Archive for Strategy
Strategic Marketing: The 6 Ps of Marketing
Posted by: | CommentsThe marketing mix, often referred to as the 4 Ps of Marketing, includes product, price place and promotion.
But let’s challenge that model.
I believe there are two more P’s of Marketing that are more important that the original 4…Purpose and Passion.
Why? Because product, price, place and promotion can be duplicated. The only real points of marketing differentiation are Purpose and Passion. Both visceral, intangible and powerful. And, they can not be duplicated.
- Purpose: Answers the question why…it gives meaning to and provides direction for every action. It is one of the first questions you must answer when setting strategic direction for your business. Little hint: When you ask why, your first answer will probably not be the best answer. So, keep brainstorming.
- Passion: This is where the juice is…it is intense, emotional excitement about your business. Passion provides focus and energy to stay on course even when you face challenges. Not sure where your passion lies? What do you do that makes you lose your sense of time? What do you think and talk about all the time?
You may be surprised by your purpose and passion. But I can assure that the easiest way to build a profitable business is to align your purpose and passion with your area of expertise. You will be unstoppable.
Now, before you go, comment and share, OK?
Amelia Brazell, Strategy Source, Inc.
Strategic Blueprinting: Three Questions You Must Answer
Posted by: | CommentsStrategically blueprinting your business requires you to answer three questions clearly and concisely:
- What business are you in? To answer this question, you must know what you are going to do and what you are going to sell.
- To whom are you going to sell? In answering this question, you must identify your ideal consumer and market niche. Be as specific as possible.
- How do you beat, avoid or crush the competition? Now, this one will get your juices flowing.
While these questions seem very simple, the first answer you come up with will rarely be the best answer.
It may take hours, days or even weeks to really answer these questions. And, as your business grows, you must ask these questions again and again to keep you business on track.
This exercise is the underpinning for your entire business blueprint process.
Strategic Blueprinting Tip: Do not try to do this process alone. Engage a team to brainstorm with you.
Now before you go, I invite you to subscribe to this blog through the RSS in the box on the right side of this screen.
Amelia Brazell, Strategy Source, Inc.
Strategic Blueprinting: The New Strategic Planning
Posted by: | Comments
Strategic blueprinting vs strategic planning.
Do your eyes glaze over when you hear strategic planning? Do you envision a 190 page document sitting on a shelf collecting dust?
This is the vision many people have of the strategic planning process.
However, we all need to plan – remember the saying “If you do no plan, you plan to fail,” – who said that? If you know, leave a comment below so I can give proper credit.
Meanwhile, strategy is simply setting direction. And, there is no reason for you to create a huge document just to say you did it. A better way to go is to create a strategic blueprint for your business that can be a short, visual document designed as a snapshot of how and where you want your business to grow. The more visual and concise, the better. A free tool you may want to download to use during your strategic blueprinting process is the brain.
Hey, strategic blueprinting is not just for business. It can be for a project, a program or anything else that you want to build, implement or accomplish.
Before you go, comment and share your thoughts about strategic blueprinting.
Amelia Brazell, Strategy Source, Inc.
Entrepreneurs: 3 Business Challenges You Must Address
Posted by: | CommentsWorking with entrepreneurial CEOs, I often hear them express common themes about why they started their businesses, as well as, the challenges they face as the business grows.
Conceiving, building and growing business are the reasons most entrepreneurs strike out on their own. They want financial freedom. They want control over their time. They want independence.
Some build enterprises that far exceed their expectations. However, it is at that point they begin to face some of the challenges they left behind in the corporate world.
The three challenges that surface most often are:
- Leadership challenges – in their industry as well as in their organization. Many entrepreneurs have not had the opportunity to learn leadership skills before building their companies. However, leadership is a required skill even if you are a one-person company. Or, I should say it is most important in a one-person company.
- Communication challenges – When an entrepreneurial organization grows beyond one or two people, communication challenges begin to surface between individuals, between departments and often with clients and vendors. These challenges must be addressed to prevent infighting and company-wide melt-down.
- Immersion challenges – Most entrepreneurs find they are working just to keep up. Being immersed in the business means there is very little time dedicated to working on the business.
