4 The Strategic Planning

Process

KEY CONCEPTS

1 Before the manager can begin the strategic planning process it is essential first to review the
marketing plan, because advertising and marketing communication must be consistent with, and
support, the overall marketing plan.
2 The strategic planning process itself follows five steps: identifying the target, determining how
the target behaves in the category, looking at the best way to position the brand in the
communication, developing a communication strategy, and then setting a media strategy how
best to deliver the message to the target audience.
3 At the heart of this process is an understandingof brand awareness and brand attitude strategy,

The actual strategic planning process, as you might imagine, is much more specific than
the general planning sequence we introduced in the previous chapter. While that provided
a good way of relating planning overall with the communication response sequence, a
good strategic plan must go further. What must we do in order to link the target audience
to our marketing objectives? How do we actually decide upon the appropriate communica-
tion effects? What determines the optimum creative strategy? What do we need to know in
order to deliver our message effectively?
In this chapter we will be considering five specific steps a manager should take in devel-
oping a strategic plan for a brand's marketing communication. Then, in the next part of the
book we will devote a chapter to each of these five areas as we explore in detail the import-
ant issues involved at each step. Before discussing these steps in more detail, we will want to
consider some of the things managers should be looking for in the marketing plan.

Review the Marketing Plan First

All marketing communication must be consistent with, and in support of, the overall mar-
keting plan. Before a manager even begins to think about specific communication issues, it
is important to review the marketing plan. Once this review is completed, it is then helpful
to outline briefly 'what we know' about the market and the specific marketing objectives
and goals for the brand. This sort of information often has a significant bearing upon what
it is that you will want to communicate to your target audience, and it provides important
background information for those charged with creating the message.
50 PkAlflPllbdG COWSIDERATIOM5

Table 4.1 M a r k e t i n g Background Issues In Strategic P l a n n ~ n g

Key Areas Issues

Product Description What are you marketing?

Market Assessment What is your overall assessment of the market where you compete?
Source of Business Where do you expect business t o come from?
Competitive Evaluation What is your competition and how does i t position itself?
Marketing Objectives What are the market~ngobjectives for the brand?

There are at least five key areas where the manager will want information before begin-
ning the strategic planning process for marketing communication. Each of these five areas
is discussed briefly below, and outlined in Table 4.1.

Product Description
What are you marketing? This may seem too obvious to think about, but that is precisely
the point. While it may be obvious to themanager, it may not be quite so obvious to the tar-
get market. Think carefully, and write out a description of the product or service to be
advertised or promoted in such a way that someone totally unfamiliar with it will under-
stand exactly what it is. This description will then serve as background for the creative staff
who will be charged with executing the brand's marketing communication.

Market Assessment
What is your overall assessment of the market in which you compete? It is important that
your source of information here is absolutely up to date. The background information in
the marketingplan could be as much as a year old. Be certain that nothing has happened in
the market that could possibly 'date' this information. What is needed here is information
about the market that might influence the potential success of the brand. How are brands
performing relative to category performance? Where does the market seem to be heading?
Are there potential innovations or new entries on the horizon? This is also a good time to
review any recent market research that has been conducted for the brand. It is important
here to provide enough information to convey a good sense of the market, but only those
things likely to have a real impact upon a brand's performance should be included.

Source of Business
Where do you expect business to come from? It is necessary here to consider both potential
customers as well as competitors. Do we expect to increase our share of business by attracting
new customers to the category,or by attractingusers of other brands (a trial action objective);
or are we looking to increase usage by our existing customers (a repeat purchase action object-
ive)? What is there about the purchase behaviour of potential customers that we need to
know? To what extent does our brand compete with products or services outside its category?
 THE S T R A T E G I C PLANNING PROCESS 51

Corr~petitiveEvaluation
What is your competition and how does it position itself? It is essential to have an accurate
understanding of just who your competition is in the minds ofthe consumers. Does the com-
petitive set change depending upon how our brand is used? What are the creative strategies
of the competition? It is a good idea to include examples of competitive marketing com-
munication to illustrate the benefits they emphasize and their executional approach. As we
shall see in Chapter 12, advertisingand promotion must be unique, with their own consist-
ent 'look and feel'. What media tactics are used by competitors?How do they employ advert-
ising and promotion options? We need to have a good understanding of the environment
created by our competitors' marketing communication.

