The Challenge

I run a small marketing consultancy and some of my clients are only just entering the digital  marketing space. Some have websites, but they don’t know anything about driving traffic and lead  generation. I recently landed a new client who had a small interior-decorating business and wanted  to grow her client base using digital and social marketing. She had a company website but had no  social media channels and personally knows nothing about digital marketing – she’s not even on  Facebook! She wanted a digital marketing strategy to drive new business, however the challenge  was that she didn’t know what that was or how it would work. In this sort of scenario, with clients  such as she, it’s hard to manage expectations; they expect that once their platforms are set up, from  day one their phone will ring off the hook and new quote requests will flood in. In addition, her  media budget was very small, so organic would play an important part in the rollout of this strategy.

A segment in Angela Meyer’s video showing a person standing up and talking about a concept, while  the people in the meeting each understood it differently, perfectly illustrated the challenge with this  client. I needed to get her and her whole team on the same page, to “align ideas”, as Meyer puts it  so well.

This illustration of Meyer’s shows how tenuous the situation was, with me thinking one thing and  each member on the client’s team, having their own interpretation of my words.

(Images copyright Design Thinking for Innovation video on visualisation tools by Angela Meyer)

Selection

It was clear that showing the client and her team content and ads that were being placed and the  traffic, audience growth and engagement they were generating was pretty meaningless to them.  They couldn’t picture how all of these digital marketing elements came together and worked to  generate new sales leads. Being highly creative people and designers in their own right, a  visualisation tool seemed to be a good choice to make these ethereal digital activities tangible and  concrete. I needed to take my clients beyond the language; a visualization tool can remove the  ambiguity of words, and the many meanings we can derive from them, providing instead a clear  picture.

We all needed to be on the same page, as Meyer’s illustration shows.

(Images copyright Design Thinking for Innovation video on visualisation tools by Angela Meyer)

Application

At our next meeting I gathered the client and her team and prefaced the meeting by saying that the  different parts of my digital strategy all work together towards a common goal. They all agreed that  the goal was to drive traffic to the website and thereby generate leads for the business. How that  happened was what needed definition. “It’s like when you’re designing a room,” I told them.  Immediately they started to look interested.

First, I drew a little coffee table in the middle of the page. The table was the website. I then added a  sofa facing the coffee table and called that Facebook (FB) and a chair and called that Instagram (IG).  After this I added a big oval mirror and called that their social media advertising (SMA). I explained  the difference between organic social where people are visiting by choice (as followers) and are in  the room, either sitting on the Facebook sofa or the Instagram chair; and social media advertising,  where people hadn’t entered the room (signed up as followers), but could see the room reflected in  the mirror and that they also represented potential clients. I then added a big window and drew  some faces looking through the window. I called this their Google Ads and told them that these were  people who were searching for a room that they would like to be in, and would enter by choice. By  this stage there was a lot of nodding of agreement among the team members. Then the client  jumped in and said, “You need a carpet!” And she took my pen and drew a line under all the  elements in the picture. “That pulls the room together.”

I agreed and said, “The carpet is your messaging, which gives one consistent voice across all the  elements, holding the entire communication plan together.” They all nodded. By now they were  quite animated and enthusiastic.

Finally I drew a little tray on the coffee table in the middle of the room and added a teapot and cup  and told them that what we wanted was for the people who sat on the sofa and the chair, or looked  in from the mirror or the window, to feel so at home in this space, that they would reach out and  pour themselves a cup of tea. And that moment of taking tea is when they submit a quote request  on the website or pick up the phone and call the number on the contact page. Those were the  qualified leads we were looking for.

