to know every detail about the company and its products. To do so, I investigate every aspect of the company.
What´s the vision, mission and values of the company? By knowing this information, it allows you to put yourself into the client´s shoes; you can better understand the origins and the basis of the company.
What are the long-term, medium-term and short-term goals of the company? This information is important for you in order to develop your plan, so that you are capable of focusing on the present but with an eye on the future.
Study all the products and services of the company, that way you can know the full potential of the company, maybe you can detect a cross-selling opportunity, be proactive!
Scrutinise the target audience
Investigate who they are by first establishing a demographic profile (age, education, civil status, etc.). Then do some research on them, the internet provides a number of sources of official information that you can perfectly apply to your research at no cost. For example, you can use data from the official statistics page of the country from where the audience you are investigating is. In the case of Ireland you can find the Central Statistics Office page that provides data about population, education, information by business sector, economy, etc. This is only one of the wide range of resources from where you can obtain information .
If your client is not new in business and has already some customers, the company probably will be able to provide you with more specific data about who they are. Customer Relationship Management software is a good example of where the client can provide you with very rich data.
Enquire about what the target audience is interested in, what type of problems they face, think about what type of solutions the product could provide them with. After knowing the audience in detail I´m sure you would be able to think about what type of communications would connect and appeal to them.
Investigate what type of media the target audience use, how they use it and at what time, establish how they relate to media, it will help you to give well thought-out recommendations to develop the media strategy.
Be meticulous in your research; remember that all this information will be the basis for obtaining relevant conclusions and to achieve effectiveness. Explore how the target audience thinks, how they make their decisions. You can also use an archetype of personality to define them, question how the target audience perceives the brand. Through analysing all this information, with a daring attitude towards the results, you may be able to find the most desired untold truth of consumers, the most-wanted consumer insights.
Investigate the marketing mix
Investigate the product
Imagine that the product is a mobile phone brand, so you must know everything related to that product; the functionalities, type of technologies that it uses, in which colours it is available, how is the packaging of the product, what are its dimensions and weight. You should discover the full experience of using it, how it feels like to have it in your hands and to use it.
Maybe the example that I´m going to give you could be a little bit old-fashioned if you are into the Gen Z group, but for Millennials like me, it is just remarkable the scene of Mel Gibson in the movie What women want. My favourite part is when he waxed his legs in order to try to put himself in a woman´s skin so that he could get some inspiration for developing an advertising campaign. Sometimes it hurts but it works!
What is the product USP?
What makes this product special? Analyse the characteristics and functionalities of the product and compare them to the competitors´ offer. The product must have this “je ne sais quoi” that will make it attractive to consumers.
Where the customer can buy the product?
Does it have its own online shop and/or is it available from electronic retailers (such as Amazon, Alibaba, eBay, etc.)? Does it have a physical store? If so, where is it located? Discover all the details related to the distribution of the product, you never know from where the strategic creative ideas are going to come.
Ask yourself in what way the place can help to achieve the marketing goal? Dare yourself to go a step further!
What about the price?
In strategic planning, all marketing is important. This is certainly true in the case of pricing. Ask yourself in what ways the price could help to reach the marketing objectives. Is it the right price for the product? Is the price a barrier for the target audience to buy the product? Based on the product pricing, how is the product positioned in relation to the competition?
I know the points above should be previously well-defined for you to start working on the communications strategy but always remember that all strategies are connected; if one of the marketing mix strategies has a wrong tactic then you can make the most impactful communications campaign that attracts millions of customers to buy the product. However if they are not satisfied, if their expectations are not fulfilled, they can be the most powerful critics of the brand.
Explore trends, analyse competitors
By analysing the market trends you can collect information that can serve to predict the future, this is very useful in order to be one step ahead. I always say how lucky I´m to be part of the Information Age, where you can find almost anything you need on the internet. The list of online resources is big but today I want to talk about three in particular. Firstly , Google Trends can provide you with data about consumer search behaviour over time, data about what terms people are searching on Google right now or in the past, and you can filter by term, subject, country, etc. YouTube also provides charts related to the music industry per country and I also want to highlight the Trend Watching website which delivers a large number of reports and news about the latest trends in the world.
Analysing the offer from competitors is essential to differentiating your communications strategy. Study the way competitors communicate and to whom they talk (target audience), investigate which media they use to talk to their target; it can help you on your way to develop a unique communications strategy.
How can marketing communications help to achieve the marketing objectives?
Before going into this step you must master the steps above, the target audience knowledge is basic; who they are, which media channels they use and at what time, in what way they interact with the channels, how they behave, what´s their code to communicate with others, etc. Learn everything about the brand, about its competitors, the market and trends.
This investigation will help you to develop relevant conclusions about the WHAT of the communication; what to say, to whom, the tone of the communication and recommendations about the most effective media to connect to the target audience.
Marketing communications can help to achieve the marketing objective through strategic planning, it means that by following the previous steps you will be capable of developing a well-thought out copy strategy that will contain:
- Relevant and detailed information about the target audience.
- A clear and tactical communication objective which will indicate what is the desired response from consumers.
- Definition of the product benefit, you need to define how the product is going to be promoted. Develop a motivating, meaningful, credible and inspiring concept. It is a state of mind of the potential buyer transformed into a concept, an easy to understand and catchy creative idea. Depending on how accurate your previous research has been, you will be able to develop a potent communications concept.
- Explanation of the reason why: here you will show the proofs that support the product benefit.
- Based on the research findings, recommend the points of contact to connect to the target audience. Propose the media that you consider can be more effective to reach your target.
Framework of strategic planning
Click here to read a summary of the steps that I take to develop a strategic communications plan.
I hope you find this article useful. I would like to know more about you and the steps that you follow to develop your communications strategy, from which resources do you obtain information about the target audience, competitors and trends.
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