Make Strategy the Driver, not the Unused Map Under the Seat

Did you make a New Year's resolution? Okay - enough on personal embetterment (to borrow a phrase coined by the recent ex-pres). What does your company need to change? If no change is needed, you and your generals must already rule the universe, I suggest you focus on Meditation.

Assuming self actualization is less important (at this moment) than business success, read on... The following is technique proven to yield successful execution of business strategy.

Let's assume you've developed a great strategy (no small feat - its what you're doing and why). Let's further assume your employees then didn't accomplish their respective responsibilities, thus resulting in failed strategic execution. Sounds typical. And frustrating. Not to mention expensive and unacceptable due to lost opportunity.

1- State Your Mission

Mission is a loosely-used term. Don't confuse this with your "Mission Statement" (typically a lengthy, un-utilized collection of words). Instead, define a mission (or intent) for your employees to accomplish that will make YOU (assuming you are the business owner/CEO) happy. As an example, perhaps 20% sales growth would be exciting.

2 -Re-State Your Mission

Context is critical. Think of this step as an executive-level exercise in remembering why your company exists (hint: customers). You may need to refine your Mission upon further consideration of the context. If the identified mission is important, it has to be in sync with the company's ultimate purpose. Another way of putting it, is this, "Our customers will accept a 20% price increase because we offer world class service" (see how the company's ultimate purpose dictates all missions). CAUTION - Missions should flow upward and support higher level objectives, as opposed to shaping higher level objectives. That's not to say top level missions can't change but it should be done with intention.

3 - Define Performance Metrics

How will your employees know they've been successful? Their input is important here. If they understand their mission (i.e. what they will do) and why its important (how it will support the executive level mission) the organization is aligned for success.

4 - Define Tactics

Convert your strategy (executive level plan) into tactics (employee level plan). Specific responsibilities are parceled out. Failure to accomplish the broad strategy will be directly traceable to unattained performance metrics, which in turn will point to ineffective tactics of those front line employees (who are highly engaged with critical operations or customers).

5 - Set limits and boundaries and debrief

Your employees will set their own boundaries if you don't ("Gee, I think I will start leaving work at 5 as long as I get here by 7"); employees may set loose or restrictive boundaries on themselves with the worst case being that said boundaries are not focused on accomplishment of their missions. By setting initial boundaries and occasionally holding a debrief session to gain better business insight, your strategy has a dynamic element, which seeks to take advantage of new information gained and develop best practices. Boundaries may need to be redefined to allow a different level of flexibility. Debriefing is concerned as much with maintaining high psychological health of the employee as it is an opportunity for information gathering.


Conclusion

The technique described above was utilized in Caesar's military operations; the general form of this technique is so timeless its utilized today to maintain the largest operation on the face of the earth - the US Military (not to mention virtually all corporations with an element of strategic sophistication). Although, this technique is highly effective for execution of strategic initiatives, the top level executive must be ultimately responsible for the strategy and ensuring that the employees feel empowered to engage the customer and impact the business.

Conquest!

Now, I want you to conquer new business (since you already understand Situation Analysis and Strategy, Conquest is a matter of connecting the dots and perhaps hiring a savvy internet marketing consultant like Sanna Lee to pull it all together). What will you need before unleashing the power?

The Group: Pull together individuals from your employees and collaborators, with the following three traits:

1. People with an ear for stories and trends that resonate and are relevant to the business.
2. People with "people skills" who are unafraid to motivate cooperation and inspiration from others.
3. People who can think/move/respond fast.

The Promise: Does Social Media Marketing really have promise?

If you are a responsible business manager you probably recognize that businesses are managed by humans and humans love to be fooled. And parted from their money. To answer the question... Yes - SMM offers amazing potential for results at minimal cost. First, from a cost standpoint, marketing via the web is cheap, because resources you already have access to are pulled into play. In a cruel twist of fate, Social Media Marketing has yielded success to a stodgy cornerstone of the US Economy; namely, Fortune 500 companies, who first properly embraced and leveraged the newfound power of the net. How can this be? They have the cash. They can throw cash at the problem until its done right. SMM costs a fraction of a large corporate budget; conversely, many businesses that could benefit from SMM don't even have a marketing budget. The majority of businesses attempting to employ SMM are wasting time and money on empty promises from hucksters.

Interested in harnessing the power of SMM for your business? Here's the four part breakdown...

1) Pricing - For years, individuals in your company have secretly envisioned a pricing nirvana where customers are charged more when they are willing to pay more. Practically speaking, you can see the risk in offending your prized customer: "Hey Mel, I see you in here everyday, you love us, I will now charge you double for your cupcake". Powerfully, Social Media allows this. Think Groupon. Or for your business, what if "socially" connected customers (probably newly discovered via the web) get a special discount. Your regulars pay the regular full price. SMM allows varied simultaneous price points, which is palatable because NOBODY KNOWS. If they did know, they would connect with you. Don't confuse this with a "loyalty program", here we are offering different prices to prospect customers we select.

2) Product/Service - Your product/service may be your crown jewel. Hopefully, your customers feel that way too. Speed is critical. Act quickly. Monitor feedback, consider modifications or simply begin the conversation to explain what the customer is missing (making them happier). Don't forget to integrate SMM with traditional functions (e.g. customer service and product development), as they will have valuable input and ability to determine implementation options.

