When Strategic Marketing Sessions Go Subterranean

Everyone’s adjusting. It’s at once, scary and enthralling. This environment – without a playbook, a curriculum, or a “we used to do it this way” — is entirely new. Yet, I know I’m acclimating to this new way of life. Maybe that’s the enthralling part. I no longer wake up wondering, “what now.” Instead, I have a new routine – one that involves personal and professional direction. One that still allows for the things that humans do best: think, communicate, and interact with each other. As a marketing strategist, I was initially apprehensive about how this environment would affect my day-to-day interactions and outcomes. How will I ever help clients with their marketing strategies now? I draw on whiteboards, I talk with my hands, and I thrive on that collaboration when creating solutions with clients.   In time, I learned something valuable. I learned it didn’t have to be any different. The geography of things may have changed, but how we discover, collaborate, and solve didn’t. There’s a lot to learn about working together by being apart. I can create a marketing strategy in any location, at any time. And that’s when I took to my basement.

Basement Strategy

My first pandemic purchase was a whiteboard, which immediately replaced the dartboard in my basement. This former game room is now transformed into an “ideation room,” where I host strategic planning sessions rather than ping-pong tournaments.

Once I got through that first wave of work-from-home adjustments, I was hosting virtual strategy meetings for both internal teams and with clients using the same strategic methodologies that have always been successful for clients. From video icebreakers to virtual sticky notes, we have created ways to capture the essence of what happens through in-person interactions and work as a collective group. And it motivates us for more. More insights. More solutions. More of what can make clients better. Because the reality is, relationships are what matter. Basements, home offices, the sofa, the kitchen table…those are just things. So don’t let distance be a distraction. Let it be an accelerant to learn new things, challenge old conventions, and breathe life into what we know to be true. There is a new “abnormal.” But just like always, the team at One10 stands ready to work with clients to expand market reach, increase sales or impact recognition and engagement.

This Time it Really is the Perfect Time for Innovation

How often does a cliché become a reality? Given the rapid shift in customer needs and wants, now is a time when innovation is a necessity. From expanded telehealth options and curbside food pickup to contactless cable installation, businesses have rapidly launched new services to respond to these new expectations. In a world driven by-products, service has suddenly become more critical than ever. It’s difficult to imagine the world returning to “the way it used to be.” Instead, we need to focus on new marketing strategies and marketing plans to adjust to the evolved customer and channel behaviors. A new opportunity we had to apply our automotive strategy experience was focused on helping clients define the changing world of vehicle shopping, both for customers and retail channels. We are also working with clients to understand the rapidly shifting expectations regarding employee engagement and helping to define what the post-pandemic world of interaction, collaboration, and work-life balance in business should be. We can apply the right strategic marketing methodology to every challenge – from structured planning methodologies to customer-focused design thinking exercises. Learn more about One10’s Marketing Services, including Strategic Communications and Data & Analytics.