How are you, as a business owner, defining success… for YOURSELF?
Of course, the revenue, the unit sales, the audience expansion—all of that’s important. But, we know that other objectives might be part of the plan. For example...
- Do you want to sell your business?
- Make an acquisition?
- Retire (like, for *real* retire)?
- Expand the geo-footprint of your business now that everything is remote?
- Do you really just want to work LESS (and enjoy more of life)?
Your marketing investment may differ depending on your answer.
For example, if you're urgently looking for revenue because you want to keep your staff employed after a difficult year, your strategy and your marketing investment may be allocated to one particular place that is very different from...
...a situation where you might be in good financial shape and you're looking at a long term strategic shift that will take three years to achieve through longer-term initiatives.
You can see how this investment changes based on a leader's definition of success for herself.
Next… Defining the “Role” of Marketing
When defining the role of marketing, it’s necessary to be crystal clear about what job you actually want marketing to perform. It’s true… There are LOTS of different reasons why CEOs and other business leaders want to grow. But, the role of marketing needs to be attached to a very specific set of goals.
For example, is it to:
“It’s tough work, but it has to be done.”
- Generate collateral material for the sales team?
- Serve as a lead gen effort?
- Test the waters in a new geography?
- Position you as a leader in your sector?
- Or, just generate enough traffic so you can take proof of concept to an investor?
The bad news is: if we say “YES!” to all of this, there’s a chance you won’t be able to do any one thing well enough to see the results you need. It’s tough work, but it has to be done.
Where Do We Go from Here?
If your company needs a more defined marketing strategy for growth, here are some resources to help:
- See more videos on marketing strategy on our YouTube channel—and don’t forget to subscribe so you get the new ones in your inbox.
- Check out the Strategy Lab to help businesses break the vicious cycle of random acts of marketing through a proven three-step framework to help them maximize every marketing dollar they spend.
- Let some air out of your marketing strategy “balloon” by exploring a part-time CMO to guide your in-house or outsourced marketing teams. Make sure your tactics have a strategy to stand on. Let's talk specifics.
- If your team needs a strategy primer to finesse your current strategy roadmap, get in touch so we can set up time to discuss timing and cost so you're in good shape moving into 2022.
