STRATEGY (When the feelings gone and you cant go on)
What’s the plan?
Very few people really understand what a strategy really is and what it’s for and It’s a very murky and deep lake to swim in that is made all the more difficult by the millions of opinions out there, some weighty, some decidedly not, on what makes a good strategy for your business, and I’m talking about any business not just creative businesses….
I am very grateful to the wonderful Alex H Smith both for his regular newsletter The Hidden Path and his very readable take on his approach to Strategy “No Bullshit Strategy” which is full of things that as I read them make me nod my head, give a wry smile or two and at one point even say,
” By Jove he’s got it!” .
His specialism is in FMCG brands but there is plenty there of interest to us all and I can’t recommend it highly enough as a no nonsense and very useful read.
Like Alex I have always been a big fan of no-nonsense approaches to all things business, after all ‘there’s enough to deal with without complicating things further, right?
Understanding the Difference between Strategy and Plan
When it comes to strategy, I concur with Alex in that what when we talk about strategy, we are often talking about are our plan and a strategy isn’t a plan…it’s a reason to have a plan, a destination that you needto reach through action.
Your strategy should be the value you offer your customer/client that they can’t get anywhere else. Think about that for a moment as you sit in a hugely crowded market.
Finding Your Unique Value in a Crowded Market
If you’re reading this in Brighton , where I now make my home, you are part of a very creative community with more creative SME’s than in any other part of the country per capita. It might seem difficult to see how your value is fundamentally different from the other agencies who on the face of it offer the same service as you.
But hold on! You didn’t start your business to offer the same as everyone else, did you? You are different, aren’t you? Your skills don’t manifest in the same way as others do they? So how do you differ? How do you create space instead of competition?
It won’t be in the category you work in but there will be something in the way you manifest your offering that will make you different. You just need to recognise that and once you see it have the courage to step out into the light and offer it.
My Unique Value
May I offer myself as an example….what do I offer that sets me apart from other ‘coaches’….
The things you expect from someone like me are that I have worked extensively in the creative industries, have a track record of advising businesses about their businesses, that I have a large network who I can introduce you qnd that I know what you’re going through.
The great news is I can tick all those boxes but I’m guessing others can to?
Unlike others I am not a theory man, nothing wrong with strategic theory, it’s a really interesting field … I’ve read a lot of books on the subject, try to stay up to date with the latest theories and getinspiration from others experience. I can recommend them to you ( in fact I think I already have recommended one above:). So much knowledge for you to benefit from generally but only if you have time to spend on reading, retaining, and actioning it all and understanding that a strategic framework may work brilliantly for one business and be pointless for another!
What I do that sets me apart I think is that I combine all that knowledge with all my experience and my approach is one of knocking down walls, combining a creative business approach with a human centric one. I build relationships with my clients; we talk as equals in business, and I just bring to bear my successes, my failures, so many things that I’ve been lucky and unlucky to go through in a very varied career – so that you (and I) can evolve.
My website says it all….’Enjoy Running Your Business’…it’s a different
approach…I think!
Finding Your Own Unique Strategy
I say all that not to promote myself but to show some of the thinking that got me to this place talking to you about you. You should look to do the same and like me you should always be vigilant and ready to evolve further as the business evolves.
Let’s chat!
If you’d like to talk about strategy or if you lie, in a lost and lonely
part of town and you just can’t make it all alone ( I just can’t lose this bee gees
motif) or indeed anything else that comes to mind after reading this
waffle of mine why not book an intro meeting…no obligation or any of that
sales stuff, it might be fun and who knows might be the start of
something…We could even go and sing Bee Gees songs at Karaoke….too much?