Clear strategies – precursor to success

All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved. (Sun Tzu -Chinese General 500 BC)

The right strategy makes any tactic work better. The right strategy puts less pressure on executing your tactics perfectly.

Much has been written about this topic, the importance of it, the success stories, the guidelines – all of it well documented. The reality is that- very few companies, large or small, have a clear strategy in place which everybody can understand and follow intuitively. A good strategy is not a 300 page document that gathers dust in the corner, as a matter of fact the most successful strategies can be communicated in less than one page. Before we do anything else we help you to develop a strategy that is clear and concise. To develop your strategy we start by finding answers to a few crucial questions-….

1. What is it that you do, your compelling offer, your “Perfect Pitch”?

Daniel Priestly talks about a “Perfect Pitch” as the first in a five point formula to become a Key Person of Influence. See our Best of the Web series for more details.

The perfect pitch is much more than an ‘elevator speech’, it describes your product or service to your micro niche in a way that resonates like a perfectly tuned musical instrument.

Many successful corporations can trace their success back to a compelling offer (Perfect Pitch). For example, Fed-ex experienced enormous traction with their tagline “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight” or Dominoes with their offer of “30 minutes or less… or it’s free” .

2. Who, Where, How?

Who are you trying to reach? Who, specifically, do you want to sell to? How can they be reached?

A good strategist needs to understand the profile of its target market; their age range, gender, education level, whether they prefer to search on Google or socialise on Facebook. This crucial information will influence the design of the website and determine which communication channels to use for broadcasting your messages.

3. Positioning – features, benefits and implications.

If you were selling vacuum cleaners, the features would be the specifications like a ’2000 Watt electric motor’, while the benefits would be ‘improved suction’ with the implication being that your clients kids would suffer less from hay-fever.

Whether you offer a specific product or a unique service, it is important to position your offering in a way that makes sense to your prospective customers.

Features, benefits and implications should be combined to motivate your prospective client to act, on both a logical and emotional level.

4. Conversion

Individual marketing pieces should be considered only one part of a larger system that will lead your prospects to the point of becoming customers. We help you create a plan where all the pieces fit together to help your customer transition from prospect to paying customer.

One of the most important things to remember about an online strategy is that it is a continuous process.