Strategic Business Planning
Strategic business planning begins with a profound understanding of the owners’ vision and ambition for their enterprise. We help them formulate it into an inspiration for the whole organization and a guide toward its future. We also insist on spelling out the values of the business and propagating them honestly to all.
We then conduct a business audit throughout the organization to appreciate the internal strengths and weaknesses of the organization and review all the market data to assess the opportunities and threats in the environment looking into the years ahead. Now we are ready to involve all the top and middle management in developing the strategic objectives for the future and collectively generate the action programs to realize their shareholders’ vision.
Moreover, we develop the strategic map for the organization and the action programs to implement the strategy along the strategic objectives. The key performance indicators (KPI’s) are integrated to form the balanced scorecards needed to effectively measure and manage the progress of the strategy implementation.
Commercial / Marketing Strategy & Planning
All great market success stories begin with a vision; then comes a long pursuit of that vision, full of determination, perseverance, and learning. With a clear marketing strategy, this pursuit becomes less risky, more predictable, more feasible, and with a far better chance of success in a much shorter timeframe.
We have worked with many companies to help them formulate their visions and develop powerful strategies to attain them. We have also worked with them to develop their annual marketing plans and implement them. We have supported them for the first few years and have seen them take off on their own. Watching them soar above their competitors brings us pride and motivates us for the next strategy formulation and implementation endeavour.
Sales & Marketing Training
Effective sales, marketing and development training plans must be based on careful Development Needs Assessment (DNA), and must be fully aligned with the overall corporate strategy. Our DNA reaches beyond the needs and focuses on the aptitude of each member of the sales and marketing team. This focus allows for the formulation and implementation of short and long term sales and marketing team development plans.
We have also designed and delivered hundreds of original public and tailored training programs. In each case, we insist on high level of relevance and creativity whether in the choice of the topic, the approach, or the delivery details.
Finally, we have successfully managed large-scale training contracts that extended for several months. We feel that all these training efforts are a part of our mission to advance the purpose of marketing in the region.
Human Resources for Sales & Marketing
Both marketing and sales demand special attention to the organization and management of the human resources in both areas. The creativity of the marketing people and aggressiveness of the sales force call for profound understanding of their needs and requirements before they could work in harmony and perform together, with the rest of the organization, toward achieving their targets.
The organization of sales and marketing department(s) differs from one company to another, and from one market to another. And so do the incentive, reporting, and performance appraisal systems. The recruitment, staffing, training, and motivation of the human resources in both areas require special skills and experience. We have helped many organizations build, develop, or fine-tune their sales and marketing organizations and systems with remarkable impact on their performance indicators and bottom line.
Ongoing Strategy & Marketing Support
Sometimes the client is undergoing a critical period in the lifecycle of the organization or the development of the market when no mistake can be afforded. The client then feels that support is needed in implementing the marketing plans from an experienced consultant. We begin by co-developing a commercial or marketing plan (strategically and on a tactical level) with the client’s management team and marketing staff, thus transferring to them the know-how of preparing a sound plan. We also break the plan down to weekly activities with budget implications, and we supervise the implementation by the day.
In certain cases, the client may not have a marketing department to attend to the prerequisites of the implementation success. We have functioned as the external marketing department for these clients. We provided them with the support expected (strategically & tactically) from the most effective team they could imagine. At a fraction of the cost of setting up and maintaining the talents of their own department, our clients have obtained the experience and insights so difficult and expensive to attain, manage, and otherwise retain.
Strategic Brand Management
A brand is a promise, consistently delivered, to the point where customers come to expect it, believe in it, and tell others about it. To most businesses, the brand is the most valuable single asset it has. Investing in building brand equity probably has the best return on investment in the short and long terms. This is particularly true when the brand is new and/or the company is new. It is equally delicate when it is the case of a brand extension, within or beyond the domain of the original brand.
Branding decisions involve very high stakes, and mistakes are expensive and fatal to the product. Sound branding decisions could put the company ahead and leverage all the competitive advantages it may possess. We have our own Brand Development Model which consists of three modules that can also be applied separately. The first module is the Brand Foundation which is the review of the corporate strategy and an internal and external brand audit. Based on that, we develop the brand strategy, followed by the brand contract. The second module is the Brand Implementation, which includes the development of the Brand’s visual identity, the corporate identity manual (CIM), and the brand persona and tone of voice. The final module is the Brand Actualization, which focuses on delivering the brand experience, achieving brand advocacy, and tracking brand health.
