Reinvention Is More Than Marketing, It Needs A Full Team Approach

The ability to keep up with the evolving needs and demands of consumers has always been a struggle for business leaders, as our human instinct tends to resist change. There was a time when businesses, especially larger ones, could be reasonably good at their job and enjoy continued success with the occasional headwind from a change in the market or a successful ad campaign. But those days are long gone. If the current global crisis has taught us anything, it’s that continued relevance demands constant reinvention.

Reinvention is more than just a new marketing campaign or refreshed brand image. It’s a close examination of who your customer is, what you offer them, and how you deliver on those promises, as well as your brand values and culture. When we work with clients, we get into all of these factors, but we understand that this broad picture can get overwhelming, especially in this time of upheaval. There are so many tasks—from getting products on the shelf to keeping staff healthy—competing for business leaders’ attention, it is not surprising that strategy for broader change keeps getting pushed further and further down the road.

The good news is that this monumental task can be broken down into smaller, more digestible tasks. Here are three steps you can start with:

1. Understand Your Consumer. Change has to start with gaining a deep understanding of your customers. At Jackman we believe that it’s attitudes, not demographic factors like age or income, that drive customer behavior. You have to understand their underlying beliefs and values and, ultimately, why they make the decisions they do. Building this common, foundational understanding of who you serve will set the stage for your evolution. Everything from branding to operations to internal culture comes from this.

2. Sharpen the Consumer Experience. The second step looks at the entirety of the business with that customer in mind. What do you offer them? Think beyond products. What problems can you solve for them? Do you have the capacity to deliver? Does your internal culture match the messages you’re giving to your customers? These are operational questions rather than marketing ones, but they are just as important for reinvention.

3. Build Your Brand Strategy. Though many leaders want to start with brand strategy, it is the last of our steps because you need to identify your customer and solve operational issues first. Only with these decisions in place can you start introducing changes to brand identity. How does the brand need to shift in order to satisfy the customer we have? How do we bring this brand voice to life?

Staples Canada is a good example of using these three steps to guide reinvention. When Jackman began working with Staples, the way people worked had changed—office supplies had become increasingly commoditized and Amazon threatened legacy stores. We worked with their leadership team to reinvent the customer value proposition and revive the brand identity.

It was a big project but, as always, we started by studying customer attitudes. Office supplies draw many different shoppers—entrepreneurs, parents, students, and educators—but we worked to discover what mindsets reached across these consumer types. Our research revealed that the customer with the most potential to be a loyal brand ambassador was the curious achiever. These shoppers are naturally curious, lifelong learners with important goals who are always looking for inspiration. They need something more than a store. They need a retail partner that enables and supports their work and education.

With this in mind, we reimagined delivery. We pivoted the footprint of the stores so that they were less about mission shoppers looking for specific products and more about working and learning. Floor space that had once been filled with merchandise was shifted to studio services, community events, and coworking spaces. And, we installed paper and pen walls that gave customers an opportunity to find inspiration.

The evolved brand strategy came next, identifying Staples as a supportive partner, a brand focused on personal and professional growth and an inspiring place to work, meet, and collaborate. Signs near the paper and pen wall communicated this personalization and possibility, with phrases such as “A drop of ink can make you think.”

This was all made possible because we started by identifying the Staples customer as a curious achiever. The customer lens became the center of gravity for everything we did.

It’s important to remember, however, that reinvention is not a marketing deliverable. When we engage with clients, we make sure that the full leadership team is involved, not just the marketing team or the digital team. Think of it as building out your organization’s ecosystem. Everyone needs to be aligned on the consumer, the mission, the brand message, and how you are going to get it all done. Bring your associates along as soon as possible so they can see how their work ladders up to the shared purpose of the organization and the role they play in working with customers.

Finally, do not think everything needs to be perfect before it rolls out, and don’t wait for it to be. Change is hard, but every small change teaches us a lot. Test and learn. Small steps can lead to big growth.

Sandra Duff is SVP Strategy Activation & Operations at Jackman – a customer engagement reinvention company delivering human insights that rapidly ignite momentum and create value. Working directly with future-focused CEOs who are looking to stay relevant with changing customer expectations, Jackman’s team employs proven methodology to convert insights into action and deliver bold and innovative solutions. Sandra’s ability to partner with business leaders to get to action fast has helped a multitude of companies achieve their desired results, including Walgreens, Duane Read, Staples, Old Navy and Dave & Busters. Known for getting people motivated and engaged, Sandra has also shaped the culture at Jackman and manages mentorship within the organization.