Do you equate being strategic with selling out?
I don’t know about you, but this time of year my social media feed is bursting with a slew of planners to buy. There’s those with the pretty front cover and embossed font, there’s those that come with a digital version too and there’s those that purport to magically solve every problem you could ever imagine as well.
I’m all for planning, I really am. But I do find that when I work with many small business owners, and we dive into their plans - especially those related to business - there’s an abundance of tactics (or ideas for tactics) but little strategy.
The strategy has to come first. What are you trying to do and (and this is the most important to be clear on) why are you doing it?
I know we may all "know" this, but putting it into practice can be difficult. I've also heard some small biz owners claim that being "strategic" in business means you're selling out, being inauthentic or somehow gaming the system. I don't believe those statements are true. Being strategic is about making smarter decisions, reducing inefficiencies and having a clear roadmap. Who wouldn't want that?
As 2020 comes to a close, and you start mapping out your 2021 (as much as anyone can map it out #HeyCovid), you want to spend time getting clear on the overarching strategy for your next 12+ months and, only once that is clear, figuring out the tactics or initiatives that will help you achieve that.
Strategy and tactics are terms that are used so frequently, it’s easy to get confused as to what the difference is. It’s a little like systems and processes (you can hear the difference plus understand how to create yours in this recent podcast ep). To put it simply, I like to think of strategy as the “why” and tactics as the “how”. Or, another way, strategy as the “plan” and tactics as the “action”.
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If you’re like many small biz owners you’re reading this and thinking, “That’s all good Fiona, but I just want to make money in 2021 and have more time with my family; I don’t have a specific strategy”. You do. Every business can map out their strategy by completing a basic framework.
Think of it as three boxes stacked on top of one another.
1. First, at the top, are the goals
2. Next, in the middle, is the strategy
3. Last, at the bottom, is the tactics
For example, let’s say you have a goal to “make more money”. Your three-stacked box may look like:
1. Goal > move from making $300K for Calendar Year (CY) 2020 to making $500K CY 2021 so that I can hire another staff member and take more time off. (You always want your goals to be: From X at date to Y by date, so that (outcome / result).)
2. Strategy > increase average transaction value (ATV) of online and in-store customers
3. Tactics >
1. Incorporate low priced add-ons on product detail pages
2. Incorporate free shipping over $X
3. Quality visual merchandising in-store for bundles
4. Add bundles online
5. Introduce limited edition range (highest price point) and promote to top 100 buyers first with main promo 48 hours later
6. Incorporate VIP shopping event once a quarter
7. Automate SKU-specific (ie related products) email sequences for post purchase segment
As you can see, the strategy is not “add bundles”. That is a tactic of the larger longer-term strategy to “increase ATV”.
So, which strategic goals will you be trying to achieve in 2021?
How might you break these down into the three-box framework and make your 2021 strategy and tactics that much clearer for you and for those you work with?
Remember, clarity = confidence = conversion.