SCENARIO PLANNING: UNCOVERING GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES
Global data analytics consulting firm, Analytic Partners, has released its ROI Genome Intelligence Report looking at scenario planning and how brands can achieve long-term growth. Through a virtual webinar, Mike Menkes, senior vice president of Analytic Partners breaks down the data to help brands achieve sustained growth.
The RIO Genome report works to understand business performance drivers across global industries. The data collected is then used to help clients leverage different areas of business growth. The RIO Genome shows brands that adopt measurement programs and scenario planning achieve 25-70% ROI Gains, leading to an additional $50m-$100m in revenue.
Optimising spending across communications platforms increased significantly through Covid-19. “Recognising and understanding that certain types of marketing work better online than in person, and being able to leverage some of the dynamics of what is really effective has led to growth for many of our clients,” says Menkes.
There are three key areas to the scenario-planning framework, which work to establish a credible foundation to support data-driven decisions. First and foremost, brands must identify measurements of success using key performance indicators (KPIs) such as sales or acquisition. Menkes says, “We need to take into account multiple KPIs for decision making, because decisions effect today certainly, but they also effect next month, next quarter and next year.”
The second thing to consider is performance drivers, because only by quantify risks and opportunities, can businesses best adapt to the ongoing changing landscape. “A lot of the time, analytics looks at the past, but it’s important that this is then used to plan for the future,” says Menkes. Performance drivers include controllable factors such as marketing and sales efforts, but also non-controllable factors such as weather seasonality and economic influence.
Analytic Partners also prioritised the relative importance of factors to consider when creating communications and marketing campaigns. The amount of investment ranked highest in creating impact, followed by creative quality.
Every business is unique, so the third and final part of the framework is about recognising critical business dynamics. Scenario planning helps brands to be equipped for different outcomes, which was particularly pertinent over the past year as Covid-19 continually disrupted performance drivers.
In order to scenario plan successfully, businesses must be data-driven, collaborative and continually evolving. “Every business is certainly unique, and scenario planning needs to tuned to the goals and the nuances of the specific business,” says Menkes.
