Marketing’s missing layer: The red flags and a five-step plan to fill the gap

Opinion

After helping many brands over the years develop their ‘HOWs’, Perfect Storm’s Dan Svikis has become attuned to the red flags that may signal it’s missing from that vital layer of comms planning.

If you have a marketing director friend, check in on them. They’re not ok.

Marketing has always been a demanding role, but it’s got harder. Two decades ago, channels were limited – it was easier to know where your target audience was and how to reach them. Now, we’re drowning in channels, and the ever-increasing knowledge needed to manage and maximise them.

Tech is constantly evolving, and it’s one of the reasons that finding and retaining the right talent is really tough. Budgets are stretched ever thinner, yet provable data-led results are needed faster than ever.

Some of a CMO’s biggest decisions have shifted from what to do to what not to do.

And what’s really not helping is the missing layer.

There are brand strategies and creative ideas – and then we head straight to individual channel plans and activations.

The missing layer

Where’s the comms planning? Or more specifically, where’s the comms planning done on the back of some solid customer-first thinking?

Without that vital stage, we end up with siloed activity. Nothing works together, or creatives are shoehorned into inappropriate vehicles.

A clever idea is excellent to have, but it’s meaningless if it doesn’t drive your customer. What does that on a billboard is going to be different to what does that on PPC or TikTok.

In essence, it comes down to the Simon Sinek Golden Circle. Most CMOs have a compelling WHY in their brand strategy and plenty of WHAT in terms of activations,  but they’re often missing the HOW.

They are clear on why the brand exists, what the commercial ambition is, and what a campaign needs to achieve. But many then jump to WHAT – the activation and execution, be it ads, social posts, PR stories, influencer content, websites, apps, sponsorships…

Without the HOW, there’s fragmented activity and a brand that’s busily inefficient and not aligned with commercial priorities.

After helping many brands over the years develop their HOWs, I’ve become attuned to the red flags that may signal it’s missing that vital layer.

Firstly, when each channel optimises for itself and not the communication goal. When there is no HOW, channel plans take up a disproportionate share of the conversation early in the planning process.

Likely warning signs are:

·  Multiple agencies/teams are all given the same brief to produce detailed channel plans.

·  Teams and agencies are presented with a TV idea and asked to plan how to activate, say, in social or in PR.

·  Data utilised or generated in one channel isn’t helping inform another channel.

Secondly, there is a disconnection between brand and performance teams. With no HOW, brand and performance live in different worlds, meaning brand activity doesn’t sell, and sales activity doesn’t build brand.

Likely warning signs are:

·  Brand teams talk about meaning and distinctiveness only.

·  Performance teams talk about data and conversion only.

·  Neither team translates activity and output into one complete journey or ecosystem.

And thirdly, the brand experience is inconsistent.

Without clear guidance on HOW, there are inconsistent experiences across key touchpoints, often leading to a dilution of the brand story or to communication decisions becoming reactive rather than intentional.

Likely warning signs are:

·  Agencies fill the gap with their own interpretation of the strategy, but built for their output, not all outputs.

·  Multiple budget proposals from multiple teams and agencies leave the brand to decide which they like best, rather than which is the best use of spend.

·  No clear idea of the ‘must win battles’ to focus effort on, with the customer at the heart of it all,  With so much choice, it’s never been more important to be able to prioritise.

With increased choice, there is a need for simplification. By focusing on the one consistent, the customer, brands can remove channel bias and overlay multiple research and datasets to base their decisions on.

There are five simple steps marketers can take to develop the HOW:

1. Be clear on the brand and commercial objectives

Start by defining what success looks like beyond just sales. What business behaviour are we trying to change, and what brand behaviour supports that?

2. Look through the eyes of your target customers

Move beyond broad demographics and segmentations to define what those people think, feel, and do in the context of your category and their journey. What causes them problems and stops them from engaging/buying? When are they feeling negative or positive? Where are they spending their time?

3. Identify the ‘must-win battles’

Identify when and where in the journey you can most effectively reach or influence people. Utilise competitor and the brand’s own activity to discover gaps.

4. Define the idea types and communication tasks

Articulate what types of ideas are required to help overcome the barriers customers face in the context of what they are doing at that point in their journey.

Define the messaging hierarchy, the role channels play, and how the brand platform flexes by audience, moment or channel. This step will help form the support required to take forward the detailed activation and execution plans in the areas most likely to drive commercial success.  

5. Set the measurement framework

Build metrics that mirror the journey, the jobs and the challenges to overcome.

Include metrics at each level: message comprehension, brand metric movement and commercial return. Use these as a feedback loop for optimisation and future planning.

Dan Svikis is the strategy and effectiveness director at Perfect Storm.