Believe it or not, there are those who think that people who talk about strategy are out of touch with their clients’ lives. They probably think that a strategy is created somewhere off in cloud cuckoo land. I disagree. You can use whatever word you like for it, but a strategy is basically a plan. You’ll probably have seen a meme that says something like “a goal is a dream with a deadline”. If you have a goal, you need a plan to make it happen. That’s all a strategy is. So the question is, does your strategy match your goals? If not, here’s how to make it happen.
What are your goals?
Goal setting can be a tricky beast. Even when you have an amazing vision of what your life could be with a successful business your own brain can start getting in the way. It doesn’t help that there are eleventy billion gurus out there chucking around terms like ‘6 or 7 figure businesses’ as if it’s commonplace. Some people have no problem visualising themselves there. Others feel that they’re somehow unworthy.
I struggle with the ‘6 figure’ talk because it isn’t specific enough. To me, achievable goals need to have meaning. I don’t want a mansion in the middle of nowhere because I’m part of a great community where I am. Plus, I like being able to walk the kids to school. I base my goals on what’s going to make life better for my family. If you need some help with this bit I’d highly recommend talking to a good coach. I’ve worked with an amazing coach who somehow took my vague waffle and helped me turn it into a plan.
Get specific
Once you’ve set some goals, it’s time to get down to the nitty gritty. If you want to earn £x per month to get the house you want or afford a holiday, what do you need to do? Do you need to sell a certain number of products or sign up new clients? What’s the easiest way to do that? If you have a high ticket item or service you might only need to sell one or two. Conversely if high ticket is hard to shift is there something smaller that you can sell more of?
You might decide that you’re going to focus on one product for a month or two then switch. If you’ve read my last blog you’ll know that focusing on one thing is great because it helps people to get to know you. Once you’ve worked that out you’re ready to plan your marketing strategy so that it aligns with your goals.
Find your focus
If you want to hit your goals you don’t just need to get specific with your business aims. You need to apply it to your marketing too. For example, say you’ve decided to focus on selling smaller items in January. People are feeling a bit skint after Christmas but want to cheer themselves up. Equally, lots of people are making New Year’s resolutions and are willing to spend money on the right help.
Work out what is going to appeal to them about the service you’re offering. Is it a fresh start or something inexpensive to make January bearable? When you’ve worked that out you can start planning your content. But that’s a subject for another blog.
Does your content strategy match your goals? If you need some help developing a strategy that you can implement yourself, click here to find out more about my content planning and strategy service.