For most organizations, success is the outcome of planning, followed by efficiency and dedication in adhering to this discipline. While this is a time-consuming process, the rewards are frequently long-term as well as sustained as long as discipline is maintained, specifically when it comes to preparation.

So why is preparation so important? Because it allows you to equip your organization with what you exactly need, not just to react to external influences that already have the potential to impact your brand, but, to be proactive in your campaign strategies.

Let’s start with the first step which is in this guide…

Determine Who is Driving the Conversation:

If you studied journalism or have taken a course, you’re most probably familiar with the “5 Ws and the H”.

This is a style of researching and presenting information that addresses the main elements of a story.

As part of the process of developing a proactive brand strategy, you’ll want to learn about the key opinion leaders (KOLs) and influencers driving the conversation so you know exactly who to pitch the next time your campaign goes live.

According to the brand strategy guide, and based on a recent survey by Cision, 37% of reporters said they would benefit from PR professionals understanding their readers’ interests before pitching them a story.

Also, you have to know that when you’re identifying KOLs in the media, these same people could potentially be driving the conversations on social media channels too.

Find Where Your Audience is Consuming and Reacting to Content

It’s a lot like fishing to know which outlets to pitch or what topics to “newsjack” on social media. You should indeed know where you are most likely to get a bite, and you must have the appropriate bait.

And for sure, before you know what your target audience will react to, you need to have the right tools to derive these insights from, and for sure you will need to do your research across many channels.

And of course, before you dig deep, keep these two things in mind as you’re making your research:

• Is there any variation by topic, geography, outlet, or time of the year?
• Is your audience engaging with news or social outlets, or both?

As for the first question, gender and geography are the keys because they will help you to craft your campaigns with laser-precise personalization.

Just like the below example on trending entertainment topics to show you this point. As you can see that at a global scale, movie reviews are on top of the list of topics, on the other hand, music and streaming TV hardware are central to the larger conversation.

For the second question, much of it is connected to demographic and you will probably have an idea of where your target audience is engaging, however, why would you rely on a hunch when you have data to back it up?

The rest of the most important steps to develop a proactive brand strategy are in this guide, make sure to download it!

The Content of “5 Steps to Develop a Proactive Brand Strategy” Guide:

• Introduction
• Determine who is driving the conversation
• Identify what is currently trending and when seasonality impacts your market
• Find where your audience is consuming and reacting to content
• Understand why certain topics are driving sentiment
• Prioritize the insights from your research
• Conclusion

Number of Pages:

• 21

Pricing:

• Free