You’re tasked with creating a creative strategy for a marketing campaign. What’s the first step?

1 Understand the problem

The first step in creating a creative strategy is to understand the problem you are trying to solve with your marketing campaign. What is the main challenge or opportunity that your product or service addresses? What are the pain points or needs of your target market? How does your solution differ from the existing alternatives or competitors? What are the benefits and value propositions of your offer? By answering these questions, you can identify the core problem that your campaign should focus on and the unique selling proposition that you should communicate.

2 Conduct research

The next step in creating a creative strategy is to conduct research on your target audience, market, and competitors. You need to gather relevant and reliable data and insights that can help you understand your customers’ behavior, preferences, motivations, and expectations. You also need to analyze the trends, opportunities, and threats in your industry and niche. And you need to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, and strategies of your competitors and how they position themselves in the market. By doing research, you can segment your audience, define your positioning, and find your competitive advantage.

3 Set objectives

The third step in creating a creative strategy is to set clear and measurable objectives for your marketing campaign. What are the specific and realistic outcomes that you want to achieve with your campaign? How will you measure and evaluate your success? How will you align your objectives with your overall business goals and vision? By setting objectives, you can establish the direction and scope of your campaign and the criteria for performance evaluation.

4 Develop the message

The fourth step in creating a creative strategy is to develop the message that you want to convey to your target audience. What is the main idea or theme that you want to communicate? What is the tone and voice that you want to use? How will you appeal to your customers’ emotions, logic, and values? How will you differentiate your message from the noise and clutter in the market? By developing the message, you can craft a compelling and consistent story that connects with your customers and persuades them to take action.

5 Choose the channels

The fifth step in creating a creative strategy is to choose the channels that you will use to deliver your message to your target audience. What are the best platforms and media that can reach your customers effectively and efficiently? How will you adapt your message and format to suit each channel? How will you integrate and coordinate your channels to create a seamless and coherent customer journey? By choosing the channels, you can optimize your media mix and budget and maximize your reach and impact.