Energising Category Strategies
Businesses with a high level of energy around their category strategy get better results.
What do we mean by a high level of energy?
- Everyone "gets" the category strategy (everyone = all departments, not just commercial)
- People outside of category can easily explain the category vision and what the business is trying to achieve
- Everyone understands the category drivers, and are actively working towards implementing them and making a difference
Many Category Controllers report a lack of energy and excitement relating to the category strategy
In our surveys many category leaders comment that their category strategy is simply viewed as a document.
And some commercial teams see a category strategy as something that the category team own.
So why is it hard to get other departments onboard with category strategies?
Often the problem isn't the category strategy itself.
The issue isn't what's communicated, but how it's shared.
The Power of Cognitive Ease
Have you heard of the concept of Cognitive ease?
Cognitive ease (coined by Daniel Kahneman) is a measure of how easy it is for our brains to process information and understand something.
The cognitive ease associated with understanding something, affects how we feel about it.
If others "get" your category strategy quickly and easily, they're more likely to buy into it and commit to helping you deliver it.
So how can you make it easy for others to understand your strategy?
- Don't assume one meeting to present will be enough (insights take time to sink in)
- Don't just rely on powerpoint decks (people absorb information in different ways)
- Don't assume a given level of knowledge (you may be surprised by how little others know about your category!)
How can Dynamic Reasoning help?
We have developed an onboarding programme that brings great results.
Using mixed media, we combine presentation decks with quizzes and surveys to help users learn at their own pace.
Creating bite size sections our onboarding programmes get the whole business up to speed, engaged and energised by the category strategy.
Some teams also share the programme with their agencies, so they also understand the insight behind the strategy.
We can review your existing category strategy and develop an onboarding programme that you can roll-out across your entire business.