Marketing with Strategic Empathy

We are living in an age of continual motion and change, and as a result traditional strategy planning has become outmoded. Every manager, perhaps even every employee, needs to become a strategist. Every strategist, in turn, needs to develop deep consumer insight - or empathy - as a basis for flexible strategy formation. This book offers a practical guide on how to develop and implement a systematic process of strategic empathy to lead to greater effectiveness and day-to-day success. Marketing With Strategic Empathy is written by Claire Brooks, the CEO of the global consulting firm where the strategic empathy framework and processes were developed. She has applied these in many successful projects for international corporations for more than 10 years.

Claire Brooks is Founder and President of ModelPeople Inc., a global consumer research branding company offering insights and strategic solutions to a wide range of international clients.

List of case studies List of figures and tables About the author Preface Acknowledgements List of abbreviations 01 Why marketing strategists need empathy Introduction: the case for Strategic Empathy® How do organizations really develop marketing strategy? Strategic learning vs strategic planning Marketing strategy formation is both planned and emergent Organizational learning starts with individual learning Strategic learning based on empathy Strategic Empathy References 02 Strategic learning frameworks: needs, emotions, culture and decision-making Introduction Framework One: emotions Framework Two: needs, goals and values Framework Three: culture Framework Four: decision-making Future perspectives References 03 Reshaping the marketing strategy template, based on Strategic Empathy Introduction Time to reinvent marketing strategy for a new environment? Corporate strategy components The reshaped marketing strategy A new brand positioning architecture References 04 The Strategic Empathy Process for marketing strategy formation: overview Introduction Overview of the Strategic Empathy Process Pre-Planning Phase One: Immerse in the consumer's world Phase Two: Activate insights into marketing strategy Phase Three: Inspire empathy to shape emergent marketing strategy References 05 The Strategic Empathy Process Phase One: Immerse - immersive research methods Introduction What exactly is immersive research? Ethnographic research methods (in business) Designing and planning an ethnographic research project Conducting an ethnographic encounter Design research Recording what happens in the ethnographic interview Netnography, social media ethnography and digital ethnography In-depth interviews (IDIs) Dyads and friendship pairs Group discussions Executive panels Online communities References 06 The Strategic Empathy Process Phase One (continued): Immerse - immersive research tools and techniques Introduction Immersive research project management Sample size, screening criteria and location Budget, project plan and timeline Recruiting screener Recruit and project logistics Managing global research Immersive research tools Deep Visualization Semiotic Scan Metaphor elicitation Laddering Projective techniques Consumer neuroscience methods and tools Agile research References 07 The Strategic Empathy Process Phase Two: Activate insights into strategy Introduction Three steps to insight activation Step 1: analyse immersive research data Planning an activation session Step 2: build fresh consumer or customer insights Insight architecture How to build insights out of data Step 3: identify potential strategic actions Agile insight development Open innovation Validating potential strategic actions References 08 The Strategic Empathy Process Phase Three: Inspire - communicate strategic learning Introduction Inspiring stakeholders: three strategic goals Story-telling, not presenting Defining the audience and media approach for strategic story-telling Collecting consumer content for strategic story-telling Character-driven story-telling Consumer documentary video Video production guidelines Virtual reality consumer video? References 09 The Strategic Empathy Process in a non-profit organization Introduction 'Customer-focus' in the non-profit organization How the Strategic Empathy Process works in a non-profit Effective immersive research methods and tools Supporting fund-raising References Glossary Index