Marketing Objectives
What are the marketing objectives for the brand? Here you want to include not only brand
marketing objectives, but specific market share or sales goals as well. Usually, these num-
bers will be available in the marketing plan. If not, you must work them out for the
brand. What we want is an estimate of what will happen if our marketing communication
programme is successful. This is critical for estimating how much will be available for
marketing communication.
It is strongly recommended that the manager prepare a briefing document that summar-
izes each of these key marketing issues. With this review as background, it is time to begin
the strategic planning process.

Implement the Five-Step Strategic Planning Process

As we have seen, the strategic planning process begins with a review of the marketing plan
and a determination of what constitutes the target market. While the consumer is ulti-
mately at the heart of any marketing communication programme, there may be many
more people involved whom it will be necessary to consider in our planning. Deciding with
whom we must communicate is obviously the first step in communication, so the strategic
planning process begins there. While a company's marketing plan will have identified (or
should have!) the general target market, we must know a lot more about the dynamic at
work in the market place as people make decisions to buy or use products and services.
Step One in an effective strategic planning process is where we select a target audience
consistent with the overall marketing strategy. In Step Two we develop an understanding of
how the target audience makes decisions in the category. Then we can begin to address spe-
cific communication issues, taking Step Three and determining the best positioning for our
brand within its marketing communication. Step Four develops a communication strategy.
Media strategy is set in Step Five by considering how best to accomplish the task using avail-
able marketing communication options, and selecting the specific advertising or promo-
tion media for delivering the message.Table 4.2 summarizes the five-stepstrategic planning
process. Next, we shall discuss in more detail each step of the process.
 Table 4.2 The Five-Step Strategic Planning Process

Review t h e Marketing Plan and:

-- --
Step One Select the target audience based upon the overall marketing strategy
Step Two Understand how the target audience makes decisions in the categocy
Step Three Determine the best positioning for the brand within its marketing communicat~on
Step Four Develop a communication strategy based upon the communication objective selected
Step Five Set media strategy to deliver the message and satisfy the communication objectives

Step One: Select the Target Audience

Consistent with what we saw in the previous chapter, the first taskis to decide upon the tar-
get audience. Whom we select must be consistent with the brand's marketing objectives. If
part of the marketing strategy is to build the category, this means looking for new users. If
the marketing strategy is to increase usage, this means focusing upon existing users. In the
next chapter we will deal with the issue of target audience in depth. But for our purposes
here as we outline the strategic planning process, we will consider three questions that
should be addressed in the planning process (see Fig. 4.1).

Where are Sales or Usage to Come from?

In our review of the marketing plan we looked at the question of where we expect business
to come from. Now we must decide if our primary emphasis should be users or non-users of
our brand. While we obviously want a broadly based business, realistically it is either a trial
or a repeat purchase target audience objective that will best satisfy a brand's marketing
objectives. Communication strategy will differ significantly, depending upon which of
these target audience action objectives is used.
A trial action objective means a non-user-based target audience, a repeat purchase
objective a user-based target audience. But, as we shall see in the next chapter, there are fur-
ther distinctions to be made within each of these groups. With a trial action objective, are
we interested in new category users, or people already in the category but not using our
brand? With a repeat purchase action objective, are we interested primarily in those loyal
to our brand or those who use our brand along with other brands in the category?
In this first step of the strategic planning process the manager should be thinking about
the relationship between trial and repeat purchase action objectives and which user groups
to target.

Where are sales or usage to come from?

What do we know about the target audience?
Where does the trade fit?

Fig. 4.1 Key Target Audience Questions

 THE STRATEGIC PLAMNING P R O C E 5 5 53

What do we Know about the Target Audience?

