From Strategy to Execution

Do you receive 100% execution from your strategy? If you do, you deserve a long and heartfelt round of applause! That’s because the grand majority of CEOs report that they haven’t a clue of how to truly measure if their strategy is working. The advertising giant Leo Burnett once said, “Good advertising does not just circulate information. It penetrates the public mind with desires and beliefs.”

What makes a strategy effective is if its content is engaging and relevant to its intended audience. The ability to connect a strategy to content is the key to driving successful executions of your desired goals. The best executions are built upon inspiring strategies that cause people to take notice and action.

If you can design an effective strategy that is measurable, you are on your way to building a continuous results-driven program that includes applying marketing expertise and proven methodologies that turn your strategies into winning marketing programs. Whether you are in the process of an ongoing program or just starting a new one, you need to add a full complement of support services to help ensure success. Examples include the following:

• Product marketing
• Demand-generation activities
• Marketing communications geared to specific market niches with relevant marketing messages

If you are fortunate to be running a decades-old company, you will probably have a “real-world” perspective and experience in building alliances and channels. If not, you probably need to begin to explore these different ways to expand and drive your marketing program, as they are often the catalysts you need to take your company to its next level of growth. There are several aspects of these channels you will want to ensure:

• On-demand services need to operate with extreme agility for customers to continue to use them
• Internal workflows can make or break any organization regardless of its size
• Senior leadership needs to drive the programs and be responsible for breaking up any bottle-necks, even if they are causing the problem
• Select trustworthy partners that operate with high integrity

If your team does not have the expertise to implement a full program of this kind then hire an independent firm that can teach your team how to do this within a specified period of time. Depending on the size of your team and complexity of your programming, this could represent one to multiple months but will be well worth the investment in your company’s future.

_______________________________________________________________________
Tom Marin President of MarketCues, a national consulting firm wants to hear from you! Follow MarketCues on Twitter for strategy and related tips. Tom also welcomes emails, new Linkedin connections, calls to (919) 908-6145 or learn more at: www.marketcues.com.

Note: If you are a printing executive or vendor serving the printing industry who would like to be considered for a feature in this blog, please complete the contact information here: www.marketcues.com/contact/.