Burn-out and overwhelm are the results of these challenges not being addressed and resolved.
When you find yourself in any of these situations, it is a good idea to get an outside, objective opinion. Then, realign parts of the business to function better and allocate time to work on the business from a strategic perspective. My company, Strategy Source, Inc., provides coaching and planning services for emerging and established entrepreneurs.
Leave a comment before you go.
Amelia Brazell, Strategy Source, Inc.
Domain Names Offer the First Line of Idea Protection
Posted by: | Comments
Domain names are on my radar today. I have 62 domains registered at Godaddy as of this writing. However, I have just a handful of websites.
Sound nuts to you?
Well, I do have a strategy for why I have and continue to buy and register domain names.
When I have an idea for a project, program or service that I might develop in the future, I register a domain. This is my way of protecting the idea until I know if or what I will develop using that domain. While domain names don’t offer the protection that trademarks do, it does cast my anchor into the internet world and it discourages others from developing products with the same name.
And, at less than $10 each, domain ownership is an economical layer of basic idea protection.
If I decide that I am not going to develop the idea behind a domain name that I own, I can release it or sell it. Once a month, I review my domain registrations and decide if I want to drop any that are ready to be renewed.
Domain buying tip: Last, I only buy .coms because the other .whatevers don’t seem to be memorable. And, branded marketing is about owning a part of the consumer’s mind-share with a memorable anchor.
Leave a comment and share with your friends.
Amelia Brazell, Strategy Source, Inc.
Marketing Road Maps are Good but Marketing Guides are Better
Posted by: | Comments
Get Your Marketing Road Map Here…Have you noticed how many marketers are hawking “road maps” for your business? You know the ones – they claim you will make a million dollars if you just do this…
Perhaps, you have bought one, two, or more of these road maps. If you are like me and many others, what you really need is an experienced guide for the journey. Someone who can strategically take you from advice to action.
Having had the opportunity to travel the globe for business and play, I appreciate the value of a road map. But I can tell you that any journey worth taking is a whole lot easier with a trained, experienced guide at your side.
Nowhere is that more important than for the entrepreneurial journey – especially, if you have not been trained to run a company. And, let me say right now, if you are in business to make a profit – even a tiny profit – you are running a company.
So what do smart, successful entrepreneurs do? They call in experts to guide them to greater success.
For the past few months, I have been working with a group of entrepreneurs who have had great financial success but who had reached a plateau in their multimillion dollar business. Realizing they did not know how to move the company forward, they brought my company in to guide them through a strategic planning process. By offering an objective, strategic perspective, we were able to reshape the company, developing strategic direction designed to generate greater net revenue and put the company on solid ground for the future.
Tip: If you find that you are not growing your business at the rate you want, perhaps, it is time to find an expert to guide you along the way. Hey, even if you have bought the “ultimate road map for business” it will be an easier journey if you have a guide to customize the road map for your specific business.
Before you go, share this post.
Amelia Brazell, Strategy Source, Inc.
Client Expectation Strategy: Understand the Good, Fast, Cheap Triangle
Posted by: | Comments
Client expectations and client deliverables must be in sync for a business to grow.
Now here is the rub: Most clients want the products and services they purchase to be good, they want to get them fast and they want to get them cheap. Well, I am here to tell you that is not what you should expect.
The ad agency industry taught me that there’s good, there’s fast, and there’s cheap. However, you can only have two of the three components at any one time. So you can get good and fast but it will be expensive. You can get good and cheap but it will take forever. Or, you can get fast, cheap and very bad.
Keep this in mind as you work with vendors as well as when you provide services to clients. Observing this simple principle eliminates a great deal of stress and avoids setting unrealistic client expectations.
To demonstrate this concept, you may want to use a triangle like the one in this post. When you are planning a project, circle the two elements that you must have to meet your desired results. You will have to accept the consequences of not having the third point. But at least, you will be in control of your expectations for the project.
Last, it is a good idea to explain this concept to new clients so that their expectations are realistic as you launch new projects.
Now, leave a comment before you go.
Amelia Brazell, Strategy Source, Inc.
