Why you shouldn’t create a marketing strategy

A world-class marketing strategy creates very little value. The value is created when you implement that strategy #outsourcedCMO

Strategic plans are a waste of time, and money. Consultants and executives all over the world, work tirelessly with CEO’s and boards, to create a strategic direction for the company to follow. Depending on the scope, that project can include an offsite or two, many hours of meetings and discussions, and an email trail, which when printed, could kill a small forest. The process itself is very interesting:

• The consultant / team get to learn about the company, and who’s doing what.
• The CEO / Board are also learning about their own management team, and sometimes other team members.
• There are a lot of debates (sometimes heated), about the direction the company should take.

At the end of the day  (in most cases), this turns out to be a complete waste of time and resources. Why?

Because a document cannot do anything. People can. And if you don’t have the right people / budget / resources, or you aren’t willing to commit those, this entire exercise will be nicely stored in the drawer.

In the past 7-8 years, I’ve worked with countless companies, and helped create countless well-designed, useless documents. Most of them have been complete failures. But I’m not standing here, taking the blame for those failures. There was nothing wrong with the Audit, Research, Benchmarking, Objectives, Budgeting, Resource Planning, Prioritisation or any other ingredient of my strategic plans. I’m pointing the finger (yes, I’m pointing at you!!) at the people who read the final document and said:

“Oh, we didn’t realise it would: cost that much / require those skills / require those additional people”.

Building a strategic plan, whether it’s for the whole company, or a Marketing Strategy, IT strategy, HR Strategy or any other, may require a significant investment to implement. Actually – a really good, forward thinking strategy, is likely to shake up the business. If you’re unwilling, scared or just too comfortable to make significant changes, please don’t waste everyone’s time, and so much money. All it does is kill trees, and frustrates consultants and executives.

At the end of the day, who wouldn’t want to come back a year or two after the strategy project is finished, and be proud of what they’ve done? The real success of the strategy project, lies with the implementation, not the type of folder the document is covered with.

In the past few years, I’ve been frustrated too many times, seeing my strategies gathering dust in the proverbial drawers. A couple of years ago, I was lucky to have a real breakthrough: I’ve completed a strategy project, and at the end of it the client humbly said: “Raz, that’s a nice document! We don’t know how, or have the people who can bring this document to life. Now come and implement!” He didn’t have to say another word. I was too excited to argue (if you know me, you know this is a BIG thing for me!).

A couple of years later, I’m looking back into that organisation, and too be very honest with you: I’m proud! I can see the strategic direction I helped pave is now being followed, there’s already a positive impact on the company, their brand, and their client’s perception of them. I can be proud of my input, and the executives can be proud of their joint achievements.

That was one of those rare success stories, which sparked the idea of the Outsourced CMO. Too many good strategies went the drawer,  I just had to come up with a solution. I worked on so many strategic plans, and had so many people approaching me for the wrong reasons, I realised it’s no coincidence. Marketing seem to be an enigma to many business owners, both small and large:

So if you find yourself in one of the following situations, please (!) don’t rush to create a marketing strategy:

1. Times are tough – we need to do something NOW to increase sales. This is not the time for a marketing strategy. Marketing strategy takes time, effort and resources, and isn’t likely to generate quick wins.
2. We’re launching a new product and want to get the word out there. Don’t confuse a marketing strategy with an advertising campaign. If you don’t have the expertise in house, there are a lot of capable agencies who can execute a good campaign.
3. We’ve got “digitally disrupted” by competition we didn’t realise we have. I’m sorry to tell you – you might be a little late for a marketing strategy. A “business pivot” may be required here.
4. Everyone is talking about social media. We need to get on Facebook! Social media is a small part of your marketing strategy. If you don’t have a marketing strategy, Facebook certainly won’t help you.

Before you ask for help with creating a marketing strategy, make sure you have the following:

1. Vision – Were do you see the company going? How far can you see?
2. Budget – Not just for hiring a consultant, but for ongoing implementation.
3. Resources – You need skilled people for execution. Every team will have graphic skills, copywriting, digital & web, PR, content creation, project management, etc.
4. Management – Someone have to manage that implementation, be responsible for managing the budget and those resources. They don’t do well managing themselves!

Strategy on it’s own isn’t the answer. In many cases it’s only the question. The answer will be found in the implementation. Good luck!