5 Steps to Hone & Own? your POV

I've had several services firms reach out to me over the past few weeks for ideas on how to grow their go-to-market and increase demand. The thing I tell every single one is that it's critical to Hone & Own?. What I mean by this is find the thing that you know best AND that is of interest to your target customer—and then build your unique point of view on it. Here are 5 simplified steps of my Hone & Own? method.

1. Identify your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP): HubSpot calls this the perfect customer account for what your organization solves for. You should write down very specific details of your ideal account: company size, revenue, industry, location; essentially all of the characteristics that would make a company a great fit for your solutions. ICP should not be confused with personas. Personas are a level down from ICP and represent the individuals at the company involved in the buying journey. Generally a CRO, CEO, or Head of Growth is on point for defining ICP.
2. Company Mission: Most established companies have an articulated mission. Why does the company exist? What challenge(s) do you solve that help your customers? 贝恩公司 has a good explanation here of the differences between company Purpose, Mission, and Vision. If your company does not have a reason for existing, that's a big red flag.
3. Find your Subject Matter Expert (SME): If you have a Company Mission and an ICP, your company better have at least one SME. This SME should be versed up and down in the needs of your ICP. They should know the challenges your ICP faces that make your company's solution(s) vital.
4. "Hone"—Become BFF with your SME: In simple terms, your SME knows your ICP. This is critical for you, as a marketer. Your job as a marketer is to pull the thinking out of the SME; the thoughts about the challenges of your ICP (both current and future) and what the unique (possibly controversial / disruptive) ideas are to solve these challenges. The catch is that the solve cannot be "buy my solution / product." It has to be elevated to prove you can help your ICP and isn't a sales pitch. After enough conversation with your SME(s), you can find your way to a unique POV that is aligned to your ICP. A successful example of this is something that I worked on during my time at Bluewolf (an early Salesforce consulting firm). At the time, our ICP was by-and-large organizationally set up to be product-led. Companies prioritized initiatives and allotted budgets based on R&D-led plans. Bluewolf established a POV on companies focusing on their customers, their experiences, and how these should lead strategy for business growth.

5. "Own"—Shout from the Rooftops: After you find the POV pot of gold, it's the Marketers job to make the message crisp. The next step is the multi-channel distribution of this POV (or thought leadership platform, as it can be called). Owning a POV needs a content, PR, speaking, etc. plan to ultimately create your company's ownership of the POV. Multi-channel distribution is critical to achieving the go-to-market growth and increased demand goals. When your message becomes associated with you and people / press seek your company as an authority on a topic, you've nailed it. Some examples of this include Watson / AI tied to IBM and Customer 360 tied to Salesforce.

Besides becoming a market voice with authority to widen brand awareness and drive demand, Hone & Own? is useful to find focus. Many services firms think they need to be everything to everybody, which makes them a master of none. Hone & Own? lets your company find its niche and dig its heels in. This doesn't mean that your company can't service other verticals etc., it just means that you have a clear domain of expertise and it makes your go-to-market efforts more effective.

Always interested in your thoughts and I enjoy healthy discourse, so please share your ideas in the comments. And, if you found this enlightening, share, share, share.

Until we meet again,

Saleema

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