There’s a variety of definitions for “Strategy”, most referencing war in the military sense. And yet we find the term “strategy” prevalently used relative to business. Might be why some relate business to battle?

They are everywhere – socially and politically evoked passions. Social media, broadcast news, and even storylines woven into our sitcoms and movies – literally everywhere we turn, subtle or overt, passions are publicized and politicized.

Being “more strategic than ever” doesn’t always equate to a business making drastic reductions and cuts, but typically includes risk/reward paradigm forecasting. And that process is often research-led, and insights driven, mitigating missteps when survival and rebound lays in the balance of decisions.

This is a strategic time for brands who have not previously done so, to attract new customers and deepen relationships with their existing customers through marketing communications that emphasize a “giving back” proposition. However, many brands were built on a foundation of giving back and paying it forward – “giving back” is simply baked into their DNA.

Now is the time for established service related businesses to recognize how infringing the P2P movement can be and figure out a way to cash in on it, or at least how to become differentiated and interrupt the disruption. Whether that means investing in the development of innovative platforms that accommodate P2P service merchandising and marketing, or devoting resources to secure segment leadership through social influence.

If there’s one thing Walmart has taught us over the past few weeks, it’s that every brand, regardless of its pedigree, still has room to grow. And their impressive performance trend this year, despite quarantine related issues, indicates they do not intend to play second fiddle to Amazon, or anyone for that matter.

We’ve all seen the surge of “togetherness” messaging in the last few months. This advertising strategy is possibly an ideal approach to show that brands relate to consumers through emotional alignment. It asserts a need for consumers to rally around each other, and positions the brand as an enabler or conduit for emotional unity.

When Major League Baseball makes its expected return in July, it won’t look exactly like it did when last year’s regular season ended in September. For one thing, we don’t expect there will be fans inside the stadiums, at least until state legislation and health officials deem it’s safe for them to return.

For marketing research to fulfill a thoroughly essential role in business strategy development, it should be designed to deliver insights to support an understanding of what is and why it is. And, there’s a wide variety of research methods and techniques to achieve this (fodder for other blogs).

Unless one goes to great lengths to be untraceable (and some do), we all are observed and documented across our day-to-day activities, and our behaviors and activities are translated into data that are analyzed to support all kinds of government and private business sector strategies.