Once the appropriate user groups have been determined, the manager must build a profile
of them. TOOoften this profile includes only demographic characteristics-for exmaple,
'women, 25-45, with children'. This is not nearly enough. Even when so-called psycho-
graphic or lifestyle descriptions are included, descriptions like 'outgoing with an interest in
cultural activities', this is not enough. These descriptions are useful, but not often suffi-
ciently discriminating. For marketing communication to be effective it is important also to
know those target audience attitudinal and behavioural patterns that are relevant to a
brand's marketing communication and media strategies. This means knowing what the
proposed target audience's category hehaviour is now, or is likely t o be in response to our
campaign, and how their underlying brand attitudes and motivations affect choices.

Where does the Trade Fit in?

We must never lose sight of the fact that the trade is almost always a part of our target audi-
ence. It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking only about consumers when considering a
target audience. But our strategicplanningrequires a total look at the marketing commun-
ication task, and when advertising and promotion t o the trade are used they must be inte-
gratedwith advertising and promotion to the consumer. Even if the message is different (as
is likely), the 'look and feel', the theme, must be consistent with the overall creative
umbrella. Why this is so important will be evident when we talk about the five decision
roles in the next section. It would not be unusual for the trade to be either an 'initiator'
or an 'influencer' in a brand decision, especially for high-ticket consumer goods or in
business-to-business marketing.

Step Two: Understand Target Audience Decision Making

Once the target audience has been selected, you must next gain an understanding of how
that target audience goes about making purchase decisions in the category. This is import-
ant, becauseif you are to affect the purchase decision positively and increase the likelihood
of your brand being selected, you must understand what is involved in the making of that
decision. As we shall see in Chapter 6, guite a lot may be involved. Who is involved in mak-
ing the decision? How do they go about it? Where can advertising and other marketing
communication influence the process?
To begin with, those who study consumer behaviour remind us that in a decision to buy
or use a product or service a number of people may be involved, and they may play differ-
ent roles in that decision process. In Chapter 6 we will introduce a decision grid that helps
focus the manager's thinking on the various roles people may play in the decision to buy
and use a brand. Basically, there are five possible roles involved:
initiators who propose purchase or usage;
influencers who recomderid (or discourage)purchase or usage;
deciders who make the actual choice;
purchasers who make the actual purchase;
users who use the product or service.
One person may play all five roles in the decision process, or others may be involved, play-
ing one or more roles. It is critical to understand who is involved and what roles they are
playing. When we address the members of our target audience we are talking to them as
individuals, but as individuals in a role.
Once we have anunderstanding of those involved in the decision and the roles they play,
we must then develop a model of how consumers actually make a purchase decision. This
involves determining the stages the target audience goes through in choosing, purchasing,
and using a brand. Looking at consumer decision making provides a dynamic view of the
process that a target audience is likely to go through in making a decision to buy or use a
product or service. It provides valuable insight into the likely motives driving behaviour.
Understanding why people do what they d o is critical in establishing an appropriate brand
attitude stTategy (which we develop in Step Four of the strategic planning process), and the
brand attitude strategy is at the heart of successful advertising and promotion, as it is with
any marketing communication. Additionally, identifying the various people involved in
the purchase or usage decision, along with the roles they play, helps target messages more
effectively to the appropriate audiences in their appropriate roles.
Using this consumer decision making model, the manager is in a position to determine
how best to influence the decision process positively in order to maximize the opportunity
for your brand to be chosen. With this model in hand, a manager will know where in the
decision process it is most important to communicate with the target audience, and the
type of message that will be required.

