When directing your brand or business, do you ever feel like you’re running a never-ending race, constantly pushing farther and faster just to keep up? Except, as soon as you’re only a few feet away from the finish line, it moves further, and the race goes on another day. Ugh. Well, you’re not alone. Seed Strategy’s SVP, Director of Innovation, Rolando Archila, offers seven ways to stay on track and hit the finish line every time.
Today’s brand environment is in fact the meanest, dirtiest, fastest and —for some of us speed junkies— the most exhilarating race to have ever existed. Nothing is certain, enemies are masked as allies, traps lie in every corner.
Go, Speed Racer, go!
But one thing is certain: for fast competition, you need a clear direction. The goal is the same for all, and that’s to win. But the how, the way in which you get there, that is strategy. And you can only choose one. So a strategy is, in essence, a choice of path. A choice of where to play, when to act and of how to spend resources. However, too often brands zig and zag on the racetrack, wavering in their actions, shifting gears willy-nilly at the whim of the latest consumer trend or shareholder meeting. The most successful brands have a clear strategy, a precise, long-term direction in which they’re racing. The exact strategy you develop has to be custom-tailored according to your equity, category, competition and consumer. It must be driven by your unique points of difference. That said, it helps to know that at the macro level, most strategies roll up to 1 of 7 overarching buckets. See them below, determine which one can get you to your goal the fastest and hit the gas. So rev your engines. Check your lights. The flag is about to wave.
Ready… Set… GO!!!
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