Innovation is the key to staying ahead of the competition and meeting the changing needs of your customers. But how do you ensure that your marketing strategy innovation is scalable and sustainable in the long term? Here are some tips to help you plan, execute, and measure your innovative marketing initiatives.
Before you launch any new marketing campaign or tactic, you need to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve and how you will measure your success. Your innovation goals should be aligned with your overall business objectives and customer needs. They should also be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. For example, you might want to increase your website traffic by 20% in the next six months by creating a new content series.
Scaling and sustaining marketing strategy innovation is like running a marathon with a relay baton that has to stay lit. It requires continuous fuel in the form of fresh ideas, adaptability, and resilience. With every mile marker, or in this case, business milestone, you need to assess your pace, adjust your strategy, and reignite the flame with data-driven insights. Remember, it's not about being the hare or the tortoise, but being the phoenix, constantly evolving and rising from the ashes of outdated strategies. On your marks, get set, innovate!
Evolving and scaling a marketing strategy is like sailing on a sea of constant change. Long-term success lies in innovative goal-setting. ?? For me, it begins with envisioning the endgame. What do we want to achieve? Next, aligning our goals with customer needs keeps us relevant and value-adding. But innovation is key. We constantly ask ourselves - can we challenge the status quo? Innovating our goals means not just meeting targets, but also pushing boundaries, exploring new customer segments, channels or even products. To scale and sustain, we review and recalibrate regularly. With fast-paced market dynamics, flexibility is our best ally. A static strategy is a sinking ship. We must evolve, innovate, and adapt to keep afloat!
Constancy of purpose and continuous improvement are strategic measures every organization, and yes, any individual aspiring to get ahead and succeed in life, must adopt to achieve growth, profitability, competitive advantage, and sustainability. The organization's functions and processes must always be customer-centric--keenly observing and sensitive to the trends and changing behavior and needs of the customers. Your customers are an integral part of any organization, as they are the ones that bring in the revenue, allowing for the business to be operational for the long term with positive returns to the bottom line.
Navigating markets is like steering a ship. The vessel itself must be seaworthy, and you must know where you want to go. Constantly monitor the seascape (to avoid pirates, of course). Competitive analyses, SWOT, and NPS all act as digital navigation tools. - Set a mission and clearly communicate it. - Always stay nimble. Seascapes change and evolve. - Check your business plan quarterly and revise it annually. - Include quantitative and qualitative analysis to inform decisions. - Rely on your gut instinct. - Develop what Buffet calls your "Moat"; the competitive advantage that you have that your competitors can't cross. - Bring the finest crew with you for the journey, and trust their counsel. Enjoy the journey.
I had a mentor who could tell in 30 seconds whether an innovation goal would succeed. Here is a real-world example: ? Don't do this: We will consistently be more innovative than our competition to maintain leadership. ? Do this: In the next six months, we will implement a data-informed strategy to solve the unmet customer need of ______ by leveraging _____ technology to be the first ____ company to deliver a solution that provides ______ benefits. I admit, it is a bit like playing Mad Libs for business, but it works because it is focused on innovation informed by customers. If your eyes are always fixed on the competition, you lose sight of the goal—delighting customers.
To scale and sustain your marketing strategy innovation, you need to use the right tools and platforms that can help you automate, optimize, and analyze your efforts. Depending on your goals and budget, consider investing in marketing automation software to streamline and personalize email, social media, and web campaigns. Additionally, a content management system can be useful for creating, managing, and distributing content across different channels and formats. Lastly, analytics and reporting tools can help monitor and evaluate marketing performance, identify areas of improvement, and generate insights for future innovation.
Looking at innovation tools, its important to be simple . Evolving a complex mechanism can sometimes fail at delivery . Go slow with content because that would be the bread and butter for any strategy. Once you have powerful content, you can leverage it as blocks across any innovative delivery mechanism and wide variety of channels . Slicing the same content into modular forms and distributing it, is part of an innovative amplification strategy. Go slow , then fast is the key in any marketing driven innovation.