Insight

This visualisation exercise made the concept tangible for the client and her team. It proved  successful in two ways: firstly, the client jumped in and started to participate. She didn’t get all the  way there and call it the messaging herself, but I facilitated this and gave the carpet a purpose as the  message in the digital room. Secondly, once the room was completed and the idea became concrete,  the team started to open up about their business, describing various elements that they hadn’t  mentioned prior to this exercise; such as how they see themselves in relation to their competition,  or aspects of their business they’d like to expand on. The visualisation tool didn’t just help them  understand a concept, it facilitated the generation of ideas. These ideas and insights are now proving  very useful in creating content and crafting the messaging as I roll out the digital strategy. They  haven’t yet led to any great lightbulb-moment innovation so far, but importantly these responses  from the team and their input have helped to steer the language and tone of the communications,  both on social media and search advertising. The accounts are gathering good traction and the  client’s phone is starting to ring. Tea is being served!

The insight that I gained from using the visualization tool is that the tool needs to be relevant and  meaningful to the audience for it to be truly useful in describing the “what is” in the Design Thinking  process. The picture I drew resonated with my client and her team, which in turn inspired their  confidence in both the process as well as the concept. They then felt that they were in a safe space  in which to explore other ideas and expand on the concepts all the while providing me with valuable  ‘ethnographic data’ on their business.

Approach

Although I chose to use a visualisation tool, I could also have applied the same concept as a  storytelling tool. In a way I did, because the process of creating the room was also telling a story.  However, I think the pictorial aspect of the visualisation tool is what made it successful, and the  storytelling was more like ‘window dressing’.

One thing I could try doing differently next time, is to make it more of a team-decorating-the-room  exercise. To encourage more participation in the process of creating that picture to inspire even

more of a sense of ownership of the outcome that might generate even more ideas and lateral  thinking. However, while this client can clearly decorate a room, she and her team need my input to  make the analogy work and tie it all back to their digital communications.

For my own little marketing business, this has inspired me to turn this analogue, hand-drawn  visualization into a video showing the room being created, that I can use with other clients and in  new-business pitches, since decorating a room is something most of my kind of clients have some  familiarity with. This won’t resonate with every client, one of whom is a men’s fashion watch  retailer. Visualising a room would be less meaningful to him and I would need to adapt the way I use  the tool so that the visuals resonate with him and his business. In this case, I could recraft the  analogy in the visualisation tool to create, for example, a new trendy outfit or to build a watch.