Step Three: Determine the Best Positioning

The third step in the strategic planning process is to determine how best to position your
brand. While the basic brand positioning will no doubt already be established (except for
new products), the strategic planning process must address the particular communication
positioning that will be adopted for your brand. We must decide whether we want to link
the brand in the target audience'smind to the category need in which it already sees it com-
peting, or reposition the brand by linking it to another category need where the brand will
have a stronger competitive advantage. In such cases the repositioning rarely involves a
drastic change, but rather a switch to another branch or level of the way the overall product
category is partitioned in the mind of the target audience.
We shall spend a great deal of time in Chapter 7 discussing the importance of under-
standing how markets are partitioned. To give youan idea of what we mean by partitioning,
think about snacks. What comes to mind? Is it a package of crisps, say, or a candy bar?
Clearly both are snacks, but would you position acandy bar against crisps? Unlikely. Candy
bars are a different type of snack, and likely to satisfy a different category need. We might
imagine the overall snack category dividing (that is, partitioning) into salty versus sweet
snacks. Sweet snacks might then be seen as splitting into baked snacks like biscuits or
pastries versus confections like candy. Candy bars, then, following our example, would be
in the confection category, and positioned against the category need associated with it.
But even within the candy bar category itself there may also be different types of bars that
offervarious positioning options against more specific category needs. For example, there
could be 'luxury' bars to satisfy an exotic indulgence, like Inca in France; or pure chocolate
 T H E S T R A T E G I C PbANNlMG P R O C E S S 55

bars, like Cadbury, to satisfy a need for just chocolate; or filled bars, like Lila Parse in
Germany. The issue of how the category need is defined for our brand is a critical decision
in the strategic planning process.
In addition to establishing the category definition in order to identify the market where
the brand 01 source will compete, positioning also requires us to look for a differential
advantage for our brand. How will we present our brand to the target audience? What bene-
fit does our brand offer, or what benefit could our brand be seen as offering, that gives it a
unique advantage over its competition? As we shall see in Chapter 7, this will require a thor-
ough knowledge of a target audience's basic attitude towards our brand and its major com-
petitors. What do people believe about the brands in the category? What is important to
them, and which brands deliver on these important attributes and benefits? Again, the
answers to these questions are critical for successfully positioning our brand, and must be
addressed as part of the strategic planning process.

Step Four: Develop a Communication Strategy

In developing a communication strategy we must first establish our communication
objectives by selecting the desired communication effects. This is taking the first step in
addressing whatwe want our marketing communication to say about our brand in order to
motivate the target audience to take whatever action is required.

Communication Effects
Communication objectives are quite simply the communication effects for which we are
looking. In Chapter 1 four communication effects were briefly int~oduced:category need,
brand awareness, brand attitude, and brand purchase intention. It is from this set of
possible communication effects that we draw our communication objectives.'
We will be dealing with these in depth later in Chapter 8. Here we shall look only briefly
at how each of the four communication effects is likely to translate into communication
objectives.

Category Need
It does not make much sense to try and sell a brand if there is no perceived need for the
product. Most of the time this is not an issue. But for innovative new products, for example,
until there is awareness of the newproductas such, it is almost impossible to create interest in a
brand of that new product. Before there were TVs or home computers or CD players, there was
really no 'need' in the market for such products. When they were developed, it was necessary
to establish the 'need' by introducing the product category itself to the public. Once people
understand what this new product category is all about, it is possible to talk about brands.
This does notmean that you do not talk about your brand at the same time you are intro-
ducing the product category. What it means is that, when category need is a communica-
tion objective, it is first necessary to emphasize in your marketing communication what
this new product category is all about in order to create interest in the category, while also
positioning your brand to satisfy this new 'need'.
Category need may also be a communication objective where demand in a category
seems to be slackening. This can happen, for example, when something goes out of fashion
56 PLANNlNG CONSIDERATIONS

for a period of time. If this should occur, it may be necessary to remind people of a latent
category need. This is a particularly appropriate strategy for market share leaders, who
should reap the benefit of any renewed interest in a category.

Brand Awareness
Brandawareness is always a communication objective, regardless of what type of marketing
communication you may be using in your campaign. While this is an obvious point for
advertising, it is also true for everything from promotion to packaging. Without this essen-
tial link between the message and the brand, there is no chance for effective marketing
communication.

Brand Attitude
Like brand awareness,brand attitude is always a communication objective for every type of
marketing communication used in a campaign. Brand attitude strategy is at the heart of
developing a communication strategy for advertising and all other forms of marketing
communication. Brand attitude itself, as a communication effect and objective, is a com-
plex issue that we will be covering in some depth in Chapter 8.
While brand attitude strategy is a function of how involved you are in the decision to pur-
chase or use a product or service, along with what motivates you, the brand attitude itself
relates more specifically to the brand. It may be thought of as a summary of what you know
and feel about a brand, providing the link between the brand and the motive to buy or use it.

