What to expect in the first 30 days from Nordic Morning

With deadlines always looming and tough KPIs to meet it can be tempting to focus heavily on the production phase of communication. In reality, the best way to deliver the most effective content and engage your target group is to give equal importance to preparation and activation.

That’s why Nordic Morning believes the optimal way to maximise ROI and deliver truly strategic marketing advice is by adopting a holistic approach built on four key pillars: Research, Advise, Make, Activate. Let’s take a look at exactly what that means, and why our clients can expect us to approach challenges from every angle, leading with curiosity, to deliver data-driven solutions that exceed expectations.

Research

Without an evidence-based understanding of your target group, you're simply guessing. Our starting point is the vital Research phase, where we use everything from interviews to workshops and exploratory research to hone in on your audience and build a data-driven understanding of the best way to reach them. Think of it like laying the foundations before construction: it’s not wise to start building without solid ground, and getting this part right strengthens everything that comes further down the line. It also means moving forward more efficiently in the fast-moving digital world.

“It’s not uncommon for clients to have a feeling of being in a rush, that they need to get something out quickly because the opportunity is there now,” Strategy Director & Stockholm Agency Director Carl Tottie explains.

“But what we’ve seen from experience is if you don't do your homework properly, it’ll come back to bite you. So we don’t even try to persuade clients – strong research is essential to what we do. It’s part of securing the delivery. That means doing not just quantitative but also qualitative research, which makes a huge difference to the value provided afterwards. Being a strategic partner requires research. We live by that fact.”

Gaining a data-based understanding of the challenge ensures we can inspire and provide clarity when we then advise our clients on how to move forward, and go above and beyond in delivering on our promises.

Advise

No problem is created equally and it’s important to collaborate and dig deep into each challenge to uncover the best solution. The advisory pillar plays a defining role in strongly executed digital marketing and maximising ROI, so it makes sense that it should be given significant focus. Carl Tottie notes,o

“We’re experts in strategic marketing. So does the data show that the client’s idea is the right approach? A client may say ‘we’ve done this every year, it works perfectly’. Great, let’s challenge and see if we can find some data to support it. We may recommend an A/B test: the client has a proposed solution, let’s try that in parallel to something else and then together decide which is the best way to go forward. That’s a really efficient way to work and harness our advisory capacity.”

One example comes from our work with leading Scandinavian insurance provider Trygg-Hansa, where Nordic Morning advised implementing a Proof of Concept to test two target group hypotheses for two different car brands, informing the solution with real-time data.

The result? A deeper understanding of Trygg-Hansa’s customers and their behaviour in the customer journey, leading to enhanced and more personalised digital experiences for those users. As a consequence improved sales retention from abandoned prospects and increased insurance coverage occurred.

Make

With the first two phases fully explored, it's time to Make. As a full-service agency Nordic Morning is able to call upon experts across all digital disciplines to enhance the production stage: content creators with expertise in multiple formats combine with analytics, SEO and paid media specialists in a well-oiled creative machine, delivering the best possible execution of the concept.

"Our collective competencies work together across all phases. They're involved from the start through to production and beyond. That’s quite unique. It makes things easier, smoother, and more efficient. Ultimately that’s how we ensure we’re not just making great things for our clients, we’re making our clients great.”

Once that solution is launched it isn’t a closed book: we continue to Advise, reflecting and tweaking where necessary to achieve maximum results. If an unexpected challenge emerges or additional research is required, we act!

Activate

Even after the solution has been produced, it’s important to Activate to fully harness its potential value. We always follow-up and continue to Advise in order to best position our clients for greatness.

"There are still learnings to take once the content has been launched. If something isn't quite working, if a specific message isn't landing, a channel isn't right, we need to tweak it. We will have done our homework correctly in terms of research and advisory, so it could be something else in the concept that needs adjusting. We never settle until we have proven that our efforts provide true value – the data says what it says. Follow-up is key."

Key takeaways: What to expect in the first 30 days from Nordic Morning

• The first 30 days of working with Nordic Morning are a perfect snapshot of how we excel at providing strategic marketing advice to elevate our clients. In summary, here’s how the four key pillars of our approach ensure we deliver results:
• We're curious. We like to ask questions, we want to truly grasp your business, understanding every part of your ecosystem relevant to the project. We leave no stone unturned in our Research, be it in the pursuit of hard data, or in the pursuit of tapping knowledge from our clients that will position the project for success.
• Building up this knowledge base and leaning on our wide range of expert competencies from day one provides the foundations for us to Advise efficiently and effectively. We’ll always seek data to justify our approach to the challenge, while at the same time always staying creative and inspired. Our mission is to make sure clients never feel lost: everyone is aligned, the machine well-oiled and positioned for success.
• We love to Make content and production is of course important, but it can only shine if the Research, Advise and Activate pillars are given the attention they need. This holistic approach is how we assure quality, fueled and supported by data.
• Speaking of data, in order to Activate we’ll continue to challenge and examine our solution until the hard facts show it’s working. Whether it’s a change in sales figures, or other relevant KPIs set out in the project goals we agreed: only then – not based on gut-feeling – will we happily say we’ve delivered as a partner.

In the first 30 days working with Nordic Morning we’ll ultimately ensure you feel involved, enthused and assured that we’ll deliver the value your business seeks. We don’t just make great things for our clients, we want to make our clients great.

Contact us here to find out how we can deliver on that promise for your business needs.