If your business is stagnating, then chances are you’re swimming around in a sea of sameness.
Sorry to be blunt and straight to the point. I see many small to medium sized businesses that have lost focus.
They are looking at digital technologies and new media solutions as silver bullets, when in reality, they’ve actually forgotten their purpose.
WIIFM?
I have been working with three such companies recently, and after initial knowledge sharing sessions, they were all unclear as to why their target consumers truly should be interested in their business (products, services and brands). And therefore, they had forgotten what set their business apart from competitors from a consumer centric perspective.
Honest values
It was time to help them get back to their personal values, which in turn would flow into their business values.
When building a strategic plan I get managers and leaders to talk openly about why they built their business, and what it means to them personally. I get them to choose 3 – 4 values which will underpin their day to day actions. Not fluffy generic terms, but rich and emotionally engaging values that must show up throughout all their business activities on a day to day basis.
Do you have a clear mission and vision?
I then clarify what their Mission is and what their Vision of success looks like.
For me a Mission is what’s wrong with the market (or world) and what this particular business is doing to fix it.
And the Vision is what it looks like when they’ve finished their mission.
To use a hiking analogy, the Mission is to get to the top of a mountain. Strategies are how to get there. And the Vision is what it looks like over the other side once you’ve reached the top.
Do you have a business personality?
Then I work through a brand archetype exercise to define the business personality.
I like ending with 2 archetypes that can play off each other and bring two sides to a business’ personality.
Archetypes modified from The Hero and the Outlaw by Margaret Mark and Carol S. Pearson.
For example, a Hero archetype for a business that is service oriented and dedicated to offering a unique service to leave their indelible thumbprint on the world in solving their clients’ problems. Offset by a Caregiver archetype that brings a dimension of integrity and sustainable support, rather than a quick win focus.
Who is your target audience?
It’s critical to understand who your real target audience is. And to do so I facilitate exercises to identify insights as to how they view the category and then how they view the particular business’ brands, products, &/or services. Plus we work through who the enemy is.
By drilling deeper you will unearth some rich insights as to who or what the enemy is, and what your business is actually offering to solve it all from a consumer’s point of view, rather than your business or product feature point of view.
Your consumer centric business story on a page
Once complete you can ladder the story from:
- what’s broken
- to real proof points
- to how you can fix it
- to values that will underpin how you intend to go about fixing it
- to archetypes which define the style and personality
- to benefit statements which bring the dimensions together and ultimately ladder to a consumer centric proposition which delivers on your mission to achieve your vision – all on a page.
This not only gives you clarity but also a springboard to develop marketing & channel strategies within a unique territory for your business.
Is it time to get on the front foot and act now?
Interested to get out of the sea of sameness and into an ocean of opportunity?
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