Strategy

Research | Strategy | Planning | Media | Testing | Optimisation | Measurement

Hang on, I’m thinking

We believe in research, strategy and planning: the power of good thinking. We always make time for thinking, because it leads to definitive answers to the following questions:

• Where are we now?
• Where do we want to be?
• How are we going to get there?
• How will we know when we’ve got there?

Good thinking helps you link the needs and goals of your audience to your own business and communication objectives. It also means you know how you will measure the results and effectiveness. It ensure you reach the right people at the right time, in the right way, with the right message, no messing about.

Getting to know you

Good thinking takes many different forms, and is the basis of all our work. We start every project by immersing ourselves in your business, getting to know your organisation, products/services, market, and the challenges and opportunities you face inside out. To do this we use a variety of research methods, most commonly combining a range of them, for example, desk-based research, briefing sessions, one-to-one interviews and online staff and stakeholder questionnaires.

We love your audience

You may already have a clear idea of who your target is and conducted research in order to get to know them better. Or you might want us to help to identify suitable audiences, and find out how to reach and engage with them. We can work on this with you, advising whether quantitative and qualitative research methods (e.g. surveys, focus groups, ethnographic studies) should be commissioned externally or run by our own team, again identifying the most suitable for the task and your budget.

Just like the A-Team

We love it when a plan comes together. And we’re media neutral, so we’ll only recommend use of channels which should be effective for your marketing. So if you don’t need Facebook ads, we won’t put them in the plan. Even drawing on all our experience, we still haven’t acquired a crystal ball, so at this point, we may also recommend testing of creative and media channels to optimise campaigns.

Dirty cash I want you, dirty cash I need you

In the current economic climate, measuring effectiveness is vital. In other words, justifying your marketing spend and/or ensuring return on investment (ROI) has never been so important.

To make sure that your ‘money talks’, we set targets for every project we work on, and track them, frequently by using web analytics, often in combination with other suitable quantitative or qualitative research methods, for example to demonstrate levels of awareness and perception or the effectiveness of conversion points.

These means of measurement and evaluation will always be set out at the planning and research stage.

Questions?

To discuss how research, strategy, planning, testing and measurement could benefit your marketing communications, call Iain on 0131 625 5500.