I feel the content management system structure isn't customizable enough to be successful, and its generally is only useful when you are trying to maximize the algorithm instead of understanding the data and posting based off of what is converting. Tools and resources that help you understand your targeted audience based off of SEO, CPR, Conversion rates will ultimately help you prioritize where you should be putting your energy into.
Innovating your marketing strategy can be beneficial in that it allows you to experiment with different ideas and approaches to see what works best for your audience and business. To ensure success in this process, you need to have a systematic and data-driven process for testing and learning from your innovation. This includes setting up clear hypotheses and metrics for each experiment, running controlled and randomized tests with small samples of your target market, analyzing the results and comparing them with your baseline and expectations, scaling up the successful experiments and discarding or refining the unsuccessful ones, as well as documenting and sharing your learnings and best practices.
Incorporate a Customer-Centric Approach: Place your customers at the core of your marketing strategy innovation. Understand their evolving needs, preferences, and pain points. Regularly engage with them through social media platforms, online communities, and customer forums to gain valuable insights. By aligning your innovations with customer expectations, you can create meaningful and lasting connections, ensuring the sustainability of your marketing strategies in the long term.
Marketing strategy innovation is not a solo endeavor; rather, you should involve your team and stakeholders in the process of generating, implementing, and evaluating your innovative ideas. This can help to foster a culture of creativity and collaboration, as well as leverage the diverse skills and perspectives of your team members. Additionally, it can provide feedback and support from your managers and leaders, while aligning your innovation with organizational values and vision. Moreover, it can ensure that you are able to communicate your innovation value proposition and results to customers and partners.
Include all stakeholders from the beginning of strategic planning. Here is a real-world example. I was on the board of a non-profit called BEC which was undergoing a shift in brand strategy and organizational goals. What I learned from this process is the power of consensus. We spent months gathering feedback from stakeholders and wordsmithing the "why" for our brand strategy. Ultimately, we united around the concept of "limitless possibilities" for historically marginalized youth and renamed the organization In4All. Years later, I still feel inspired by the concept of supporting the mission of "limitless possibilities" through In4All.
Marketing strategy innovation is not a one-time project. It is an ongoing journey that requires constant review and update. You need to keep an eye on the changing market trends, customer preferences, and competitive landscape, and adjust your innovation strategy accordingly. You also need to celebrate your achievements and learn from your failures, and use them as opportunities for further improvement and growth.
I would also consider investing in headcount resources that are decidated to marketing innovation, and also allocating direct budget to truly invest here. These teams may be working on strategy that may be 0.5-2 years out, and although they may feel like a cost-centre now, they will certainly help keep the brand ahead of the curve. Organizations that do this, like Sephora for example, are quickly able to test and learn ahead of time vs. scrambling ins real time when the market has shifted.
Continuously Monitor Competitors and Industry Trends: Stay vigilant about what your competitors are doing and monitor industry trends closely. Analyze successful marketing innovations in your industry and adapt relevant strategies to your own approach. By understanding the market dynamics and your competitors' moves, you can identify gaps in the market or areas where you can outperform, allowing you to stay ahead of the curve and sustain your marketing strategy innovation in the ever-changing business landscape.
In my experience as a CMO, it is important to look at strategy updates from two perspectives: short-term for quick tactical turns and long-term to outlast your competition. Short term, market research guides your marketing team to make powerful changes that increase your KPI impact. Long-term is where the magic happens. - Which trends do we need to track over time? - How is the competitive landscape changing? - Are new and nimble competitors entering the market? - How are demographics influencing market opportunities? Companies that consistently invest in market research as part of their marketing strategy are better equipped to be resilient in the face of market changes.
To scale and sustain marketing strategy innovation: Stay Informed: Continuously research market trends and customer preferences. Be Adaptable: Adjust strategies in response to market shifts. Use Data: Rely on analytics for strategy refinement and effectiveness. Leverage Technology: Invest in new tools for enhanced marketing efficiency. Develop Skills: Train your team in the latest marketing techniques. Seek Feedback: Incorporate customer insights for improvement. Maintain Vision: Keep a strategic long-term view to guide innovation.