Here is a question I get a lot - Is strategic planning just for big companies, with hundreds or thousands of employees?  If I have my own business, with just me, or maybe one or two others involved, do I really need a strategy?  What if I am just trying to put up a website to make a few bucks - do I really need a plan?

The only difference between you and the big guys is scale and scope.  They operate on a larger playing field and have a lot more resources at their disposal.  You have to be smarter and quicker (which is actually easier since you are smaller).

Any marketing attempt that is approached without a plan will yield very poor results, and the same is true for small business or internet marketing.  A good traditional marketing plan, however, normally brings about positive results, and this is also true of internet marketing.

Small business owners very often fall prey to the marketing idea (tactic) of the week because they have no overall strategy.  If you need to change anything about the way you view marketing - that would be it.

By strategy, I mean your marketing reason for being, and I don’t mean just to exchange money for time, or some simple product or service.  Far too many people think “selling lots of stuff to lots of people” is a strategy.  WRONG!  What do you want your market to know about you, what do you want them to believe, what do want them to feel, experience, think, when they consider what you are about - that’s what comes from strategy, and that’s what gets you on the fast lane to success.

Create a roadmap (a strategy) for your marketing of your business and then put every tactic into making that strategy real.

Some Examples:

  • Dominate a narrow market niche
  • Give legendary customer service
  • Create long-term relationships
  • Package your services like no one else and create a category
  • Become famous for doing one thing

These are examples of strategic business approaches that can inform every single tactical decision you make.  I guarantee you that if do this; find your strategy, marketing your business will become a whole lot easier.  The main goal of any business is to generate qualified traffic and make sales, period.  To generate traffic and sales, you need to create awareness, or “buzz”.  In order to do this successfully, you need a plan, you need strategy.

As always, I welcome your comments and conversation.