How many times have you heard “Create a strategic marketing plan” and think to yourself, ”Check, got that”? Well, I ask you… Do you? Do you really? I’m only asking because in recent weeks while working with my clients to create a personal brand that resonates with their audience, I’m not seeing that as the case. Time and time again, clients are unable to clearly explain (if they even have an explanation at all) the purpose of the marketing they ARE doing. I get answers like, “well, I just want people to come to my event” or “I am trying to sell my service” or “Well, I need more people visiting my website”. While these are all great GOALS, there isn’t a strategy in either one.
A strategy is a plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major or overall aim. Wanting something really, really bad isn’t enough to guarantee your victory. A plan of action is needed. Michael Porter, a professor at the Institute of Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School, said: “A sound strategy starts with having the right goal”. My clients had goals, a good start, but not a strategy or plan of action to get there.
Another issue I’ve found (and I had this conversation with my husband) is the fact that people don’t seem to understand the difference between “A Strategy” and “Being Strategic”. Now that you know a GOAL isn’t a strategy, let me suggest to you,” being strategic” is more than just a plan…It’s putting you plan into action. Actively considering the best path to achieve the desired result FROM the plan…It’s actually allocating resources to pursue the strategy…
Now that we have the preliminaries out of the way, let’s get to the meat of this post. I want to leave you with, what I consider to be valuable tips…There are two tips we will cover (one this week and one in next Tuesday’s blog post).
They are:
- 3 STEPS TO STRATEGY CREATION &
- 3 STEPS TO BEING STRATEGIC
This week, let’s look at my
3 STEPS TO STRATEGY CREATION:
- Understand your circumstances – The whole reason you’re contemplating a strategy in the first place is because something needs to change. You either need to do something better, do something different, or stop doing something altogether. Before you create a strategy, doesn’t it stand to reason you should understand the need for change?
- Trim the Fat – I’ve found simple is best, get down to “brass tax”. When creating a strategy, think about the simplest way to achieve your goal, get the most bang for your marketing buck and then build out your plan as necessary. It’s much easier to see your path to success if you aren’t distracted by the unnecessary fluff. The value of creating your personal brand is understanding what works for you and what doesn’t, defining your brand identity, and having clarity when creating your strategies.
This brings me to my last step to strategy creation…
- Stay true to your brand identity – When you first begin to create strategies for your business, you may be attracted to the marketing strategy of someone you admire. This is a great way to identify tools and platforms, but you have to be careful to maintain YOUR authentic voice. Imitation may be the highest form of flattery, but it could also be what’s keeping you from seeing the ROI you’ve been longing for in your business. My advice is to get clear on your message and your value proposition. Doing so will help you craft a marketing strategy that attracts your ideal client and increase conversions.
So let me ask you, do you need to get clear on creating the right marketing strategies for your brand? Don’t continue to do the same thing expecting a different result. Stop the madness! Get clear on your brand identity and create an authentic brand message that makes planning your marketing campaigns easier. Find out more with a 30 Minute FREE Personal Branding Consultation. Book yours today!
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