Can you predict the future? No, but you can identify a strategy robust for the future. "Thinking Less Tactically: Setting A Strategy for An Uncertain Future" Allen Weiss, Ph.D., CEO/Founder of MarketingProfs, and Marketing Professor at USC Marshall School of Business, delivered this presentation as Speciall Guest Speaker at SoCal BMA’s 2nd Annual Regional Conference: The Integrated Leadership Summit — held January 21, 2015, in Long Beach, CA. The event, organized and hosted by Business Marketing Association, Southern California Chapter, was part of the third annual BMA Global B2B Regional Conference Series, and SoCal Chapter’s ‘The Leading Edge' executive signature series. http://www.SoCalBMA.org/Events

1. Thinking Less Tactically:
Setting a Strategy for
an Uncertain Future
Allen
Weiss,
Ph.D.
CEO/Founder,
Marke:ngProfs,
LLC
Marke:ng
Professor,
USC
Marshall
@allenweiss

2. Should Only Leadership Think
Strategically?
Strategy
Tactics
#socalbma Ÿ

3. When everybody thinks more
strategically (and can connect
tactics to strategy), you get
better analysis and better
decision making
#socalbma Ÿ

4. But Strategy Needs High Level Thinking
and…
• Possibilities Thinking
• Lateral Thinking
#socalbma Ÿ

5. What Leaders Do
Coping with Change
Management is about coping with
complexity. Leadership, by contrast,
is about coping with change
What Leaders Really Do, John P. Kotter, HBR Dec. 2001

6. Strategy
Tactics
Why?
How?
High Level Thinking
#socalbma Ÿ

7. Tactical
Thinkers
Strategic
Thinkers
Smallest group can do both #socalbma Ÿ

8. Digital Marketing Strategy Objectives
Awareness
(I know your name)
Consideration
(I’ll consider you)
Intent
(I intend to buy from
you)
Conversion
Support
(I need help)
Engagement
(I bought and like you –
let’s talk)
#socalbma Ÿ

9. Knowing the Strategy Helps Decisions on
Tactics
q Social Media - Customer Support
q Social Media – Engagement
Are your people
asking WHY before
posting to social
media?
#socalbma Ÿ

10. Possibilities Thinking
n Focus on different possibilities
n Play out the game
q What will your competitors do?
q What will you do in response?
q What will they do in response to that?
q Etc
#socalbma Ÿ

11. China’s fourth biggest auto group
#socalbma Ÿ

12. Their Market is Changing
#socalbma Ÿ

13. Possibilities Thinking
#socalbma Ÿ

14. Lateral Thinking
n “What is this Like” - in a different industry?
q Focus on similarities with completely industries
q Identify the dimensions on which they are similar
q What have they learned, that you can learn from?
#socalbma Ÿ

15. This is Not Strategic Thinking
n I’m in B2B…. give me only B2B examples!
n I’m in B2C…why show me what’s going on in
B2B?
n Just give me an example in my industry, not
others!
#socalbma Ÿ

16. This Is!
“Teach my people how to sell tires.”
Amgen CMO
#socalbma Ÿ

17. And This Is Too…
#socalbma Ÿ

18. Can a B2B Company Learn From This?
Columbia Journalism School 2010
Customize visitor’s experience based on branded search
and number of pages visited
#socalbma Ÿ

19. Can a B2B Company Learn From This?
#socalbma Ÿ

20. #socalbma Ÿ

21. Can a B2B Company Learn From This?
#socalbma Ÿ
Blendtec presents, Will It Blend? - iPad - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAl28d6tbko

22. Target Market: International, Government, Contracting and Relief Sales
#socalbma Ÿ
Volvo Trucks - The Epic Split feat. Van Damme - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7FIvfx5J10

23. Lateral Thinking Isn’t Just Strategic,
It’s Also Creative
#socalbma Ÿ

24. Finally - Continuously Answer this
Question
n What problem are we trying to solve?
n People tend to focus quickly on a presumed
problem
#socalbma Ÿ

25. Looking at Business into the Future
#socalbma Ÿ

26. Industry Foresight
n The future is a point of view about
q Future consumer needs and behaviors
q Future technologies
q Future competitors
q Future regulations, environment, etc.
q Future competencies
q …and more much
#socalbma Ÿ

27. Industry Foresight – How to Do It
n Draw straight line
(extrapolate)
n Product/Industry Life
Cycle
n Isolate trends that are
predictable and look for
areas of instability in your
industry
n Others?
Best done with convergent viewpoints
#socalbma Ÿ

28. Example Scenario
2015 2025
Consumer & Technology Change, Competitor Shifts, etc.
FutureToday
Competencies Needed
“Live life forward, but understand it backward”
#socalbma Ÿ

29. Future Marketplace Example
n Task
q Create a model of the world for music retailing and
distribution as it might exist in 2025
n Questions
q What are the likely changes in retailer and consumer
needs, competitors (new competitors, their future
competencies, etc.), technologies, distribution, etc?
q Present many different scenarios of the market evolution.
Don’t try to be accurate or prophetic. The goal is to be
plausible and credible.
#socalbma Ÿ

30. TODAY FUTURE
Look for a Strategy that is Robust
Across Alternative Scenarios of the
Future
#socalbma Ÿ

31. Final Thoughts
n Think more strategically and into the future
n You won’t be blind sighted by competitors
and inevitable changes in the market
n If everyone in your company can think
strategically, you’ll have better managers and
leaders for the future
#socalbma Ÿ

32. Thank You
e: amw@marketingprofs.com
li: allenmweiss
t: @allenweiss
http://mprofs.com/training
#socalbma Ÿ