3) Place/Distribution Channel - In the old days the purchasing manager had a rolodex containing names of salesman (and vice versa). Also, important was shelf space, for retail buyers. Today, many of your customers check in daily with the most influential aspects of their lives, usually friends, associates or selected content providers. Whatever these influential entities have to say about your brand will influence the purchase decision. Powerful info is relayed with minimal investment on the behalf of the sender. By the time a purchaser drives to the physical location or picks up the phone, they already know what to buy. How many gamers had to visit the retail store to determine the purchase of "Call of Duty"? Marketing to them at the point of physical contact, is a day late and a dollar short. The rise of FedEx is an indicator that mentally connecting with your customer is key, while physical delivery of items is fast becoming a commoditized element of the value chain - to be outsourced.

4) Promotion - First off, let's discount the typical mentions that don't actually work that well, such as SEO and email marketing. Why? Because they are outdated, reminescent of the era known as outbound marketing. Today, consumers select the information source. To advertise to them you are asking for their time. In exchange they will require compensation (e.g. entertainment, valuable info, etc). What can you give your prospect in exchange for permission to market your wares? Find timely stories (internal or external) that will resonate with the market. See how Nike harnessed the Lebron story.

Don't be overwhelmed. Hire a consultant to make your internet strategy happen. Just do it. Or perhaps you want to learn more. I suggest following @sanna_lee.

Marketing Strategy! More Exciting than Situation Analysis

Strategy. The term evokes great inspiration, perhaps due to it's military origin. Alas, Julius Caesar you are not, but you do have a business to run. Skip the MBA and the ancient world philosophy. Instead, lets break it down and get your focus group thinking in productive terms (last week was Situation Analysis).

Segmentation: A Fortune 500 Marketing Director said that during interviews for marketing analysts, the interviewee gets 10 minutes to mention segmentation - its that important. Segments, which your business and your competitors are concerned with, are groups of customers who will respond to identical marketing efforts in a common fashion (e.g. laptop owners who check their personal email regularly). If customers within the segment don't respond in a similar fashion, let me clue you, this is a poorly defined segment. Back to the drawing board.

Targeting: Your business can't please everybody. Those segments, which are your sweet spot, mean everything, ditch the rest. Here is an example. If your business offers Quality and there is a segment that only cares about Price, ditch 'em. You should get a sinking feeling from segments demonstrating elastic demand. No marketing expert can help you with those price-sensitive folks! You are an extractor, in the no man's land of operational efficiency and price wars! I pity you! Sorry about that, I get a little emotional around commoditized services.

Positioning: "You are the one I've been looking for all my life"! Okay, that's dramatic; hopefully, you see the analogy: Your company's brand occupies a place in the hearts and minds of the customers (if it's strong) who comprise your targeted segment. Your company's brand compels a purchase decision (if it's positive, "BP" = "oil spill" to most people, not exactly warm and fuzzy).

As Julius said: "People worry more about what they can't see (understand), than what they can". So, understand your business marketing strategy.

Next week is about Strategy Execution. I must leave you with a Julius quote that happens to coincide with this blog's 3 part series: "I came, I saw, I conquered. Veni Vidi Vici."

Part 3 - Conquest!

Modern-Era Must Knows About Service Businesses

Marketing your business, requires modern-era understanding of The Situation. Next comes the question: "How has The Situation changed"? Depending on your business, change could happen in 1 month. Then comes Strategy Development (my topic next week).

Competitors - In the old days, competing families would bring guns to church and then shoot each other after the singing. Huck Finn would appreciate today's business environment where (unlike the Grangerfords & Shepherdsons) this town IS big enough (or at least this planet) for both of us. You can learn powerful lessons from your competitors (despite your grumbling, they are in the same business). Don't like it, not one little bit? Follow their moves via the net. Social Media, email lists, networking, google search etc. Just like you, they have no option but to be transparent.

Company - The concept of and some people's reaction to outsourcing is outdated. Effective business models today, are built by defining the select functions that should be IN-Sourced, with all other functions outsourced, by default. Even the venerable (or shill for big business depending on your view) Forbes Article calls for discarding tax regs and laws leftover from a bygone era when manufacturing dominated the US economy. Businesses are increasingly being supported by easily contracted services. This can mean anything from hiring a whiz kid who knows the latest software to hiring fed ex to courier your packages. Find your Unique Value Proposition and stick to it.

Customers - Coinciding with the great consumer demand slump of 2009 came Web 2.0. The result is consumers with high standards; they do not accept overt solicitations. Rather, customers need to be informed by your business and receive something of value before even giving you the opportunity to explain the service offering. The days of drawn-out monologues, repetitive advertising, spamming, and even crafty SEO tactics, are gone. Your offered content must engage the consumer or its game over.

Climate - By now, its a bit anti-climatic for me to state "Internet" (which is the obvious one). Business are under a microscope. Amazon is being blasted for offering books geared to pedophiles. New laws are being created because of Google's data collection practices.
Wasting is unpopular, whether you are a consumer, a politician or a Wall St banker. Even vegan dieting has a growing foothold in American high society - Bill Clinton of all people has put down his cigar and picked up celery (or at least the latter).

Collaborate - Even before this became a corporate buzz word in 2010 it was part of classic situational analysis. Today, collaborating has truly come of age, in a time where technology and software can allow employees to work seamlessly from remote locations with other employees, sub-contractors, suppliers and business alliances.

Employ these concepts to better understand the particular business situation. Then comes strategy.