STRATEGY WINS
Strategy is not a list of tasks and deadlines no more than stories are just a bunch of words. Strategy is better compared to a well-choreographed dance the audience watches, feeling part of the show, forgetting time and space without consciously knowing the decades of talent and hardwork poured in from behind the scenes. When it works, strategy wins.
Effective strategies require keen understanding of where your business is, where it should be and the competitive forces that impact that journey. When millions are at stake along with the trust of your lifeblood, mistakes can be disastrous. Experience counts.
DON'T CONFUSE STRATEGY WITH TACTICS
While the rules of marketing have changed, it’s not strategy, it’s tactics. Think of strategy as your goal and tactics as the 'how' you achieve your goals. Every MadLegs Media client is different, but we always start with a strong foundation and leave room for imagination and surprises. We often find it's the unexpected that can blast a brand to space faster than a full PR calendar. SWOT still has a solid place in our strategic process along with interviews and a bit of detective work. The 4 P’s are not gone (product, price, placement, promotion), but digital is shifting them towards the 4 C’s (creating, curating, connecting, culture). Again, it's only the tactics that have changed.
While our needs haven’t changed, how we satisfy them has. Our wants haven’t changed either, they have shifted to a more immediate, even impulsive, ring in our heads. Brands thriving in this environment understand 'want' and adopt their strategies accordingly.
GROWTH STRATEGIES
Safe is stagnant, status quo is boring, simply existing is simply waiting to be swallowed up. MadLegs clients never stay still. Here's how:
- NEW PRODUCT LAUNCH: You have the idea, the business case and the resources to do it, but how do you make an information-saturated target audience listen and better yet, buy? We'll create a flurry of contagious interest and translate it into loyal following.
- EXPAND YOUR REACH: Just wanting to go global isn't enough. Changing from A4 to letter isn't enough. You need people on the ground who understand the country's culture as much as your brand's opportunity. We've taken brands from the US to the UK and back. We speak both languages and translate even better.
- MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS: We leave the finance to the investment bankers and instead craft the deal messages to your employees, shareholders, clients, suppliers and public. We've been on both sides and even in between with a strategic alliance or two. We know how to be delicate and forceful, encouraging and empowering. Better yet, we can help you spot and evaluate potential targets.
- EFFICIENCY BOOST: Optimise and minimise. You want to do more with less. We get it. Resources are limited as much as time and patience. We'll develop the most efficient and measurable sales strategies to ensure you have laser focus and know exactly where you are in the customer journey or product lifecycle or whatever is critical to the success of your business.
WHEN STRATEGY DOESN’T WORK
It happens. Brands stop innovating, a disruptor enters, a catastrophe happens or bad management makes bad decisions, all causing you to lose marketshare along with money. In a panic, many brands think rebranding is the solution. It seems logical because visible change makes people feel like there is progress, but over-reacting on a downward trend can propel you even farther. This is not the time for over-reaction.
We'll put our banker glasses on, look at your company, at your competition, at the market and then devise a strategy to get you back to where you want to be. Sometimes necessary changes are revolutionary (such as rebranding), other times they are more evolutionary (such as repositioning). It’s easy to lose perspective and forget how your brand first succeeded. We'll remind you, then shape a strategy to not only get you back, but to propel your brand to greater heights.
THE MADLEGS MEDIA WAY OF BUILDING STRATEGIES
What we do is simple – how we do it is not. We help you promote and sell your product or services, create loyalty so your customers return (and you reduce the often prohibitive cost of acquisition), and we let you focus on what you do best: selling (or inventing, growing, serving, transforming).