THINKING IN 3D
Don’t worry, we’re not going to try to sell you some gimmicky new content trickery that requires you to put on special goggles.
The 3 ‘D’s we’re talking about here are not dimensions, but directions.
The world is content hungry. Anyone with an iPhone and a Windows editing programme will at some point try to sell you content at a temptingly low price. “Don’t worry what it’s about, it’s cheap!”
But great content is based on something far more powerful than a snappy photograph and a punny headline. Underneath it all, you need Smart Thinking, which, in this case, means ‘Thinking in 3D’.
Your business deserves some deep thought and a strong – really strong – strategic foundation if it is to survive the daily onslaught of the commercial world that we live in today.
Every day brings news of another business failure. And yet, superficially at least, these businesses will have been doing all of the things that you would expect of them, from investment in logistics to powerful marketing to pull in the customers.
But you can’t expect things to stay the same for much longer than 10 minutes nowadays. Yesterday’s decision may be rendered unworkable by today’s unforeseen challenge, or even one that is well known but hasn’t sufficiently been focused on and prepared for by the management. You’d be surprised at how late some retailers have been to fully harness the power and consumer appeal of online shopping; these retailers are only now realising that ‘experiential’ destinations are the only ones likely to survive in the rough and tumble of the journey to where the money is heading.
It’s not good enough to be reactive. You have no alternative but to have a deep and all-encompassing strategy that is woven throughout your entire business; this applies particularly to marketing, which for a long time – and particularly in some businesses – has been seen as a sort of optional, bolt-on, ‘nice to have’ extra. That’s why marketing budgets are often the first to be slashed when the going gets tough.
Thinking in 3D changes all of that. In summary, it sets out to build on past lessons and experience, past successes and failures, then ‘designs in’ what to do if something unforeseen happens, and finally drives you forward to the Vision that you have for the business.
We run many workshops where the depth of understanding about these simple steps is frighteningly absent.
If we had a pound for every time someone has said to us, ‘We’ve tried that before and it didn’t work’, we wouldn’t have to do this anymore. People are resistant to change but, all too often, businesses aren’t.
Central to this process is defining with our clients a robust Vision and Values set that can be lived by all employees, every day, to drive growth and keep the business on track. We work with methodology that embeds these core values and an understanding of the Vision into the whole company, so that everyone is pointing in the same direction – ahead.
But we don’t just walk away when the vision posters are up in the boardroom walls. It’s at this point that our work really starts.
What could happen to interrupt that seamless journey from the past towards a bright and healthy future? What could come in out of leftfield and knock you off course? Through a deep and thorough process of trend analysis, some futurology, and a wide knowledge of which direction the wind of change is blowing from, we’ll help you to keep your strategy aligned and interwoven within your strategic business planning processes.
It’s only when we understand all this that the production of creative content begins. Because to simply have ‘content’ online isn’t enough. Good content has to be about something, and that something has to be relevant to support your desired direction of travel. That way, your content will support your whole business, give you excellent ROI and play a fundamental role in keeping the customers – and the money – coming in.
It is this approach that has made us one of the foremost brand planning agencies of our generation.
If you have any concerns about which way business is heading – either for you or more generally – get in touch. From a complex Go To Market plan to an honest and plain-speaking review of where you are – and some advice on how to improve the return on your marketing expenditure – we’re ready to listen. In 3D.
Contact keith.sammels@lawcreative.co.uk