When starting a business the only thing you can think of is….$$$. How will you pay bills? Hire employees? Feed your dog?

Fast forward and you are now a relatively stable company (I mean are small businesses ever really stable?) and you are struggling with clients, you’re exhausted all the time, management of employees is clearly not your strong suit…and you’re wondering how this phase of your business could possibly be harder then when you were broke?

I’ll tell you why. As your business grows, your mindset needs to change. How you run your business needs to evolve and that means some serious non-negotiables.

1. Stop competing on price. At some point you have to stop taking on every Joe Blow that walks through your door with a wad of cash (ok…it depends on how much cash is in the wad). Ask yourself what makes a good client and who can you helo? Break it out by industry, services you want to provide and what your price model is. Concentrate on making your company stand-out through exemplary results, great client relationships and a phenomenal culture.
2. You cannot please everyone. This goes back to the price piece, if someone doesn’t see your value, then don’t work with them. No business should have to spend time constantly convincing a client they are worth the cost of the service. Although, if this is the majority of your clients, then you need to spend sometime thinking on why that is. If you see your value, so will your clients.
3. You are not a friend. Running a business, means hiring the right people. Employees are not your friends, sure you can go out and have a drink or chat about personal lives (to a certain extent), but you are their boss. Do not cross that boundary, it will only spell trouble for your entire business.
4. Spend time on the business. So often we are working in the business, we don’t step back to and strategize ON the business. Pick up the book Traction, once you read it, have your leadership team read it, then tell me what you think.
5. Stop with all the late nights. Regardless of what you think, you cannot work all the time. Stop pretending like you can or you do, because we all know you sleep. You’ve heard of the “busy disease;” I like to call it the small business owner competition…and the funny thing is we think we are competing against each other but really it is all in our head. I am always comparing myself to other owners and how they run their business, which leads to me inevitably finding something wrong with myself…just stop! Do what is right for you and the business.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the business habits you had to break to take your company to the next level. The growth stage is one of the hardest to guide your business through.

Strategies are hard.

Where the hell do you even start? Whether you are the one responsible for creating a marketing plan or you are working with an agency, you need to understand the components.

The following outline is what I start with when crafting a strategy and then I customize based on the client, industry and overall goals. This will give you a starting point, and you can then add and subtract from there.

Marketing Plan Overview:
This is just a paragraph or two of what is included in the plan. What are the components and sections that are outlined in the strategy.

Goals & Objectives:
It is imperative that you map out measurable goals, break it out into internal and external goals. Below are some examples:

• Increase leads through website by 10 a month.
• Map out internal processes to streamline the customer service experience.

You will also want to outline how you plan to measure each of these goals. Obviously with the website lead generation, it will be how many forms are filled out, calls made, traffic on page, etc. For the internal processes, you can set a timeline of when each section will be completed.

SWOT Analysis:
SWOT Analysis is a tool for examining the current status of a company in a particular marketplace. This is not expected to be timeliness, but to give a snapshot of the company and the market forces at this point in time.

Competitor Analysis:
This may seem redundant year after year, but it is important to revisit ever year. Look at what your major competitors are doing well or not so well in the marketing realm, so look at their website, social media, search rank, blogging, email marketing and more. Learn from what they are doing well and avoid what they are not doing well.

Research:
This section will vary based on your industry. However, if you have done surveys or client interviews in the past, that is a great starting point. You can also indicate in the strategy that surveys are going to be implemented as part of the strategy. By gathering as much intel as you can on your current and past customers, you can effectively plan out tools and tactics within the plan. This section is also where you map out buyer/audience personals. Below is an example, if the client was a home builder or realty company:

• Millennial Couple with Young Kinds, a Dog
  • Clear pricing is important for this group so they can manage budget, although they are often willing to stretch.
  • Space is important for kids to be close and have places to play, desire to entertain family and friends is also important.
  • They research every buying decision online before moving forward. This is often done on a tablet or mobile phone.
  • They are avid watchers of HGTV, especially Fixer Upper as they can relate to Chip and Joanna Gaines.

Messaging:
Clear and consistent messaging is a must for all brands. By maintaining consistence across all communication mediums, you ensure that everyone is receiving the right message. In this section outline your brand attributes, positioning statement, elevator speech, tagline, tone and voice and sample language.

