By: Tina Walczak & Cam Schreiner
Strategy is something that is so valuable before starting with any client, but it can be a bit of a mystery. If you feel overwhelmed by the thought of Strategy, you are definitely not alone. Creating a process and a framework that you use with every client is important.We use a framework developed by Master Chris Do and Jose Caballer. We have used it, and made it our own by implementing new items as we see fit. Strategy is never a one size fits all, every client is different, unique, and requires their own special attention. The more you practice strategy, the easier and more fluid it becomes.
I first off want to say, I was trained as a graphic designer, with no business knowledge, or understanding of strategy. This has been a painful process for me, and I’ve been lucky enough to have amazing mentors who are patient with me, who love to teach and inspire change.
If you can learn this process now, you will not only improve your efficiency as a creative, but also, you’ll be able to excel rapidly in your career. We went from $150,000 – to over 2 million in a little over 3 years. And this process has been a huge driver to why and how we’ve been able to grow.
Purpose of Strategy and Strategic Planning
The purpose of strategy is to find out what customers want and need.
Your mission for strategy is to get your client to realize that their brand, their marketing, their content has nothing to do with them, and has everything to do with their clients. Before you do anything, your client needs to understand that just because they like unicorns and rainbows doesn’t mean their customers will too. It’s important to stay away from creating what we want, and make this about what they want.
What is Strategy?
Ok, now what? What’s involved.
Let’s say your client commits to doing strategy. At that point, they will come in and you will have 6 hours to complete it. Here are the list of items we would walk through with our client:
- Objectives
- Customer Profiles
- Brand Audit
- SWOT Analysis
- Revenue and Awareness
- Journey Mapping
- Market Research
- Next Steps
Say you just stepped into an elevator with someone who knows nothing about strategy. How would you quickly explain each of these sections to someone new to this strategy?
Take about 45 min for each step. You will need to take a break during this session, so give some things less time and make sure you stay on schedule.
After we finish with each of these items, the document is revised and then sent over to the client for review. The Assigned project manager now takes the document, look through it, and focus on the page titled “Awareness”.
Kelowna Marketing Agency: Business Strategy
What they want to know is what we are planning to execute for the client. The PM will then create a marketing calendar for the coming year with a detailed list of each thing we will execute for the client.
Once the client has approved the calendar, the team will begin its execution. Each month the client will get a detailed report (created by us at hiilite) outlining their web traffic metrics, along with tasks completed by the team during that period.
Now, this is a very high level, and you might be thinking… Holy fuck, where do I even begin? Start by learning the CORE document.
If you join the Futur community, there are many resources and teachings that will explain a lot of this with more clarity. Or, you can let us know right now where you are stuck and we can revisit.
Wondering how you can afford to join the Futur Pro Group? Just imagine if you were to cut out your $5 or $6 coffee for a month. By the end of the month, you’d save enough to get into the Futur Pro Group.
Remember, we have been working on this for about 3 years, we are not perfect, so don’t be hard on yourself.
This is just a foundation to help you collect the information needed to be intentional with the work you do for your clients. The more you know, the better you can help.
