This article may be one of the first to highlight why a ‘more is more’ strategy deters from objective-based, value laden action.

I’ve spoken before about how we can start to move away from ‘crap chatter’ in social media. This article adds science to that  mix:  “To the extent that people rely on information that’s easily available, they may rely on it to the exclusion of doing the hard work necessary to create value in a negotiation.” Furthermore, “‘nondiagnostic information’ — useless, irrelevant statements about a negotiation partner, as opposed to information related to the issues being negotiated” can deter from actually identifying the points that are of value for conversation.

Let’s talk about what this means for connecting with consumers. A recent blog post by Seth Godin helps me explain, “The magic of our new form of communication is that it’s no longer one-way. If you consume an app, you can write one. If you can read a blog, you can publish one. If you can grab an ebook, you can produce one.” While his point (IMO) is in our ability to ‘do’, my point is that our ability to ‘have’ may muddle our ‘do’.

Yes, we can ‘do’ more, but in that ability we also have access to more. And, when we have more we have a harder time determining “…the difference between diagnostic and nondiagnostic information” – which can lead to poor and false negoitations.

I do believe this is a HUGE nugget as the digital elements of our social culture expand. ‘Having’ muddles our ‘doing’ which means we have to be smarter (or, maybe less smart) when working through situations where negotiation is involved. And, I would stretch ‘negotiation’ to be inclusive of not only business based decisions but also those pertaining to the personal decisions we make as consumers.

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Posted on FB by The Roxy Theatre

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Good strategic planning is art plus science. At the core, Planners are about understanding and uncovering the opportunity of a product/service/brand in context- consumer context (and product and marketplace context). Planning does not exist in isolation, though. It also reflects needs and wants of the client, leadership, and management.

The infographic below was created to show the dimensions of strategic planning; not good, good, better, best, and not right, respectively. Strategy + planning unifies articulation elements by creating connective links as a part of the creative process.

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AlixCompany offers a Planner for Awhile (PFA) service as a way for small, medium, and large companies to take advantage of best-in-class strategic planning know-how.

People tend to gravitate towards things they are familiar with; interestingly, when they have no peripheral they still go to what they know. Positioning a product or service considers this by looking into all possible connection angles (aka ‘rings’).

We might ask, for example: where is the consumer or client’s consideration starting point, does the product/service have a unique differentiator across all others, are there behavioral or psychographic considerations, outside of the category what might the product or service look like.

When working on known, new or lesser known product/service categories, use peripheral cues to connect to consumer familarity by placing known rings around it-

AlixCompany makes a distinction between market research and marketing research. It comes from grounding our services in market research or an in-depth understanding of the consumer, marketplace, and product.

Market research = any organized effort to gather information about markets or customers. Market research is for discovering what people want, need, or believe in context. It also involves understanding how they act. Once that research is completed, it can be used to determine how to market a product/service through marketing. I like to use a Venn diagram consisting of consumer, marketplace, and product; where we aim to find insights and key differentiators and the sweet spot for strategic articulation. Market research is IMMERSION.

Marketing research = marketing processes used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process. It is inclusive of a company’s situation, strategy, and Articulation® implementation. The process may include various forms of ‘market research’ such as segmentation and target market selection. The purpose of marketing research is to assist management in decision making related to the identification and solution of problems and opportunities in marketing. Marketing research is EVALUATION.

If you’re interested in immersion (to better understand the consumer, marketplace, and product), then market research is the ticket. If you’re interested in evaluation (to identify a better marketing solution), then marketing research is best. If you’re interested in both, that’s even better.