Part 1: Differentiating the Strategies

Written by Matt Walker, VP of Growth Strategy at Hypothesis. Contact Matt at mwalker@hypothesisgroup.com.

“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” - Yogi Berra

There’s no question things are exceptionally complicated for every business right now, but the path to recovery and growth holds multiple opportunities.

While we do not yet know when the social distancing and quarantining will end, there is already no question that the growing global pandemic and mitigation efforts are going to affect human attitudes and behaviors deeply. For you, as Founder/Owner/Executive/Marketer/Product Manager/Champion of your brand, your company will, of course, need a new strategy. However, to grow in the inevitable era of “the new normal,” you will need both a proactive strategy to step into the new future and a reactive growth strategy to save the present.

Inversion: Growth When your Industry’s Modus Operandi has Been Flipped

Across industry verticals we are seeing unprecedented adaptation to the current situation and, while forced, it has already led to business models being turned upside down. This inversion is a defining moment for many companies, as it is either testing their ability to pivot and/or innovate rapidly, allowing them to either survive (and even thrive), or concede market share to smaller, more agile companies eager to capitalize on a growth opportunity.

Restaurants and grocery stores must now learn to exist in a world where consumers are adapting to an on-demand and delivery model so quickly that Instacart is looking to quickly fill 300,000 jobs to meet the skyrocketing demand. Do consumers think of your brand for delivery? Are your product and operations capable of producing an excellent delivery experience? Who is in your new competitive set?

Gyms must now learn how to justify monthly fees in a world where consumers are investing in routines and software subscriptions to facilitate in-home or self-led workouts that are more convenient, more adaptive, more personalized, and less expensive in the short and/or long-run. What need states and jobs to be done are being fulfilled through virtual solutions? What can you do to solve these needs? What does that mean for your existing services and infrastructure?

Co-working spaces need to find a way to service the larger workforce that may be working remotely from home while still thriving. What does "meeting” and “collaborating” look like after people have learned to adapt to repurposing their current home environment and connecting virtually? How can this mobile work life be supported including both software and even physical workspace needs?

The time is now to evaluate what this future is going to need so you can proactively create the solution.

Re-immersion: Growth Through Empathy and Understanding as Consumers Reenter the World-at-large

The world will be experiencing brands, products, and services in these new forms – even the late majority and laggards are quickly being thrust into living in this new, emergent world. And, when the proverbial dust settles, consumers will still want to experience the prior forms of brands, products, and services...just with a “twist.”

To succeed, you need a deep understanding of the underlying expectations your customers will have before they walk in your door. Consumers will be far more educated on safety concerns, but there will also be deeply held concerns about health and wellbeing (even if never spoken of). Your job will be to broker this reintroduction to the new version of the old world in a way that is exciting while still being reassuring. Consider all of your consumer touchpoints as you craft your strategy, optimizing your products, services, policies, and communications to make the process as easy and comfortable as possible.

When planning on hopping in a Lyft/Uber, what precautions have been taken to ensure the driver (and other passengers, if a shared ride) are healthy? How much distance between passengers is enough? Are physical barriers needed?

When planning on checking into a hotel, what is the frequency and depth of the cleaning schedule for the rooms? The other amenities? What about for Airbnb? Are consumer requirements more or less strict?

When planning a coffee at your shop or a meal at your restaurant, what procedures are in place to ensure food safety? What messaging will make customers feel comfortable? How does this change your layout? Ordering and payments?

Deeply evaluate your existing business and operations through the minds, eyes, and hearts of your customers so you can best react to these new mindsets. Exercise sensitivity, education, and preparation as you cultivate a new path to an improved version of the way things were.

Don’t Freeze Up

This time is also ripe for learning. There are huge portions of the population with more time, fewer distractions, and pent-up creativity.

Consider checking in with your customers to see how they are adjusting and coping. What new interests or behaviors are they developing? How can your brand help?

Consider sending concepts of new products to consumers to test, especially as novelty will be more welcome than ever. What is life with the new product/service like? What can be better? What are unexpected usages?

Consider leveraging the wide variety of digital qualitative techniques to deep dive into topics of interest or understand the deeper emotional shifts happening right now. What does a day in this new life look like? What solutions can the group co-create?

Budgets may be tightening, but the ability to rebound quickly and grow in the age of this new normal will be entirely dependent on creative, calculated learning and preparation.

We are already helping ambitious companies dive into to seas of change to begin plotting their future course though a wide variety of custom quantitative and qualitative methodologies, macro trend analyses via our Momentum dedicated strategy team, as well as launching our own omnibus tracking survey to better understand macro changes in the landscape (stay tuned for more on this!).

The Challenge to a Dual

Some industries will experience less severe shifts (e.g. entertainment) while the only shift other industries will experience is growth (e.g. social, technology). However, this period is shaping up to be a watershed moment opportunity for technologies like video, virtual reality, and e-commerce that can have massive ripple effects on a wide breadth of industries and categories that will take years to register fully. Depending on how your specific industry is affected, you will need to define which of the two new strategies will be your primary and which secondary.

Like the thousands of cases & recovery charts I’m assuming you’ve been reading as well, the value is not in a single point in time, it’s in understanding the trend, as that is what enables you to forecast and have a better understanding of what the future might have in store for you. The same idea applies to your understanding of the future of your industry: capture these shifts early and continuously to help your marketing, brand, product, and executive teams proactively adjust their strategies and roadmaps to drive future success, overall and within your dual, new growth strategies.

As always: very much welcome your thoughts, perspectives, and input. What shifts are you and your teams trying to understand to inform your future, post-pandemic strategies?