Strategic Planning for the real world

Strategic Planning has gone out of fashion, mores the pity. Tactics is everything has been the motto of most organisations – and politicians. Perhaps we should label this the era of:"Don't confuse me with the facts."

This paper from Nicholine Hayward is a real breath of fresh air that illustrates how strategy and tactics can come together.

Just download it and have a quick scan – you will see what I mean. Even if you miss out on the strategy bit, the details about the tools available to understand the online world are invaluable.

This is how the author describes herself:

Half consultant, half leader of thought and half agent of change, I am a different kind of planner. This difference manifests itself in, for example, a unique research methodology I have developed, which harnesses online data sources, to deliver authentic consumer insights which can be applied to devise resonant integrated strategies. Some of Grey London’s most exciting and effective recent work, including several successful pitches, is based directly on these insights.

What Nicholine is talking about is as applicable to the 50-plus as any other group of consumers. Dick Stroud