Our Method
After working with a significant number of entrepreneurs running small businesses, we discovered the same core issues were coming up time and time again
To solve this, we developed a pragmatic easy to implement methodology, which focuses attention on the key elements and the optimal implementation order
Self Discovery
Without truly understanding your strengths, weaknesses, value proposition & ideal client, your appeal to the market will at best be diluted
An honest review of the businesses current state can be a little confronting, but a very powerful place to start. We typically do a deep dive, but depth depends on the businesses maturity level and issues. At a minimum we recommend unpacking the client value proposition, how it’s currently promoted, defining a granular view of your ideal client, structured review of marketing assets, workflow & success bottlenecks, current goals targets & tracking
Investigate your market
Truly understanding your market through well grounded research of your direct/indirect competitors (what’s working & not working for them) & the power of a niche can unlock insights propelling you ahead of your competition
We have found a surprising number of businesses only have a superficial understanding of this, which significantly diminishes their ability to rapidly adopt effective strategies to both grow and defend. A deep competitive landscape analysis, complete with actionable insights is a central component of this element, together with a GAP analysis across the landscape and how it maps to the current state strengths and weaknesses identified in the previous Self Discovery step.
Messaging Alignment
Without messaging and content that cuts through the market noise, which resonates with your target clients, providing them with substantial value, your chance of being noticed are minimal
This is where the impact of doing the last two steps can really amplify the business impact. Messaging alignment typically includes content creation frameworks, channel conversion rate optimisation, in page search engine optimisation, marketing channel selection, campaign design & targeting.
Processes & Systems
Deploying systems & processes to do the heavy lifting, utilising cost effective technology to automat operational tasks, frees up your time to focus on the strategically important things you never seemed to have time for
Not a sexy area unless you are a tech nerd or business operations geek, but this is where marketing integrates with the rest of the business. Done well the only visible elements of this will be great responsive value delivery through technology and delivery processes. Key elements delivering this typically include optimised websites, marketing and business automation, effectively configured social media platforms, efficient internal workflows, marketing funnels, systems management, disaster recovery & business continuity, security & compliance.
Listen & Understand
Lack of effective metric tracking decreases opportunities to optimise & increases risk of missing emerging issues before they become serious problems
Validating and where necessary selecting new key leading as well as trailing business metrics to facilitate effective visibility of the current and projected future health of the business, is central to this step. It’s not just good business sense but achieves the significant goal of providing entrepreneurs with peace of mind and where issues exist, ability to respond to emerging issues before becoming significant problems. Other aspects include creation of dashboards, reporting & alerting (ideally automated) and correlation of data to provide big picture visibility to support business decisions.
Enhance & Optimise
Building a continuous review and optimise process into the business allows you to both rapidly address weak areas and also maximise the available benefits from opportunities
Baking this transparently into the daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual rhythm within the business, not only allows the fine tuning of initiatives, but allows businesses to pivot their business model when needed to outmanoeuvre less agile businesses. This step applies equally to campaigns, tactical initiatives and strategic objectives, all of which need their performance tracked within governance structures, put in place to hold all, including the business owner to account.