Less marketing noise.More clarity, strategy, and action. Blog
What is strategy and why is it important in your business?
Building a comprehensive marketing strategy can do wonders for saving time, maximizing ROI, and achieving business goals. This strategy doesn’t need to be overwhelming, it just needs to be intentional – linking your goals with aligned actions.
Not everything will work. But the more you’re able to define your audience, clarify your desired outcomes, establish clear goals, and refine your messaging, the more confident you’ll become in your efforts and decisions.
How to address the biggest marketing challenges for small business owners
Most small businesses don’t have the time, money, or expertise they need to make decisions about marketing. So where does that leave you? While this analysis might sound bleak, there are ways to make marketing work for you, as long as you’re willing to prioritize strategy.
Let’s review some of the common marketing barriers small business owners are facing and look at potential solutions.
A few of my favourite productivity and creativity tools for small business owners
To build a successful business you need to focus on sustainability.
To support you in your pursuit to accomplish more in your business, without running yourself into the ground, I’ve compiled a few of my favourite productivity and creativity helpers.
I use these frequently in my business and with my clients for increased efficiency, and to help ensure I have a more manageable workload!
How learning chess reinforced my love of strategy and strategic marketing
Earlier this year, my son decided he was going to teach me how to play chess, and despite my initial disinterest, he not only managed to successfully persuade and teach me, but I even almost won a game against him...once!
As green as I am on the chess board, I have a deep appreciation for the time players spend learning various tactics, as well as the skilled practice of thinking through and playing out different scenarios. Thinking strategically in marketing and business is a lot like a chess game, which is why chess is so often used to visually convey strategy.
Let’s explore the parallels between chess and business and marketing.
There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ marketing plan
The spoiler alert you likely didn’t want: there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ when it comes to marketing. Unfortunately no one, not even the most successful business owners or brands, can simply hand over their marketing blueprint and promise you the same results they’ve seen.
Your business is unique. You are unique. What you do to grow your business should fit you, your business, the audience you want to attract, and the market you're in. (And no, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to do things you don’t want to do to achieve your goals.)
Small But Mighty Episode 19: Simone Givney on the importance of strategic partnerships and evaluating the long-term value of business opportunities
Simone Givney believes in life-long learning. Her businesses, Ingredior and Skill Fault, focus on business connections and partnerships, and knowledge and growth in business and in life. Through her work, Simone helps business owners raise their self-awareness through education and challenges them to think outside the box. In this episode, Simone and I chat about her fascinating journey into entrepreneurship, why she didn’t like the constraints of corporate life and shares how businesses can grow through connections and the right business opportunities.
Small But Might Episode 17: Nicole Colbeck on helping artists make space in their businesses for creativity
Nicole Colbeck’s decades-long journey in the music industry has led her from promotion to production and from planning to management. For over a decade, Nicole has used this experience in her business, Little Acorn Creative Coaching, to assist artists with their business strategy, individual projects and to help them find space in their businesses to breathe and let their creativity flow.
Strategy vs. plan: What’s the difference, and why does it matter?
I talk about the importance of planning a lot. But strategy and planning aren’t the same, and it’s essential to understand the difference. I haven’t talked nearly enough about the strategy that guides planning. Because if you don’t have a strategic foundation in place, even the best plans may not generate the results you want.
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