How To Refine Your Next Marketing Strategy To Sustainable Levels

Hi, it's been a while since I last posted an insightful piece. "What have I been up to?" You may ask. So within the last couple of months, I decided to double my efforts in my career. Took up a number of courses in project management, Data collection, M&E, and Developing an integrated strategic plan. All these while working on several other projects pertaining to managing clients' brands.

I'm glad that while I was sharpening my tools of trade as a PR and Communication professional, you never stopped showing me the utmost love and support. We have new subscribers now!

I'm glad to announce that initially, I was a self-proclaimed brand strategist (talk of a typical "acting like who you want to be" girl) and now I've actually attained my global certification as a strategic manager, with a practicing license of three years!

Alright. That's what I have been up to. How about you? I hope all your diligent work has been reciprocated accordingly.

Moving on to what I have for you today.

This is something that I have been thinking about for quite some time now. Thought I should share it with you.

In all action as a business owner, there is usually an underlying goal that you aspire to attain. Right from this edition, let it always remain clear. By having a clear objective when starting a campaign or restructuring things a bit, you actually save yourself alot of unnecessary scuffles with your team members and those around you.

On top of that, you can easily know when you are supposed to put in more effort and when you should stop and pivot.

It is called setting smart goals in your practice.

I like setting big goals for myself and my team. By that, we are always working on developing the best strategy to score. And the journey towards that is always one filled with lessons of resilience, the power of teamwork, the benefits of having a clear-headed visionary leader, and mandatory self-improvement.

So, I will highlight a few steps that I have found are really crucial when rallying up support and partnerships for your business/brand/cause/company.

1. Have your intended audience in mind- You worry about engagements because you assume everyone is your audience. Change that perception. If you cannot define the kind of people you want to serve, how then can you serve them? We have your key target audience and your secondary audience. When you are targeting expectant mothers with a message (a good number come on board) and in the process, single ladies join your campaign, that's a bonus for you, unlike targeting both groups and getting none. See how primary and secondary targeting works?
2. Have your objectives written down. Sometimes we work so hard to get something only to misuse it out of not having a clear direction of what comes next. Sometimes it could be that we never expected that our sweat and blood could actually get us luck. So you work so hard only to self-sabotage or overthink your way to letting fear cripple you from making the next move. For every action you take, there has to be a "to.../ ...so that.." statement afterward that is as clear as the goal itself.
3. Expect Obstacles- Not to sound like a broken record here but we need to be cognizant of the fact that we are not living in an ideal world. And that sometimes success can be delayed. Map out realistic and point blunt challenges that you can foresee in your journey to achieving your goals. Sadly, most leaders would prefer massaging their egos and thereby overlook personal attributes that can infact derail the team's progress. In setting goals as I had written in one of our previous editions, you want to avoid planning with attributes/resources that are currently not at hand.
4. Write down your unique and key promises/benefits- You can only do so much as a leader or an organization or a brand. What is more detrimental than Promising an experience that you cannot deliver once you have your goal attained? Sometimes it is not the lack of a huge following that is your challenge, it is your inability to genuinely serve that small community so well, that they can't help but become partners with your brand. Yet you imagine there's a better feeling that comes with having a crowd. I wish more successful entrepreneurs would emphasize the aspect of repetition and little improvements over resilience.
5. Have your "why" imprinted in every fabric of your words and deeds. When your reason to doing something is not that strong, chances are you're quickly going to abandon that ship sooner rather than later. Anger could be your driving factor but it can only go so far. Let your "Why" withstand both happy/energetic moments and gloomy/dark seasons. That is how you build trust. Trust in yourself and your community.
6. Mind your tone- How you show up daily says alot about how much you care for your audience(John C Maxwell). Because we know that success is all about repeating the right actions over and over again, let you not get tired of doing the small mundane tasks that you'd easily qualify as tasks that are beneath your standards. If they seem too trivial, pay someone else to do it the way you've been doing it and allow your mind to focus on other areas. Isn't that growth?
7. Seek out opportunities- Just because you set out your 1-year plan on a sheet of paper with adequate knowledge and advice, that doesn't stop you from allowing the right people/opportunities along the way to give you a push forward. Having an open mind is a gift. Any support towards achieving your goal should not be perceived as a detour. In the journey of life we meet people and visit places that are meant to elevate our minds or derail us completely from our goals. You just have to remain grounded in your goals and objectives. I emphasize this.
8. Create room for consideration- Unless you want to remain stuck in the old way of running things, keep your eyes peeled. Listen. Remain teachable. Take reasonable breaks. Innovate. Embrace diversity and inclusion.

I hope this edition helps you refine your next strategy. Remember to subscribe and share this piece with your connections.

Best Wishes.