“Any fool can know. The point is to understand”

Consulting for Strategy Development,  Implementation, and Assessment

The word of sales and marketing is fragmenting. Digital technology has ravaged traditional models, yet it can be inherently complex and changeable.

The job for any modern CEO, CMO or head of marketing is exponentially more difficult than it was 10 years ago presenting challenges from a governance perspective.

With our advice, you can be confident that you’re always making an informed decision.

Listed below are just a few of the most popular areas we are contracted to consult in.

1 – Marketing Media Strategy

Choosing which media to use and how best to use them is perhaps the most common problem we help organisations of all levels solve. Given the shift from traditional media to digital, there’s been a disruption to the existing media booking commission (rebate) model which heavily influenced previous media strategy.

In the digital arena, targeting can be more precise, but you must be aware of the inherent vulnerabilities and pitfalls which cause many brands to invest in substandard media inventory.

This is why there is much demand for our independent media planning service.

We draw on data from multiple sources to provide independent, contemporary advice, including reports from investment banks, industry associations, our own primary research, and the media providers themselves.

Most of the marketing mediums (a.k.a channels) we cover are listed below.

Each medium is best used for different purposes depending on objectives and resource levels. Note: this is not an exhaustive list.

• Search Marketing Paid Advertising – a.k.a. PPC or SEM – Google Ads (formerly AdWords), Bing Ads, Baidu, Naver, Yahoo etc
• Search Marketing Organic – a.k.a. Search Engine Optimisation or SEO – Google, Yahoo, Bing, Baidu, Naver, Amazon etc.
• Content Marketing – blogs including guest blogging, video content
• Social Media Marketing Organic – includes business pages, personal pages and groups  via Facebook, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, WeChat, Medium, Pinterest, Quora
• Social Media Paid Advertising – includes Facebook, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, WeChat, Pinterest, Quora
• Publicity (Public Relations) – press releases, events, stunts, expert panels, guest speakers etc
• Online Display Advertising – a.k.a digital advertising or programmatic – includes text, static image, HTML5 animated image, and moving image/video ads
• Influencer Marketing – a.k.a brand endorsement or celebrity endorsement
• Email Marketing – a.k.a EDMs
• Direct Marketing – a.k.a Direct Mail or catalogues, flyers, chunky mail
• Video blogs and Podcasts – a.k.a vlogs
• Radio Advertising
• TV Advertising
• Print (magazines, newspapers)
• Out of Home (Outdoor/OOH) – includes billboards, transport shelters, shopping center signage etc.
• Games & interactive
• Outbound sales
• Signage
• Sampling & promotional materials
• Sales Promotion

2 – Marketing Messaging Strategy

Many forget that there without the marriage of a message strategy with each media channel – all marketing communication effectiveness will be hampered. The channel, after all,  is merely a vehicle for the creative messaging strategy.

Similar to a great speech, often how you say something is even more important than what you say. Either way, you still need to say something. Something that isn’t boring, something that cuts through the clutter, in order to be effective.

Areas of focus in this consulting area cover the identification of various desirable brand associations, audience factors and specific elements of the product/service that is being promoted. From here a valid value proposition can be deduced and then adapted to each specific creative execution positioned at each audience. We recommend 7 different messaging strategy approaches depending on the situation.

The development of an overarching messaging strategy should be agreed to at a senior level before flowing through to your headlines, taglines, story copy, videos etc. Legal and line managers can then approve each piece of creative material before executing.

3 – Measurement & Attribution

Trying to attribute the contribution of all your marketing activities to sales revenue or other high-value business outcomes can be very challenging. Often attribution software will only record digitally-recorded activity and ignore many contributory offline signals.

Your options will typically involve a choice of three  approaches: Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA), Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) or the Unified model.

To get an accurate idea of what’s working and what isn’t, some form of measurement system should be created over a period of time and tested regularly. Both both online and offline interactions should be recorded as accurately as possible and each individual medium’s affect on one another should be measured via correlation analyses. Bench-marking and exclusion testing may be required. Typically this involves a mix of primary research, primary data analysis, and secondary research.

Should you still be relying on Reach or Brand Awareness metrics when others are measuring Unaided Category Brand Preference instead because it has a superior correlation to sales revenue?

All of these questions can be answered with our advanced attribution consulting service.

4 – Other Consulting Areas

• Product marketing strategy
• Distribution strategy
• Pricing strategy
• Research strategy
• CMO, CEO and other C-suite executive level advisory

Collaborative Flexibility

Even when you have an internal team, or existing consultant relationships, everyone needs to work collaboratively for the best results.  Use our work-class expertise to complement or plug gaps in your internal competency.

Our consulting is available on the following basis:

• Casual/Ad-Hoc (strict minimums apply)
• Project
• Monthly Retainers
• Equity or incentive-based advisory arrangements

Speak to one of our team members about developing a digital road-map together with James | Hammon Advisory today