The Challenge I run a small marketing consultancy and some of my clients are only just entering the digital marketing space . Some have websites , but they do n’t know anything about driving traffic and lead generation . I recently landed a new client who had a small interior - decorating business and wanted to grow her client base using digital and social marketing . She had a company website but had no social media channels and personally knows nothing about digital marketing – she ’s not even on Facebook ! She wanted a digital marketing strategy to drive new business , however the challenge was that she did n’t know what that was or how it would work . In this sort of scenario , with clients such as she , it ’s hard to manage expectations ; they expect that once their platforms are set up , from day one their phone will ring off the hook and new quote requests will flood in . In addition , her media budget was very small , so organic would play an important part in the rollout of this strategy . A segment in Angela Meyer ’s video showing a person standing up and talking about a concept , while the people in the meeting each understood it differently , perfectly illustrated the challenge with this client . I needed to get her and her whole team on the same page , to “ align ideas ” , as Meyer puts it so well . This illustration of Meyer ’s shows how tenuous the situation was , with me thinking one thing and each member on the client ’s team , having their own interpretation of my words . ( Images copyright Design Thinking for Innovation video on visualisation tools by Angela Meyer ) Selection It was clear that showing the client and her team content and ads that were being placed and the traffic , audience growth and engagement they were generating was pretty meaningless to them . They could n’t picture how all of these digital marketing elements came together and worked to generate new sales leads . Being highly creative people and designers in their own right , a visualisation tool seemed to be a good choice to make these ethereal digital activities tangible and concrete . I needed to take my clients beyond the language ; a visualization tool can remove the ambiguity of words , and the many meanings we can derive from them , providing instead a clear picture . We all needed to be on the same page , as Meyer ’s illustration shows . ( Images copyright Design Thinking for Innovation video on visualisation tools by Angela Meyer ) Application At our next meeting I gathered the client and her team and prefaced the meeting by saying that the different parts of my digital strategy all work together towards a common goal . They all agreed that the goal was to drive traffic to the website and thereby generate leads for the business . How that happened was what needed definition . “ It ’s like when you ’re designing a room , ” I told them . Immediately they started to look interested . First , I drew a little coffee table in the middle of the page . The table was the website . I then added a sofa facing the coffee table and called that Facebook ( FB ) and a chair and called that Instagram ( IG ) . After this I added a big oval mirror and called that their social media advertising ( SMA ) . I explained the difference between organic social where people are visiting by choice ( as followers ) and are in the room , either sitting on the Facebook sofa or the Instagram chair ; and social media advertising , where people had n’t entered the room ( signed up as followers ) , but could see the room reflected in the mirror and that they also represented potential clients . I then added a big window and drew some faces looking through the window . I called this their Google Ads and told them that these were people who were searching for a room that they would like to be in , and would enter by choice . By this stage there was a lot of nodding of agreement among the team members . Then the client jumped in and said , “ You need a carpet ! ” And she took my pen and drew a line under all the elements in the picture . “ That pulls the room together . ” I agreed and said , “ The carpet is your messaging , which gives one consistent voice across all the elements , holding the entire communication plan together . ” They all nodded . By now they were quite animated and enthusiastic . Finally I drew a little tray on the coffee table in the middle of the room and added a teapot and cup and told them that what we wanted was for the people who sat on the sofa and the chair , or looked in from the mirror or the window , to feel so at home in this space , that they would reach out and pour themselves a cup of tea . And that moment of taking tea is when they submit a quote request on the website or pick up the phone and call the number on the contact page . Those were the qualified leads we were looking for . Insight This visualisation exercise made the concept tangible for the client and her team . It proved successful in two ways : firstly , the client jumped in and started to participate . She did n’t get all the way there and call it the messaging herself , but I facilitated this and gave the carpet a purpose as the message in the digital room . Secondly , once the room was completed and the idea became concrete , the team started to open up about their business , describing various elements that they had n’t mentioned prior to this exercise ; such as how they see themselves in relation to their competition , or aspects of their business they ’d like to expand on . The visualisation tool did n’t just help them understand a concept , it facilitated the generation of ideas . These ideas and insights are now proving very useful in creating content and crafting the messaging as I roll out the digital strategy . They have n’t yet led to any great lightbulb - moment innovation so far , but importantly these responses from the team and their input have helped to steer the language and tone of the communications , both on social media and search advertising . The accounts are gathering good traction and the client ’s phone is starting to ring . Tea is being served ! The insight that I gained from using the visualization tool is that the tool needs to be relevant and meaningful to the audience for it to be truly useful in describing the “ what is ” in the Design Thinking process . The picture I drew resonated with my client and her team , which in turn inspired their confidence in both the process as well as the concept . They then felt that they were in a safe space in which to explore other ideas and expand on the concepts all the while providing me with valuable ‘ ethnographic data ’ on their business . Approach Although I chose to use a visualisation tool , I could also have applied the same concept as a storytelling tool . In a way I did , because the process of creating the room was also telling a story . However , I think the pictorial aspect of the visualisation tool is what made it successful , and the storytelling was more like ‘ window dressing ’ . One thing I could try doing differently next time , is to make it more of a team - decorating - the - room exercise . To encourage more participation in the process of creating that picture to inspire even more of a sense of ownership of the outcome that might generate even more ideas and lateral thinking . However , while this client can clearly decorate a room , she and her team need my input to make the analogy work and tie it all back to their digital communications . For my own little marketing business , this has inspired me to turn this analogue , hand - drawn visualization into a video showing the room being created , that I can use with other clients and in new - business pitches , since decorating a room is something most of my kind of clients have some familiarity with . This wo n’t resonate with every client , one of whom is a men ’s fashion watch retailer . Visualising a room would be less meaningful to him and I would need to adapt the way I use the tool so that the visuals resonate with him and his business . In this case , I could recraft the analogy in the visualisation tool to create , for example , a new trendy outfit or to build a watch .