Tough conversations about your strategic foundation

When building or renovating a home, it’s easy to jump to the finishings: paint colors, tub style, flooring.  The bigger decisions like foundations or electrical often get a lot less attention but are more important to the overall outcome.  It’s often t the same in marketing I often see people focused on minute details of an ad or the shades of color on a logo when they have not considered the bigger questions about how to use them.

Last week, I had a conversation with a brilliant businessperson who was in his first week of taking over a new company.  He had thought through his approach to connecting with the current employees and had done an in-depth review of their financial situation.  When we met, he told me about all the work he’d done to rehabilitate failing companies – a stellar resume.  Then we got into the marketing….

This sharp executive mentioned the dismal state of the company’s website, the logo, the truck decals, the brochures and even the web URL.  Agreed – those elements are not great but what about sales?  The marketing budget?  What about the strategic marketing plan?

Like those homeowners, he was trying to make decisions on the finishing details before thinking through important things like the marketing strategy.  I advised him to focus on the foundation.  When I hear that clients are more concerned with a logo or font color than they are about whether their company is making money or has a sustainable competitive advantage, I feel like they’re spending a lot of mental energy on things that don’t matter.  They’re choosing a fancy bathtub that is going to end up in the basement when the framing isn’t strong enough to hold it on the second floor.  They’re picking out granite countertops when the cabinets they chose aren’t going to be able to bear the weight.  It’s the foundation that we build on that determines the strength of the building.  In business, the plan based on solid strategy is easier to execute and yields better results.

I asked the new executive about his vision for the company.  What about the financial expectations of the organization’s shareholders?  I asked about his thoughts on their ideal customers.  This strategic information matters.  The strategy is the foundation on which all other marketing decisions are made – the company name, logo colors, website design, product formulation, service standards, pricing policies and on it goes.

A strategic marketing plan is not fun to create – it forces us to ask difficult questions and come up with answers that may not please everyone.  A strategic plan is the foundation on which everything else is built.  When we jump straight to easy, fun work, we could overlook important details that should factor into our decision.  At home, we might choose an expensive bathtub that can’t be connected to the existing plumbing.  In business, we might choose a logo, a social media manager, an expensive trade show that won’t get our business where it needs to go.

By the end of our conversation, the company leader mentioned that maybe he’d consult me on a new company name then said under his breath, “Focus on the foundation.”  I know my next conversation with that executive will be a strategic one.