In most strategic plans, there is no creativity, no specificities, no excitement. Today, we need more than just reason and analysis. The SPICE UP model is there to bring some excitement to your strategic options and help you be really different! The time of classical strategic analysis has passed. The notion of traditional competition is obsolete. You need to work and think differently!
SPICE UP is an anagram that stands for: S – Sexy, P – Personalization, I – Intelligence, C – Community, E – Emotions, leading to U – Ultimate choice for the customers, and P – a very strong Personality. You need to blend all this into one strong concept. It is the only way to stand out in the crowd!
Sexy
How to create a sexy brand? What is a sexy company? What is a sexy value proposition?
Being sexy means creating desire which has been at the core of marketing for decades. But today we are in a different world: desire comes from intelligence, authenticity, passion, values. That is what sexy brands are doing: they appeal to your senses, they create experiences, they instill trust. It is like some kind of magic but it is not! It is the reflection of passion and values.
Learn to create desire through authenticity and passion !
Personalization
The power of personalization is very important in our societies because our societies became anonymous. We are lost in systems, we are part of a crowd. Actually, very few people really care for us. That is why in marketing, when you bring real consideration to your customers, it is working like magic. You need to personalize your relationships with the customers, you have to make them feel unique.
There are a lot of tools you can use to personalize your relationships: CRM systems, customer care services, after sales services, etc. but tools are nothing without the spirit and the people. You need to put some effort in that, you need to hire people who genuinely care for others and give them the freedom to act, to solve the personal problems of the customers without imposing them too many rules. Actually, you do not need a large budget for that: it is more about creating personal experiences than spending money.
Learn to spice up your relationships !
Intelligence
Intelligence is a word that has many meanings, from the smart functioning of the brain to artificial intelligence and business intelligence. But here it is about finding an intelligent concept for intelligent customers.
In the past, it was often said that in marketing, the most simplistic our communication was, the most efficient it was. The idea was that the consumer was not very smart. Today it is not the case anymore. Customers are better educated. They are more sophisticated. They are better informed. They have more choices and alternatives. They want more than just product performance. They want emotions. We need to offer them a concept more than a product. A concept that is attractive, distinctive, smart. A concept that is intelligent.
Learn to spice up your intelligence !
Community
Community marketing is a new buzzword but what is the true meaning of communities? We sometimes use this word without knowing what it really means. In the pure sense of the word, a community is a group of people who have something in common. But can we say that all BMW drivers or all iPhone owners make a community? No, because actually it is not having something in common that is important, it sharing. In order to talk of a community we need to share values, some lifestyle or some kind of passion.
Being part of a community has been a basic need for centuries. In the past, the community was the family, the village, the religious group or whatever but today, in our post-modern society, we live in megaenvironments, in megacities. Everything is more and more anonymous so citizens created their own communities by themselves in order to group around something. What does it mean for a business or an organization ? If you want to create a real community around your brand or around your company, you need to identify the real values that you want to share and make it the cement of your community. That will be a key asset to make you stand out and create a family spirit!
Learn to be strong on the values and spice up your community !
Emotions
Do you believe in the power of emotions? In our Western societies, we were educated and used to deny and hide our emotions most of the time. But actually, in our post-modern society, emotions are more important than ever! We may have everything to be reasonable customers but actually we are not. Emotions dominate although we are in a world full of facts and information.
Today we display our emotions, we make it public. Because emotions create value, and even more value than before. We have to stop running companies like machines. When thinking about strategy, you have to think about creating emotional values, because values means success and emotional values means even more success.
Learn to spice up your emotions !
Ultimate
Do you know why some brands are always outperforming competition? Why they have a loyal fan base all the time? Why they are creating more value? It is because they are the ultimate choice for their customers. “Ultimate” means that customers do not even consider competition. They always consider that brand to be the first choice in any case, to be the best alternative.
When you combine sexiness, personalization, intelligence, community building and emotions in one strong superior concept, you become the indisputable choice, the ultimate choice for your customers. It does not mean that you do not face competition, it just means that you are always the most desirable. This is what your marketing objective should be: being the preferred brand, the place to be, the best alternative, always. Don’t compromise, be self-demanding. There is no place for approximation here!
Learn to spice up your positioning and run the marketing show as the best professional!
Personality
What is a strong personality? When we think of a person, a strong personality is someone we never forget. In marketing and strategy, we should have an unforgettable concept. Something that is so strong that people will never forget about it.
Don’t be average! Stand out! Shine! The SPICE UP model is a tool that you can use to make your personality “extraordinary”. It is the only way to survive and be successful in the market jungle today. Don’t be obsessed by being good, be obsessed by being different. As a brand or as a company, you need to be associated with some field of leadership. You need to be the best in something. Or,the most… in something. Enjoy being strong, don’t be shy, dare!
Be inspired and learn to spice up your strategies!
SPICE UP! 