Brand Purchase Intention

Too often managers feel that the most important, perhaps the only, objective for marketing
communication is to generate sales or usage of their product or service.While this is almost
always a marketing objective, it is not often a primary communication objective. Of course
we want our marketing communication to help contribute to an intention to buy or use the
brand, but this is rarely the primary objective. Without brand awareness and brand atti-
tude there can be no brand purchase intention.
Brand purchase becomes a primary communication objective (always along with brand
awareness and brand attitude) when the principal thrust of the message is to 'act now'. As a
result, brand purchase intention is more likely to be a communication objective when
using promotion than when using advertising.
Regardless of the types of marketing communications that makeup a campaign, whether
traditional advertising or promotion, direct marketing, store signs, or even packaging, all
have the potential to create any of the four communication effects we have just discussed.
But, as we shall learn in later chapters, some types of marketing communications are better
suited than others to creating these effects. As a result, the choice of communication
objectives will directly affect the choice of which type of advertising or promotion is to be
used. The communication objective will also affect the media choice, both traditional
media and new media such as the Internet and SMS messaging.

Brand Awareness and Brand Attitude Strategy

In many ways, most of this book deals with the issue of developing a communica-
tion strategy. Understanding how consumers make decisions, Step Two in the strategic
 T H E STRATEGtC B L A N M l N t P R O C E S S 57

planning process, helps in developing a communication strategy. In effect, understanding

consumer decision making helps answer two fundamental questions the manager must
ask in developing a communication strategy: what is the brand awareness and brand
attitude strategy (addressing the two core communication objectives), and what do we
want the target audience to do as a result of our marketing communication? We will discuss
this second question below, but first we look at brand awareness and brand attitude
strategy.
What is t h e Brand Awareness Strategy?
As we briefly mentioned earlier, there are at least two types of brand awareness that the
manager must consider: recognition and recall. Brand awareness strategy deals with get-
ting this right. Recognition brand awareness is when someone 'sees' the brand at the point
of purchase and is reminded of a need for it. Recall brand awareness occurs when someone
has a need and must 'remember' the brand as something that will satisfy that need. There
are important strategic and tactical issues that must be considered i n relation to the type of
brand awareness, as we shall see later in the book, depending upon whether recognition or
recall is central to how products or services are chosen.
What is t h e Brand Attitude Strategy?
The answer to this question follows from an understanding of the four quadrants detailed
in the Rossiter-Per~ygrid.~This concept was briefly introduced in the first chapter, and will
be covered in depth in Chapters 8 and 11. As part of their grid, Rossiter and Percy suggest
that brand attitude strategy is a function of the two fundamental considerations we intro-
duced in the first chapter: (1) whether there is low or high involvement with the purchase
or use decision, based primarily upon the target audience's perceived risk (either in fiscal or
psychological terms); (2) whether the underlying motivation that drives behaviour i n the
category is positive or negative. Combining these two considerations produces the four
brand attitude strategy quadrants of the grid: low involvement with negative motives; low
involvement with positive motives; high involvement with negative motives; and high
involvement with positive motives.
Understanding these constructs is critical for identifying the appropriate brand attitude
strategy, which in turn is critical for creative strategy. That is why we shall spend so much
time on this issue later in the book. At this point, all we need is an initial understanding of
its importance and where it fits in the strategic planning process.
The creative tactics that maximize the likelihood of an effective message are directly
linked to the brand attitude strategy that follows from the appropriate quadrant defined by
the Rossiter-Percy grid. These tactics differ significantly for each quadrant. Strategies asso-
ciated with negative motives require information to help solve or avoid a problem, while
those associated with positive motives must help transform the consumer-for example, by
gratifying a want by meeting a need for social approval. As you might imagine, the creative
message needed for brand attitude strategies associated with negative motives will be quite
different from those associated with positive motives. For the informational strategies, the
focus will probably be on benefits associated with the brand, while for transformational
strategiesthe focus will generally be centred around the emotions associated with attitudes
towards the category or brand.
58 PLANNING CONSlDEBaATlOFlS