Marketing Research & Market Studies
All worthy commercial decisions rest on solid marketing research and experience. The identification and quantification of customer needs, dissatisfactions, and priorities determined by research become the foundation for setting the marketing mix variables. Marketing is about segmenting the market with insight, targeting your segments with precision, and positioning your offer with creativity. This is not possible in the dark, and relying on guesswork or market wisdom is too expensive. Research is the only way to reduce the risk of failure and to increase the probability of making optimum decisions.
Market studies that precede market entry decisions often redirect our clients to focus on more profitable market segments, to develop better product configurations, to confirm or revise basic market assumptions, to select the optimum timing for the launch, to attract strategic investors, and/ or to fine-tune to customer unmet needs, priorities and motivations.
Our expertise in conducting market studies that serve as a foundation for feasibility studies is unparalleled in the B2B and B2C markets. Our spectrum of marketing research & market studies covers:
- Market Understanding (Demand & Supply studies)
- Market Sizing
- Target Identification & Concept Testing
- Consumer Usage & Attitude Studies
- Brand Equity Assessment Customer Satisfaction Survey
Mystery Shopping & Price Audits
Mystery shopping is a research tool used to measure the quality of service or compliance to company processes or to gather specific information about products and services to help attract new customers and to maintain long term relationships with current clients. This is done through “Mystery Shoppers” (M-shoppers) whose specific identity is not known by the establishment being evaluated. Our M-shopper’s role is to perform specific tasks such as going through the experience of acquiring goods or services, asking questions, registering complaints, and then providing detailed reports about their experiences to top management.
We have developed deep expertise in mystery shopping for service organizations using our proprietary ‘total customer experience’ methodology. In fact, our team at IMS is among the most experienced and respected in this kind of research in Egypt. Our methodology and expertise explain why more and more retail brands are resorting to us when it comes to monitoring their service quality. Price audits focus on the P of Price in the marketing mix in service or retail business. Our Price Audits go beyond the price tags and delves into providing the full pricing picture of a product in a market full of competitors. Sometimes it is also used to track the adherence of agents, distributors or retailers with the company pricing policies and regulations.
Our comprehensive price audit service covers:
- Business Value Proposition & Pricing Strategy Review
- Competitive price collection at a national or local level
- The ability to correlate historical sales results to pricing changes
- Price Analysis and Insights.
Media Research Services
Media research provides critical insights for optimizing advertising investments and improving campaign effectiveness. IMS offers comprehensive media measurement, monitoring, and auditing services that help clients evaluate media performance, track competitor activities, and ensure campaigns are delivered as planned. These services reduce risk, increase ROI, and provide the foundation for making data-driven media decisions.
IMS provides five core media research services:
- Continuous TV and Radio Rating Survey
- Captures the pulse of television viewers and radio listeners in Egypt
- Provides full coverage of TV and radio media exposure habits
- Presents ratings by 15-minute time segments for essential media planning
- Conducts 6,000 interviews monthly (15,000 during Ramadan) using CATI methodology with diverse demographics
- Delivers data including:
- Statistical reports by socioeconomic profiles and day of week
- Cumulative rolling database with analytical capabilities
- Full audited and weighted database for subscribers
- Data delivered one week from the end of each wave
- Media Advertising Monitoring Service
- Monitors comprehensive media across television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and billboards
- Operates through a network of fully equipped offices throughout the region
- Benefits include:
- Tracking message delivery accurately and timely
- Comparing regional performance of media vehicles
- Getting timely information about competitive creatives
- Fine-tuning targeting of advertising and PR campaigns
- Proving success to clients
- Evaluating agencies’ creative performance
- Improving campaign effectiveness
III. Media Plan Auditing
- Provides independent advertising audit consulting services
- Monitors advertisements across TV, radio, print media, and outdoors
- Ensures planned media is delivered according to specifications:
- Reviews number of spots aired vs. planned
- Ensures exact airing times of each spot
- Tracks spot durations and positions
- Lists programs linked to each spot
- Follows different ad versions and verifies airing schedules
- Delivers regular reports and final campaign status analysis
- Helps clients save significant marketing budget by identifying discrepancies
- Provides objective final reports comparing planned vs. actual media delivery
- Syndicated Ads
- Tracks viewership metrics for advertisements across all channels:
- The ads that have been viewed and viewership for each ad
- Knowledge-assisted advertising
- Media channels where ads were viewed
- Viewing periods
- Number of views per ad
- Ad messaging effectiveness
- Campaign Awareness
- Measures audience awareness and recall of advertising campaigns
- Helps evaluate overall campaign effectiveness and impact
“We are your open eyes.” IMS helps clients maximize the full value of their media investments through independent, objective analysis and reporting.