From January 2019 I am excited to offer a starter strategy package to all new clients.
Called Strategy First, my process for creating a marketing strategy is guaranteed pain free! It involves you completing a questionnaire to help me get under the skin of your business, covering your vision, your goals, your products and services, pricing and your customers – who they are, where they come from and how you communicate with them.
I will then spend some time with you thinking about the strengths and weaknesses of your business, what your future plans are and what the opportunities are in your market. I’ll take all that information and turn it into a workable strategy document – not one that sits on the shelf and gathers dust, but something we can both refer back to regularly. It will include recommendations about marketing tactics and a 6 month action plan for your business.
But if you run a business, you’ve probably been working quite happily without a marketing strategy. So why do we go through this process? Why do we need a strategy first?
First of all, we need to think of your business as a car, with your vision as the destination. Simply, your strategy is the roadmap that helps us get there. It will set your business in the right direction for success and it means that everyone in the business and any consultants working with you know that direction.
The Marketing Strategy should always be grounded in the reality of your business, what is appropriate for your sector, customers and budgets. The questionnaire will help me understand how your business works, what your products are and what you are planning for the future, and ensures that any recommendations are there to make the most of those plans.
A strategy will help you make best use of your (probably limited) time and budget. Should you spend money on an expensive advert, or spend time attending a networking event? Your strategy will guide those decisions.
The strategy will detail your core messages by product or service. Spending time upfront planning your key business messages means you will be able to clearly articulate the features and benefits of your product. This leads to consistency throughout all your customer communication and means your customers know exactly what you offer and what you stand for.
Your marketing strategy is also a document that gets you planning for the future, rather than fire fighting. It will help us plan activities in advance, meaning we can execute them really well. It doesn’t have to be perfect and it will change, but having a document which guides your decisions can only benefit your business.
The Strategy First package will also be a great first step if you want to take any of my Marketing Manager packages, helping us decide which tactics we need to focus on in the time.
So if you are ready to take your business to new places in 2019, get in touch!