Advert 4.1 An example of the contrast betweenthe benefit emphasis of an informational strategy, seen
in the Flash advert (4.la). and the more 'emotional' focus of a transformational strategy, seen in the
advert for Jordans Luxury Muesli (4.1b). Courtesy Flash and Jordans

This will all become much clearer in Chapters 8 and 11. For now, the contrast between
Adverts 4.la and 4.lb should help illustrate the point. The advert for Flash (4.la) deals with
an informational strategy, and you can see the benefit emphasis is on specific claims: 'they
clean', 'they kill germs', 'they go on working for up to 12 hours'. The advert for Jordans
Luxury Muesli (4.lb) reflects a transformational strategy, and you can see that the benefit
focus is more 'emotional', utilizing a strong visual that projects a very positive feeling,with
the copy in the headline reinforcing the overall sense of luxury contentment.
Creative tactics also differ as a function of involvement. Because involvement is defined
in terms of risk, when there is low involvement it is not necessary for the target audience to
be really convinced before buying. If people make a mistake, they have not suffered much
of a loss. On the other hand, when involvement is high, the potential buyer does not want
to make a mistake. In this case the target audience must be convinced by the marketing
communication before buying. Consider how much an advert would need to convince you
that a new snack was 'great-tasting' or that a new personal computer was the 'best yet'
before you would think of buying. Before buying the computer you would certainly want to
know more, but you would probably be willing to take a chance on buying the new snack
based only on the feeling that it might be something you would like.
What we have are four potential brand attitude strategies based upon involvement and
motivation: low- versus high-involvement informational strategies and low- versus high-
involvement transformational strategies. The quadrant that best reflects the decision
process of the target audience is what determines the brand attitude strategy.
Step Five: Set a Media Strategy
In this fifth step of the strategic planning process, the manager must select the best com-
munication options to deliver the creative me~sage.~ This is the first step in considering
media selection, and one of the most important things the manager will need to think
about at this point is the different relative strengths of advertising and promotion in satis-
fying the four possible communication objectives. (Remember from our earlier discussion
of traditional advertising and promotion that from a practical standpoint we are talking
about marketing communication options only in terms of advertising and promotion,
while nevertheless realizing that every type of marketing communication should be evalu-
ated in the planning process.)
Basically, both advertising and promotion should have a significant effect upon brand
awareness; the primary strength of advertising is brand attitude, while the primary
strength of promotion is brand purchase intention, and neither advertising nor promotion
can have much of a direct effect upon category need. The relative strength of traditional
advertising versus promotion will be covered in more detail in Chapter 14.
After this basic consideration of how best to integrate advertising and promotion com-
munication options in the marketing communication programme for the brand, specific
media are considered in terms of the communication objectives. As we shall see in Chapter 9,
for the media choice to be effective it must be consistent with the communication objec-
tives, especially for brand awareness and brand attitude strategies. For example, we know
that for recognition brand attitude strategiesthe product must be shown as it will be seen at
the point-of-purchase. This means that radio is not an option.
Setting media strategy requires a careful consideration of the processing requirements of
the message, and the selection of communication options that will help facilitate that pro-
cessing. You will remember from the previous chapter how important this is. If the target
audience does not effectively process the message,there can be no target audience action.

L CHAPTER S U M M A R Y

We have now introduced the five decision steps in the strategic planning process: Select target
audience, understand target audience decision making, determine the best positioning, develop a
communication strategy, and set a media strategy. We have explored each stage at the preliminary
level and the following chapters will discuss each stage in depth. We have considered how the
Rossiter-Percy grid can be used to guide brand attitude strategy and creative tactics, and this will also
be covered in depth in later chapters.

%F QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

4.1 Why is each of the five steps in the strategic planning process needed, and why must they be
considered in this order?
4.2 How should the roles people play in a purchase or usage decision influencea manager's
thinking about a strategic plan for a brand's advertising and other marketing communication?