Marketing Strategy
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- canoe
Who has worked their way into Creative Director position?
Who works in strategy whether it is brand, marketing, digital marketing?
Who wears more than just the designer hat?
Which QBNers want to work their way up to strategy level? I know some people prefer to focus exclusively on design.
Ideally this thread will be to share strategy stories, tips, advice, etc, kinda like the useful thread but on a strategy level.
- canoe3
This site has been useful for finding demographic data for a law client.
- mort_4
Yup. Product strategy (SAAS product) for about the last 5 years in addition to UX & product design (for way longer). I wouldn’t say I’m particularly good at the strategy side but I’m learning and find it interesting.
- mort_7
I’ve come to believe one of the fundamental things to get right with any digital product, whether SaaS, software or app, is product positioning. Who is your target audience and how should they think, feel and talk about your product. Once you get your positioning worked out, it informs everything from design to content marketing to pricing structure to advertising.
April Dunford is the leading voice in product positioning and her book Obviously Awesome (silly title) is a goldmine of information.
Some great talks on YouTube by her too.
- I've heard that was a good read. I'll check it out. Thanks.formed
- I never felt like I had to call the authors of Positioning, the book is not like that whatsoever.canoe
- Cool. I would check out the Positioning book but I’m kind of on a different task right now. May come back to it.mort_
- She had a unique start by not having a marketing background. So she put what she learned in her own words, and I can see how it is appealing - straight forward.canoe
- Her strategy to be condescending works for some because it translates as authority. She dissed the book that she learned from. That's an aggressive...canoe
- ....positioning tactic she may have learned from the Ries book.canoe
- Ha, yeah maybe!mort_
- Ries teaches aggressive positioning is acceptable, but again, leaves it up to the reader to figure out how and why. Ultimately that decision lies with...canoe
- the brand, the market's perspective and how the client 'feels' about the campaign strategy. So many variables. In this case it works for her.canoe
- However I do find it a bit hypocritical on her part to diss the book when she wouldn't speak or write her book if it didn't benefit her own career.canoe
- canoe0
@Mort, this is a good read.
Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind
Al Ries- April mentions that book in the YouTube talk I posted above. Apparently good for explaining what positioning is, but not how to do it.mort_
- Also, first published 1981!mort_
- Of course she mentioned it, you should read it too.canoe
- Re: 1981. I don't get what you're trying to say... unless you are saying it's irrelevant, in which, you would argue Paul Rand is no longer worthwhile to read?canoe
- Re: How to do it. Yah, many ad strategy books and copywriting books give the reader the benefit of the doubt that they can apply what is in the book...canoe
- Positioning of digital products would have some nuances is all. But yeah, the fundamentals may not have changed much. Or they may - no idea.mort_
- ...which can be frustrating when all you want is a template to fill in the blanks. Been there. But I find understanding the concepts is better for the long run.canoe
- Cool, I'm going to look into this.Chimp
- canoe2
Product positioning and differentiation 101 -
Mad Men
Lucky Strike- Ha! What a Show.mort_
- Not to be pedantic but that’s not product positioning, it’s a tag line.mort_
- Well nobody will use their long form positioning statement as a headline.canoe
- In this case the team is attempting to position Lucky as toasted not carcinogenic. How does April refer to the position of a product in the prospect's mind?canoe
- This is image repositioning where there’s no change to the product or the target market. Product repositioning is about bigger changes.mort_
- E,g adding a tar removing filter to Lucky cigarettes and calling them Lucky lites for ladies or something - that’s more product positioning.mort_
- It goes both ways. The product's position in the marketplace (noun), and positioning (verb) the image of the product in the prospect's mind.canoe
- April and your perspective seems to be more about product development - is there a position for this product in the market, rather than marketing the product.canoe
- Frankly I need to read her book.canoe
- I think her take is mostly applicable to newish / startup products in the digital realm. Not so much about repositioning established brands.mort_
- Ya totally in the B2B software/app startup world. And sounds SUPER helpful for SaaS strategy!canoe
- mort_3
Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) is a really useful framework for finding out the true specific job your customers use your product for. E.g. “people don’t want a quarter inch drill bit, they want a quarter inch hole”.
There’s a big emphasis on the circumstances a customer was in when they chose your product or switched to your product from a competitor.
When you base your product strategy around this rather than the characteristics of user / buyer personas, it can lead to innovation within the product and better product market fit.
Plenty online about this.
- Great share! JTBD is so useful for certain industries.canoe
- canoe1
"When you base your product strategy around this rather than the characteristics of user / buyer personas, it can lead to innovation within the product and better product market fit."
Especially in the tech world it sounds? Do you have any examples?
I'm working with an automotive client, and actually the personas have helped improve their product sales - all it took was to add some racing stripes to their product in order to further excite the prospect (and to increase product differentiation).
- How did personas lead to racing stripes?mort_
- Because the prospect owns a sports car or muscle car, so they identified more with the product. Racing stripes were added as an option and increased sales.canoe
- I feel like personas should be used as a guide and not as an exact science.Chimp
- That’s a great win. I think what JTBD adds is the trigger moment or situation that led to the buying decision.mort_
- There’s a specific JTBD interview style that gets to the bottom of this when talking to users.mort_
- I think personas and JTBD can probably complement each other.mort_
- Share the interview style Morty!canoe
- https://therewiredgr…mort_
- Many different unique challenges for each case - no one-size-fits-all. And that's why they pay - to solve high level problems that affect the bottom line.canoe
- if you buy racing stripes you also get a free shotgun, brodoesnotexist
- canoe1
If more inclined to video than books, Linkedin Learning is a great resource.
