A couple of days ago, a client said something that’s been rattling around in my head. We were in the middle of a budget discussion (lots of those going around these days) when she said “You know, we can’t outspend the competition, so we just have to outsmart them.” Our conversation went back to the budget and that was that.
Well, no, I guess that wasn’t entirely that, because the more I think about what she said, the more fundamental truth I see in it. Especially for us marketing strategists who understand that the dollars spent on marketing and advertising are not what’s most important.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that a company should spend nothing on marketing – that would be stupid as well as ineffective. Instead, it means that it’s better to spend smarter, to get more for every dollar of the marketing budget and to do those things with the highest probability of the highest results. It means to focus our targeting, to sharpen our message, to explore and utilize new approaches for delivering our message. At times, it might also mean to rethink and change our brand and bring it more in line with our market.
Maybe more importantly, her statement also points to a big reason for strategy in the first place - the competition – especially in light of the economic mess that’s out there these days.