Tough Markets

Most businesses I work with don’t have a strategy—at least not one written down and available as a document. I’ve never had a business say to me, “Bernard, as our newly appointed marketing consultant, we’d like you to familiarise yourself with our strategy—here, take a look.” And yet, on social media and business publications, “strategy” is the predominant topic the gurus talk about. You need a strategy! And by the way, make sure your strategy isn’t a plan…and not a vision. Make sure it is a real strategy! It’s such a stark contrast. Everyone talks about strategy, but hardly anyone has one. Small businesses don’t need a strategy Strategy is like the steering wheel of a car—it gives direction. The thing is, for many young businesses, the owner isn’t yet sitting behind the steering wheel but is still outside, pushing to gain momentum. Only once the car—their business—hits a slight downhill can they jump in and start steering. Only now do they need a strategy. A business with zero revenue

Interesting question, isn't it? Should a marketer be more successful at starting a business than a non-marketer? Why do so many marketers fail at doing their own thing? Just last month, I heard of a good marketer who couldn't make it as a marketing consultant - an "own business". What does that say about their skills? And about marketing in general? Is this a classic case of not being able to practice what you preach? Does it maybe expose how useless marketing is as a business function - when it can't even help an expert build their own business? Or could it point to an age-old suspicion that marketing does not impact sales, and sales is what ultimately drives business. Many marketers try and fail at business. Does this stain the field's reputation? Marketing isn't business A full-funnel, strategic, 4P marketer undoubtedly understands many parts of how a business works. They appreciate that there's a process involved in attracting, informing and conver

You don’t do marketing because you want to.  You do it because you want to grow.  Marketing is a grudge. The goal is to grow. Businesses postpone a serious investment in marketing until they can no longer grow or find that they have run out of options. It becomes a case of “What do we do now”? And the answer is, unfortunately, “marketing”.  But here’s the good news… I firmly believe marketing, more than any other business function, should make an impact.  Finance doesn’t make an impact—they just ensure you follow the rules. HR (or whatever it’s called these days) makes no impact. They simply keep the dam wall from bursting.  Sales don’t make an impact (I said that); they harvest what’s available—picking the low-hanging fruit.  Manufacturing just makes stuff. Fill orders. IT maintains your firewall and prevents you from experimenting with cloud solutions. There’s only one function that makes an impact or that can make a real one —marketing. Marketing must make an impact.  It must b

For your marketing to be effective, it requires both a target market and a target product (or service) - a single offering that gives you the highest chance of becoming part of the customer's life. Target market  - that one group of customers within the broader market where you have the greatest chance of success. Target product - that one offering amongst everything you sell that gives you the best chance of an initial sale. Once you've made the initial sale, you are in bed with the customer and the game changes. Achieving this initial sale requires focusing on who you want to sell to and  what you want to sell to them. Target market and target offering.  Do [you]...want [this]... I keep coming back to the 4P's of marketing: Product. Place. Price. Promotion. It is easy to get stuck on the promotion "P". Yet, the other, less obvious Ps have the bigger impact on driving business growth, starting with the product. Just think how McDonald's does it - th

You can replace the word "strategy" with "focus". Where are you going to focus? Understandably, entrepreneurial businesses prefer to refrain from concentrating their efforts because they aggressively explore every possible opportunity. Yet, they have the most to gain from targeting their limited resources instead of following a spray-and-pray approach. The Consequences of a Lack of Focus  The problem with not putting enough effort behind a single point is that many ideas remain sub-critical - they never receive enough support to either work or fail entirely. In our experience at Firejuice , doing more of one thing allows the business to get a clear sense of whether it works or doesn't. Unfortunately, in too many cases, a chronic lack of focus often leads to murky decision-making and companies that end up chasing their tails. Structured Opportunity Exploration Entrepreneurial businesses will always search for opportunities, but exploration should not be unrestrai

Strategy discussions typically start with a SWOT analysis, but what if one asked a far simpler question: What are the biggest problems we face?  Not challenges, weaknesses or threats - just straightforward problems.  Using plain language to formulate strategy is a passion of mine and is much more effective than business speak, as taught in MBA classes. Aside from the biggest problems, here are some other everyday language sentences with strategic usefulness: Who is our ideal customer? Why do they choose us? Who else do they compare us with? What does winning look like for us in the coming year? What are the two or three things we can do that will have the biggest impact on us winning? Crucially, strategy is a discussion - not an exercise, PowerPoint, or "process" - or even worse, a "consulting engagement". The best approach for owner-managed companies is to do so and start talking about where the business is today and where it wants to be going.  We've made the