"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."
― Sun Tzu, "The Art of War"
While Sun Tzu’s focus is on war and how to win it, the mission of High Arte™ is not unlike his. It's our job to learn who our clients are and what they do, who our clients' clients are and what they want and the reality of the marketplace. If we know the "who, the "what" and the "reality," then we “need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” We can successfully design a logo or a brochure, create a custom website design or execute a marketing campaign that will “Communicate who our clients are and what they do to the people who need to know.” Our success will translate into a battle won, profits made and clients delighted. To learn the who, the what and that reality... we employ the following:
CLIENT EVALUATION
The client evaluation process can sometimes be quite challenging. However, using a firm’s benchmarks for determining what constitutes a “great” client and what motivates a positive response, we develop a client evaluation profile using the following touch points. This profile helps establish what “really” makes a terrific client and lays the groundwork for developing a successful marketing strategy.
- establish what “really” makes a client great
- help gain new perspective about existing clients
- learn who has significant potential
- identify “true” key clients
- decide where to invest your precious resources
- measure improvement over time
MARKET ANALYSIS
In order to determine the nature and scope of our client's market we need to analyze the marketplace to see who their potential clients are and if they're willing to purchase what our client has to offer at a price point needed to make a profit. Our market analysis will provide the evidence that there is a niche in the market our client can exploit. This analysis provides the foundation on which our marketing plan will rest. The core components are:
- an industry analysis assessing the general industry environment in which our client competes
- a target market analysis identifying and quantifying the targeted customers
- a competitive analysis identifying competitors and analyzing their strengths and weaknesses
BRAND ANALYSIS
Customers don’t choose to do business with a company just because of its products, services or pricing alone, they choose a company because they connect with its brand. An effective brand strategy is a key competitive edge in a crowded marketplace. Defining and refreshing a brand strategy on a regular basis helps to ensure a company maintains a clear strategic direction aligned with its business strengths, objectives and target audience. A brand audit is the way to evaluate your current brand holistically and objectively and here are some of the key components we consider when performing an audit.
- Client Offerings
- Competitive Landscape
- Key Audiences
- Positioning
- Program Messaging
- Communications
- Assets