Align your Marketing Strategy and Business Goals—Introduction
Authenticity in marketing may sound like an oxymoron, but given the sophistication of today’s buyer and the overwhelming number of choices they have, as well as channels to voice both praise and complaints—it may be the only way to survive. But to be authentic, the business as a whole and how that business is presented and promoted must be properly aligned.
Unfortunately, that’s not often the case. Convoluted or confused business strategy (assuming one exists at all) may lead to mixed signals between business units, unclear priorities, lack of direction and purpose—and understandably, communication problems both internally (management and employees) and to the public (your customers).
According to Larry Myler writing for Forbes:
- 65% of organizations have an agreed-upon strategy (35% don’t)
- 4% of employees understand the organization’s strategy (86% don’t)
- Less than 10% of all organizations successfully execute the strategy
Over 90% fail to execute their own strategy. That’s an astonishing figure, but if that sounds familiar, at least take comfort that you’re in good company.
In an ideal world, clear strategy creates vision and purpose. It helps everyone act in unison, keeping in mind the goals and mission of the firm. Aligning that vision with marketing and sales helps ensure those valuable resources are laser focused—and it creates a culture where what the company says and what it does are the same.
“Okay, sound great. How do I get there from here?”
There are a lot of tools, techniques and processes out, many of which are fantastic—but some that are confusing or overly complicated. So we thought it might be helpful to share some of the high-level thoughts and tools we’ve used to align our business goals and marketing efforts in this ten-part series, the first of which is....
Starting with WHY
Simon Sinek suggests, people don’t buy *what* you do, they buy *why* you do it. Communicating the why, not just the what, where and how, helps people feel that they’re buying into a set of values. Those values are what an authentic brand is built upon and are what your marketing and sales efforts can rally behind.
This video is short, simple—and potentially life/business altering. It makes so much sense but few companies actually put WHY first.
When we put WHY first, everything changed. We already had a great culture, but asking and answering WHY codified what we already knew: what motivated us was other people’s success. The WHAT (digital marketing) and HOW (various methods/processes/platform) simply supported the WHY (helping our clients). With WHY answered, we were free to modify the WHAT and the HOW, which made us more nimble, flexible and adaptable.
So start with WHY. It’s profound and transformational.
Thanks and be well,
~Your Friendly Animus Rex Team
SMART Goals will be next in the Align Your Marketing Strategy and Business Goals Series:
Start with WHY | SMART Goals | Buyer Personas | Performance Metrics | Tactics | Tracking | Analyze & Repeat | Selling Alignment Internally | Determine the Value of an Initiative | Selling Alignment Internally Conclusion
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Animus Rex builds world-class websites and provides no-nonsense, well-considered advice like this to all our clients. Want to know more, or have a question? Please Contact us. We're happy to help.