Tactics:
This is the section where you map out how you are going to achieve the goals you mapped out early on in the strategy. Depending on what the research, competitor analysis and other sections reveal this can include, but is not limited to:

• Community engagement
• Digital – SEO/SEM
• Email marketing
• Social media
• Video
• Advertising
• Public relations
• Blogging

The next section is implementation. I recommend breaking this out first quarterly, then monthly, then weekly and finally daily. Be sure everyone on your team knows what they are responsible for and revisit the strategy often in bi-weekly meetings to adjust as needed.

At the end of every year, people lose their minds and make a bunch of resolutions they are never going to keep. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results – it’s time for a different approach.

What if we all learned from the prior year, took note of what was great, what wasn’t and what was a gigantic waste of time? Before you move fully into 2018, reflect on what was great about 2017. It is human nature to dwell on the negative, so we have to force ourselves to find/remember the positive.

If you don’t follow Tim Ferriss, do yourself a favor and do it now. Ferriss suggests doing the following in place of making resolutions.

1. Map out 2017’s pros and cons. For example, a pro for me was my trip to Ireland and a con was losing two of my dogs (sorry to be a bummer). If you take stock in what was great in the past year and what sucked, you will have a much clearer picture of what needs to change in 2018. And no, the answer isn’t less dogs…it is more dogs (obviously).
2. Go through your calendar week by week and take note of the people and activities that had a positive impact on you and the ones that didn’t. Who and what made you feel great? One of my biggest supporters is Sue Tellier of JetCo Solutions, whenever I need a swift kick in the ass, she is the one I call or text. I know for 2018 to be truly great, I need to make more time to connect with Sue and the other powerful women in my life. Something I want to cut back on is eating out, I did that a lot in 2017 and it was impossible to stay on a healthy diet.
3. Now that you have the positive and negatives mapped out by week, schedule out time with the activities and people that make your life better. Rid yourself of the B.S. and fill that time with the great stuff. Is it morning meditation versus a breakfast meeting? Is it hosting friends for dinner at your house versus going out? Whatever it is, get it on the calendar now. The longer you wait, the less likely you’ll stick to it.

Screw the resolutions, you won’t keep them anyways. Try this approach and let me know your thoughts.

Every January I sit down and write up our growth strategy for the coming year – it keeps us on track with milestones and goals to reach. I take a few hours, pour myself a glass of cabernet and get to work. Everything is more fun with wine.

There are a ton of books, blogs and articles out there that outline the proper steps to develop a strategy, vision statement, mission, etc. You can quickly become overwhelmed and feel like everyone else is much better prepared and organized than you. Do you need to set goals and determine how you measure success? Obviously – but here is the best part. YOU get to determine how you want to write it up and communicate it to your team.

If you spend all your time writing, you won’t be doing and you definitely won’t have any time for wine. Not to mention, you will be more confused then when you started.

There is no need for a long drawn out strategy that no one will read and is so full of buzzwords (cause it follows the template you downloaded off the internet) that you are more confused after you wrote it than before you started.

Here is what works for 834:

• Elevator pitch: Has this changed? Is everyone on the same page? I update as needed.
• SWOT: Yes this is an oldie, but looking at the business and identifying our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats is a great way to start thinking strategically for the coming year.
• Goals: What the hell do we want to accomplish in 2016? For me this is super detailed – such as 1) Revenue 2) Money in the bank 3) Salaries. Then I map out what will the results be if we hit these goals – bonuses? A staff retreat?
• Metrics: Along with goals, I map out how we measure success. Is it client retention? Conversion rate?
• Target Customers: This can change from year to year for us, so it is important that I redefine each year to ensure our messaging and communication stays on point.
• Industry Snapshot: How is the industry doing? I look at the geographic region and where our clients currently are. Should we expand?
• Competitor Analysis: Who are our major competitors? Have they changed in the last year? What are they doing well that we aren’t?
• Marketing Plan: How will we communicate our value and continue to dominate in the field of integrated communications? This includes – blogging, contributing to publications, networking, etc.
• Financial Projections: What is our monthly budget?  Gross revenue goals? How do we determine project success?
• Org Chart: Do I see us needing any additional staff members? Have jobs changed at all? Sometimes laying this out in a chart helps you identify where any holes might be.

This is what works for me, there may be a better format for you – there is no right or wrong.

After I write the strategy, which is 2 or 3 pages at the most, I discuss with the team. I ask for their input, thoughts and goals for the next year. If you don’t have buy-in from everyone then it will be impossible to meet goals.

Take my advice – be brief, to the point and make it simple! Now go reward yourself with a glass of wine or 3.