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The Marketing Strategy – Yes, You Do Really Need One

Leave a Comment / Entrepreneur, Featured, Fun Stuff, Marketing, Must Read Blogs, Uncategorized / By Cindy Donaldson / September 6, 2018 / content marketing, costs, Customer Journey Mapping, editorial calendar, ideas, jenn donovan, red barn consulting, ROI, strategy

We get asked ALL THE TIME by prospective clients if they REALLY need a Marketing Strategy. After all, they only want to grow and promote Product/Service A so what do they need a comprehensive strategy for. Having a strategic plan for the next 12 months is just smart business and it doesn’t matter if you are a solopreneur or a Fortune 500 company – you need one.

Spontaneity has its pluses – last minute road trip to the beach, AWESOME – throwing spaghetti at the wall to figure out your marketing strategy for the next year – not so awesome. A marketing strategy takes time, research, and planning to be effective. It takes creative visions, thinking outside the box at times, understanding your ideal client(s) and validating all that good stuff with in data and research.

The strategy also sets the objectives and timeline – putting those goals on paper and being accountable. However, a marketing strategy is fluid and can change as new opportunities present themselves or new challenges come into play. A Strategy is NOT meant to sit on the shelf until it’s past its expiration date. Tasks need to be assigned, executed, and measured!

This one is a big one, so pay attention! A marketing strategy also defines who your target audience is going to be. If you don’t know who that is – WE HAVE A PROBLEM! You can’t market to everyone – it’s just not possible. Targeting your audience is the only way that your marketing strategy is going to make any sort of impact. You can’t market Skinny Jeans on Snap Chat to 65-year-old men and expect to see results, right? If your goals aren’t aligned with your target audience, then you can’t expect to move that revenue needle.

You don’t build a house without a budget, set of plans, timelines, etc. So, why would you build a business and its success without a solid plan? It just doesn’t make sense! There are a lot of moving parts and the strategy keeps you organized, on track, and knowing what to do next. When you organize your strategy, you’re ensuring that you won’t miss important opportunities to convert leads.

It’s not just the marketing person\’s job to make the strategy work. That’s right – it’s all hands on deck. If you want success, everyone must believe in the plan and work towards those goals. Sales, writers, designers, client facing staff – everyone needs to be on the same page and working that strategy.

A strategy also keeps your budget in check. Ever do a home remodel without a set budget – probably not. Same goes for the strategy. You estimate your costs and try to stick as close to them as possible to eliminate any surprises. This also goes for allocating resources too. You can make sure staff aren’t overworked while others are underworked.

At the end of the day, a marketing strategy will help you capitalize on your great ideas, stick to a budget, keep everyone accountable, and improve your ROI. Now let’s address the elephant in the room. A lot of people have no clue how much a strategy costs. It’s ok – be honest if you didn’t either.

Depending on your company size, the nature of your business, and what you are looking to accomplish in the next few years, you can expect to invest between $5,000 and $40,000. Now, those high-end ones usually include a business plan complete with a competitive analysis and a product gap analysis. If you are looking for just the basics like messaging, channels to market, ideal clients, and campaigns and initiatives to support your goals, that’s closer to the $5k price, and even lower for some smaller businesses.

Don’t look at the cost as an expense though. Because a good marketing strategy can earn you a significant return on investment. You never want to throw spaghetti at the wall and hope it sticks, you might as well just flush that money down the toilet.

Have questions about how a marketing strategy works, or want help putting one together – give us a call!

The Marketing Strategy – Yes, You Do Really Need One Read More »

Devil’s Advocate – Why You Need One

You might think that a Devil’s Advocate is a bad thing, but it’s one of the best things for your business. Let me explain.

Scenario: A new project or service is being developed and a core group of people are going to be working on it. Sometimes the idea is the brainchild of a boss or department head, and they hand pick their team to work on it. They don’t accept ideas from outsiders, and they are certain it’s going to be the next best thing since sliced bread.

Outcome: They spends time, energy, and even company money to implement the idea and NOTHING CHANGES, or THINGS CHANGE FOR THE WORSE. They get some horrible feedback from clients, etc. Then you start to hear the grumblings from employees saying they knew it was a bad idea or that it wouldn’t work, or they would have done it this way, etc.

When you have a small group of people working on one thing over a long period of time, they develop the same perspective on what is going into the project or what is being taken out. They are all dedicated and loyal to what they are working on, but when the time comes to launch it, they are expecting, whether they realize it or not, for everyone to feel exactly the same way.

Sound familiar? It happens everywhere, and it doesn’t matter if the reason is that the people are too like-minded, or that the boss or leader of the project just won’t listen to anyone, or if the employees are just “yes people” and don’t want to rock the boat or put any extra energy into thinking about the idea. Regardless of the reason, it can be crippling for your business.

The idea of a Devil’s Advocate might sound really negative, but it’s not, well, not if they have the right mentality. As long as they aren’t focusing on just the bad things (a Negative Nelly), and they can offer some alternate ideas instead (they come with solutions, not just pointing out the problems), and they spark others to think outside the box, then having a Devil’s Advocate on your team is a win-win.

Here’s the tricky part though, the big cheese needs to be willing to listen. We’ve had several clients over the year say that they need a change, they are open to new ideas, etc. BUT at the end of the day, they just didn’t listen. They would buck every new idea with why it wouldn’t work, they wouldn’t get their team excited about the new ideas, or they would agree to the idea but then 5 minutes later, they are off on their own path again creating chaos.

How do you know if a Devil’s Advocate (DA) is successfully doing their job? In all actuality, it should be subtle. There should NOT be huge disagreements, people stomping off getting angry, or a project being put on hold until people cool off. A DA just responds to ideas by asking more questions. They ask What If scenarios. They offer some suggestions on doing things different – would it have the same or better outcome. They spark others to think about the actual cause and effect. Their job is to get everyone thinking. If everyone agreed all the time with the first idea that came up, I’m pretty sure we’d still be in the Stone Ages.

It’s how Cindy and I work daily. She might be the one who still signs my paycheck, but if I just Yes’d her on every idea, piece of content, or strategy, I’d never be challenging her or myself. It’s not about being difficult or pushing back, it comes from a place of love and knowing that maybe if we dig a little deeper or consider a different angle, something GREAT will be born instead of something that’s just OK. Now, we make sure we are always moving forward, because progress should never stop, but taking time along the way to make sure we are still doing it the best way at the moment is crucial.

Do you have any great Devil’s Advocate stories, please share, I’d love to hear them? Comment below or send me an email at jenn@staging.redbarnconsultingllc.com.