In doing research for the relaunch of my site, I did a bunch of research into what CEO’s and their executive team thought about their strategy and discovered that they often see strategy three ways: at a corporate level, at a brand level, and at a marketing level.
The challenge that most organizations are dealing with now is that they don’t have a good grasp on their corporate strategy because what most organizations call strategy is a wish list of tactics or meaningless fluff.
Too many organizations don’t understand their brand and what a brand strategy can do for them. I put this at the feet of guys that are talking about their “why” or “crushing it” when the reality of your brand is that it is a reflection of all of the interactions your business has with your market, good and bad, over time. The good stuff adds up slowly and the bad stuff tears you down quickly.
Finally, at a marketing level, we have seen businesses get consumed by tactics. So that marketing strategy has been whittled down to the point of being mostly about communications, leaving money on the table, and most marketers feeling unfulfilled or downright disgruntled with their roles.
I’m going to begin to explore these ideas more regularly here again with an eye on helping executives create and execute their strategies more effectively.
Because your strategy should drive profitability and growth, or it isn’t really a good strategy.