Sept. 15, 2020
Has Your Brand Strategy for Kuwait Tested Positive for Covid-19?
I think we can all agree that this year has been, at the very least, interesting and at its worst, brutal. Arguments have raged between governments and the World Health Organisation (WHO), government finance ministers and government health ministers, mask wearers and mask non-wearers.
Through all of this, business owners are juggling immediate business pressures. They have been in a state of needing to pull solutions out of thin air and simultaneously try to reimagine their business now and in the new normal that is upcoming.
Your brand strategy is definitely under pressure in 2020 unless you forecasted the pandemic and the fast-forwarding of the circular economy. Has your brand survived COVID? Is it robust and ready for the new normal?
The New Normal Economy
PRNEWSWIRE.COM quotes a report showing that by May 2020, Kuwait instituted lockdowns for COVID-19 prevention caused 45% of Kuwaiti business owners suspending or shutting down their businesses. Another 26% of business owners’ state they were on the verge of collapse after seeing their revenue drop by more than 80%.
If your sales are lagging or this market is no longer what you built your strategy for, then you need to revisit your brand strategy and overarching business plan. Joe Freitag, VP of Brand (Marketing & Product) at SPY+, explains the brand strategy:
“Your brand strategy is the cornerstone of your overall business plan. It is your roadmap guiding you to your destination. It only changes if your destination does.”
COVID-19 has highly likely splintered your destination. Your brand strategy for Kuwait (or any other market) will need repositioning. This will include your marketing strategy, distribution strategy, pricing strategy, content strategy, digital marketing, campaign development, social strategy, advertising, PR, retail marketing…the list goes on.
We propose the following steps, starting with re-profiling your market, its size and the opportunities. Concurrently outline the macro and micro market characteristics. Do you need to educate the market? Or does your team need reskilling for the new market? Are your product features still relevant? What is the competition doing and has your competition changed because of greater segmentation or aggregation of the market?
Large company groups invest heavily in market research before finalising their brand strategy. SMEs/SBEs are notorious for undervaluing its worth. In the absence of robust market data, true positioning and real new opportunities are difficult to understand or read correctly.
If you are 100% unable to hire in research help contact us and we can guide you towards a few helpful general information sources on the Web or other innovative ways to help you.
You need to ask yourself:
- What does your existing or changed customer look like?
- What are their new needs, what is their pain?
- What are the new categories?
- Are there new geographical locations?
- Do you have new influencers or have lost influencers?
- Have trends changed?
- What is your market segments maturity?
This will impact how you approach the market.
Once all this research is done, you collate it into a report that will determine your macro-level approach. Carefully research the characteristics of your lifecycle stage and the typical positioning approach. It may be that you decide a standard positioning approach suits the new normal or you may see a need for modification. Your choices will direct your strategic thinking and brand strategy.
Contact us today to move through your brand strategy in Kuwait revision efficiently and have an effective outcome, driving up your final 2020 results. Let’s get this new normal normalised.