- Chimp2
From my limited experience I try to balance the research part of understanding your audience and providing them with something that fulfils their needs and the more random aspect of creating something that people didn't know they wanted until they saw it.
- Strategy is definitely not vertical. It takes a wide range of insight, logic and creativity to execute.canoe
- Talking to customers is my favourite kind of research. One on one over zoom or phone, while they are using the product.mort_
- Not just for UX but also why they chose it over the competition and what job it helps them do.mort_
- canoe0
If a client asks whether they will be successful using PPC for their services, you can use this as a quick reference to structure your numbers...
- cannonball19782
Im doing product strategy and design.
Strategic foresight as well.I get confused for a marketing strategist all tge time and am never given enough time for research.
- doesnotexist4
it's all fun and games until the CEO has a daughter that likes blue or thinks they're the brand's audience.
- Or wife....dealing with that nowformed
- time to have the "who are the key decision makers" conversation then say you need an extra $100k to finish her ideasdoesnotexist
- @formed - it is in the best interest of the client to be honest with them. If you watch April's video up in the thread, sometimes you have to play hard ball.canoe
- not that bad at all, she's just a decision-maker, overall, but not the person I have to deal with (thankfully)formed
- Wait until she gets the job next to you ... dealing with that nowadrok
- canoe0
Or when the client came back from a weekend schmooze with our CCO and a boutique agency only to tell us that we're launching a new car and using Celine Dion - they wasted a sweet million on that campaign...
- canoe0
Thinking about joining for a year...
- How much does it cost? I cant find any price structures.thumb_screws
- Not sure what the conversion is, but I think it's about 110 U$D a month.canoe
- I don't see that offer any longer - inquired.canoe
- canoe0
How many of you have clicked on a web banner in the past year? Several years? Maybe your life?
Do you think if there ever was a survey regarding banner clicks we'd be uninvited due to our 'day jobs'?
Do half of us consume advertising for research for fun, and the other half of us disregard banner ads because we live at the center of the advertising world?
The only ads I've clicked on had the items I viewed or put in my shopping cart... so mostly apparel ads, and sometimes I've seen ads from Creative Market that I click on.
- Yeah, I don’t get how they’re still a thing. Between banner blindness and ad blockers, you’d think the revenue from them is zero. Pay per impression I guess.mort_
- fb / tiktok / instagram storys already here. banners still a thing, but they became merely images (metrics show they work in online newspapers still)uan
- The way targeting is getting better, the ads I see on social media are for things I actually want for the first time. So I’ve bitten :)monospaced
- Like designer bookshelves and Turkish towels. Old people expensive stuff :)monospaced
- my little Raspberry Pi firewall blocks most web banners nowadays, and I think like mort said I might have banner blindness anyway.BuddhaHat
- Turkish towels sound worth clicking oncanoe
- Right?!monospaced
- Advertising isn’t about getting you to click on things or after seeing a billboard immediately buying a car etc. It’s about brand/product awareness...shapesalad
- ... and about reputation building. It’s like living in a city and seeing your local restaurants each day vs living in a forest.shapesalad
- In a forest, you know nothing about those restaurants. In a city over time you build up insights about them as you see them each day. You may never eat at them.shapesalad
- Some banners are about brand awareness. Usually only larger corporations can afford that. A lot of it is direct response marketing - specific offers / products.mort_
- @shapesalad - Are you practicing for your Advertising 101 lecture? With regards to brand awareness, web banners are junk, there are tons of better ways...canoe
- Back to the topic at hand... I'll presume you're a clicker.canoe
- When I say web banner, I'm talking about programmatic, not remarketing campaigns that tie into social media.canoe
- Agree with @shapesalad, web banners are like billboards with extra features. That's why they charge for both 'views' and 'clickthroughs'akiersky
- I agree the execution of the web banner format is these days shit and digital bloated junk. Flash banner adverts seemed a lot better in back in the day.shapesalad
- Oh please. Even when they were flash they were just as pathetic.monospaced
- thumb_screws1
I did this recently.
https://mba.marketingweek.com/
Highly recommend it.It was effectively spite learning. Ive never held marketers in high regard as a heap i have worked with were not great and didn't add value or insights to projects. Wanted to get a better understanding of whats best practice in marketing, whats's informing the briefs and strategy by the time they get to me.
I'm thinking of doing the Mini MBA in Brand management next.
- Do it!canoe
- Mark Ritson is great.Morning_star
- Looking at the curriculum, what is different from the 'normal' marketing strategies? It always looks 99% the same as the next guru.formed
- Have you read the 1 Page Marketing Program, Storybrand, theFutur bootcamp, etc.?formed
- I’ve clicked through to stores i saw on FB and then bought everything i liked from them. Couple timesscarabin
- (Meant for the previous post)scarabin
- canoe1
"Across industries, we found that A GOOD click-through rate for a banner ad is about 0.46%"
"The average CTR across all Display campaigns (banner ads) is around 0.2%. It fluctuates quite wildly from month to month however (but 0.2% is a reasonable long term average)."
"The average banner click-through rate (CTR) for display advertising is less than 0.1%"
- shapesalad0
It's curious how, with all the 'data' apps and websites collect about you... the adverts you get severed are rarely for things you'd actually part money for, and things you are looking to purchase require lots of googling to hunt down.
- Google has turned into a marketplace, not a search engine. They need to update that algocanoe
- The money they generate from Google Ads is incredible. I know plenty of small business spending 10k - 50k every month on paid search.mort_
- Larger orgs with monthly ad spend n the millions.mort_
- And real-world studies have shown that at a certain level of brand awareness, you're wasting money on PPC, wasting millions in the case i readcanoe
