So, what exactly is landscaping? Landscaping is the stage of your insights program where you evaluate what you already know. You may hear the term described in different ways by different firms – mapping, scoping, a knowledge squeeze, or an audit, for example. It can also be referred to as a data synthesis – defining a problem by looking at your existing data and working out how they connect together. These are all relevant steps, but we think it is important to take it a stage further and take a wide view. What we mean by this is not only looking at what you know but also identifying what you don’t know and hypothesise where you could go. Here at Rainmakers, we call this step landscaping.
So, after honing your brief, and deciding on your suite of deliverables, you next need to focus on landscaping.
Spend time gathering your information
Casting the net as wide as possible when gathering information is crucial. This proved invaluable to us a few years ago when we were working with a fast-growing division of a client’s business on strategy development. They knew which category would be a good pillar for future growth, but wanted to understand which of their products fit best with it – and what was the potential gain if they did it right. They provided us with their background information which we reviewed and digested before embarking on a research project. When we were about two-thirds through the study, we learnt that the client had actually tested some of the products as part of a previous workstream. Despite the earlier research having a different context, it still gave us valuable insight into what consumers’ preconceptions were when they came to that part of the category. It fundamentally changed our view of priorities and growth potential.
Landscaping also involves understanding what internal business parameters will impact the project’s outcomes. Why demand that the firm’s operations immediately become plastic-free if it has five years’ worth of plastic in stock and needs a significant lead time to re-engineer its processes? It’s important to embody the “voice of the customer” and champion key trends and consumer expectations, but recommendations need to place these in the context of what the business can actually do in the short and longer-term.
But not just any information
As well as reviewing data the business already has, look at external information including published reports, articles and social media analysis. Go beyond your category to adjacent areas, to see if they provide extra insight. To assess major external factors that could influence our client’s situation, we often use the PEST framework (political, economic, social, and technological trends).
After your consultants have given you a clear list of what they need, put together a framework or storyboard of what the landscaping piece will look like. It is okay if this changes as you delve into the data, as long as your agency demonstrates that it will have a commercial outcome and can give real examples of how landscaping can make a difference.
Take a step-by-step approach
In order for landscaping to be effective, you need to have some discipline in your process, by way of a step-by-step plan, which your agency should help you plan.
We recommend a minimum of three steps. Start by mapping your information so you know where you are now by identifying where the value is today, the areas that are growing, and who plays where. This can determine which markets, categories, or areas may seem exciting but are not financially viable, or which are very crowded. Next, you’ll need to do some hypothesizing and opportunity development, focusing on spaces that offer the potential for more innovative strategies. We often recommend semiotics work, as well as looking at the existing data, to stretch the horizons and help map the future. The final stage is to take the best of those opportunities, use the resources you already have to evaluate them, and figure out what else you’d need to know to decide where they might contribute to the growth strategy you’re looking to build.
Internal stories and myths are sometimes just that
By the time you’ve completed the landscaping process, you should have an idea of what the answer might be. If you’ve found yourself heading down the wrong path – although, this isn’t often – you might need to revert to your original brief and check that the research you were planning still answers the questions you now have. Often, landscaping can change the direction a little bit, adjusting parameters for the journey ahead.
We’re big believers in communicating your strategy clearly and supporting it with evidence. Aim to get internal alignment with your stakeholders, working as a “we” rather than an “I”, and to be able to back up your decisions with supporting data. This will help you keep internal conversations focused; it will be harder for anyone to disagree with the direction if you have evidence. All companies have stories and myths, but by landscaping, you can explore them and evidence or debunk them.
A third-party view is valuable
Of course, landscaping can be carried out by an in-house insights team, but it can be valuable to enlist the help of strategic insight consultants. An external perspective on the information can bring the additional experience of other categories and markets. When looking for a partner, make sure they demonstrate broad experience of landscaping projects and can provide both strategic planning and analysis skills to deliver what you need.
What follows landscaping?
Landscaping is often followed by primary research to explore the opportunities which have arisen, but it can also provide the basis for clear strategic decisions without any additional research. Landscaping may identify some specific gaps in your knowledge – you may find you have no data on a particular target group or geographical market. Or you can use the process to work out how to design and structure the content of any follow-on research – evaluating evolving trends, combining data analysis and semiotics, working out what to put in a questionnaire. You might have always planned for a big strategic, quantitative research study in order to refresh your knowledge. In this case, landscaping will help focus that study.
Landscaping will also be useful for times you don’t need a strategic answer right away but need a framework in order to develop one. In this instance, it will provide your stakeholders with a map that you can use as support for future ideas and development.
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