Inventing a New You: The Forced Disruption of Yourself
This article is part of a series. For part I, click here.
Written by Matt Walker, VP of Growth Strategy at Hypothesis.
It’s time to question the fundamentals.
The shock to the systems (personal, business, economic) from COVID-19 came from both its staggering speed-of-change and scope-of-change. We quickly left behind all-time highs with the stock market, very low unemployment, and the luxury of strong tailwinds as companies iterated towards growth. But now businesses have been shaken to their core and, as highlighted in the first post in this series, businesses need to focus on two discrete strategies in the pursuit of post-COVID growth. Regardless of whether your business strategy will skew more towards Inversion or Re-immersion, the situation has forced an opportunity to pause and invent a new you, refreshing your foundation.
As Marketers, Innovators, Creatives, and Executives, this is a rare opportunity to fully reevaluate the core assumptions of your business—to question the what, how, who, and even the why. Some brands will not have a choice but to disrupt themselves while, for others, this is a chance to proactively do so while consumers are more primed for change and adoption than ever before in recent history.
As you contemplate your research roadmap and reallocate resources, take some time to question the fundamentals:
Do you have a crystal-clear understanding of who your priority consumer persona is?
Are your communications resonating with them?
Are your brand perceptions still clear and attractive to them?
Do you know what their current mindset is during this pandemic?
What are all of your customer touchpoints? Are they fully optimized?
How do consumers want to connect with you? What touchpoints are missing?
How is the customer experience at each touch point?
Are you actively anticipating needs to proactively add value?
How is your product/service used, how is that usage is changing, and what it will look like in the future?
Do you know all the ways consumers are engaging with your products or services?
Are they being used in new ways with the emergence of other technologies, platforms, or competitors?
What current shifts exist given the behavioral and emotional shifts from the pandemic? Will those shifts be short-term, or will they be sustained?
What new needs, both tangible and intangible, have developed that your industry or brand can solve?
How has your customer adopted to the new physical and social limitations? What new behavioral patterns are emerging?
What are the ‘first order’ causes of these changes? How can these needs be more successfully met?
What are your core values and beliefs? Are they clear internally? And to consumers?
What does your brand stand for? Is your brand purpose clear?
How can you leverage these values and beliefs in your communications during the pandemic and during the path towards the eventual “new normal”.
While COVID-19 and subsequent physical limitations may be causing an immediate change in consumption, ‘this too shall pass’ and the companies that take advantage of this time to pause, plan, and proceed will be best prepared for long-term growth through tactical Inversion and Re-Immersion growth strategies.
And, despite the physical limitations, even we have been surprised at how fruitful ongoing research has been as clients are reinvesting in building a strong, sustainable foundation of consumer insights upon which they will emerge anew.
In the next post we will share a clear roadmap for how to prepare as you take advantage of this time to iterate, improve, and invent your brand’s “new and improved you”.
As always: very much welcome your thoughts, perspectives, and input. In what ways are you and your teams taking advantage of this time?