If you’re looking to increase sales and gain an advantage over your competitors then you’ll need to have marketing strategy. But, how can you present your awesome idea to the entire
Instead of the typical boardroom presentation, why not give one of the following three techniques a shot?
1. Make it a Game
Allen Graves suggests on Content Marketing Institute that you present your marketing strategy to your team by making a game. This idea was based on the concepts found in Epic Content Marketing by Joe Pulizzi and consists of four teams of four to five people. It’s recommended the teams be constructed of individuals who don’t normally work together. After reading a section of Epic Content Marketing for five weeks, the teams were given instructions and sent off to create their own content marketing strategies for a product.
The teams used the following 10-steps to create their strategies:
- Step 1: Decide on a single product to market.
- Step 2: Research and document general audiences, buyer personas, pain points, motivators, etc.
- Step 3: Define goals of the content – leads, sales, exposure, list building, etc.
- Step 4: Detail the buying process (how/when does the target buy) and engagement cycles (top, middle, or bottom of funnel).
- Step 5: Define the content niche.
- Step 6: Develop a content mission statement.
- Step 7: Create a comprehensive content marketing plan based on channel, persona, pain points, goal, content type, structure, tone, channel integration, and desired interaction.
- Step 8: Build a content calendar to include at least 12 pieces of content. For each tatione, identify topic, type, persona, pain point, goal, call to action, next/previous steps, and anything else you deem appropriate.
- Step 9: Develop a strategy to market each piece of content. Options could include social media, link building, video, offline, etc.
- Step 10: Define key performance indicators and how goals will be measured.
The teams must then create a PowerPoint presentation that answers the 10-steps listed above.
2. Implement an Internal Communications Plan
Kris Prendergast defines internal communication on SteamFeed as “the strategic process of gaining employee support for your external branding efforts and marketing campaigns.” The best place to start in implementing an internal communications plan is by defining the brand pillars or core values of your business. These would be the words or phrases you want to represent your brand - such as Passion, Experience, Quality, Organic.
Prendergast adds that your internal communications plan should be more than words and phrases. It also means your “marketing communications team will need to work with senior management and department heads to establish internal channels (if they don’t already exist) and coordinate events."
You can accomplish this by doing the following within your organization:
- Internal newsletter or blog
- Internal social network
- Sales Conference and Marketing Conferences
- Team Building/Training events
- Digital/Interactive capabilities
3. Hold a Strategy Planning Day
John Jantsch recommends on Duct Tape Marketing that you schedule a strategy planning day. To plan this you should move to an off-site location since this “will free people to be creative and detach from their normal roles.” You could also bringing in a facilitator who knows your business to keep the session moving. From there you want to “add the following A-F heading words to a deck of blank pages” so that you and your team can brainstorm.
Examples of this would be:
- Objectives
- Results
- Constraints
- Goals
- Projects
- Tactics
After this you’ll “take your goals, projects, and tactics and align them on one page each in support of the proper topline objective. Assign each objective an owner and charge that person with assembling the team, resources, and plan for tackling the objective’s associated projects.”
Developing a marketing strategy doesn't need to - and shouldn't - be a boring task. Instead, use creative means to involve your entire team and bring out everyone's creative side.
