Let’s be honest: the past few years have been challenging for many businesses. The eye-opening ramifications of a worldwide pandemic followed by an international economic downturn that shows no clear signs of receding have made one thing clear. In order to succeed in the short- and long-term, companies must have a clear vision for the path ahead.
But more importantly, this vision must be actionable. If you are one of more than 100,000 U.S. companies running on the Entrepreneurial Operating System® (EOS®), you understand the value that comes from defining your goals (one-year plan), Rocks (90-day priorities and focus), and establishing accountability with your team. Thanks to the EOS process, you know your customers, can communicate your proven process, have established your 3 Uniques™, and have even developed a guarantee.
However, if your marketing Rocks are beginning to feel like a heavy burden instead of inspiration, here are a few things you can do to lighten your load and move ahead.
Convert your plan into action.
Spoke Marketing is Running on EOS™, and many of our clients do, too. If you are like us, you and your team have done your homework, and, thanks to the EOS process, have a solid understanding of your customers, your products and services, and your business. Within your planning document, you’ve developed a vision for your company that includes clearly defined core values, a core focus, a 10-year target, marketing strategy, and even a three-year picture.
While the “traction” section of your plan is where things begin to take shape and move forward, we’ve found that many EOS company leaders and team members get stuck without having a clear plan of action. From our discussions with organizations in this situation, we've discovered It’s not because they are procrastinating, it’s because they are not sure what to do next.
We get it. Our own EOS experiences have helped us understand the true value of adding action and accountability to the equation to help companies like yours realize your vision. Here are four steps to help you move forward.
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“61% of executives believe that their company struggles to bridge the gap between strategy formulation and day-to-day implementation.”
- HubSpot, 2022 Research Study
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Rock climb toward marketing success.
We know it can feel overwhelming, but here’s where marketing action begins. You’ve determined the Why and the What. Now it’s time to deliver the How. Take a deep breath, and let’s use your Rocks to climb toward reaching your vision.
Develop a Messaging Framework to articulate your brand benefits.
Translate your vision into a cohesive marketing message that will form the foundation of how you will communicate both internally to team members and externally to your customers. Your Messaging Framework should include things like your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), single most important message, brand promise and voice, brand pillars (and supporting details), an umbrella theme, and persona pains and your brand's response to them. Your Messaging Framework serves as the foundation for all future messaging for your website and support materials, plus sales messages for key verticals and personas. It is the launch pad for every marketing element moving forward.
Create a memorable brand story your customers will tell.
We call it StorySelling. It’s the art of telling your brand story to attract your key audiences and help them remember, connect, and clearly understand the benefits of your products and services with unique messages tailored to where they are in the Buyer’s Journey. We believe you haven’t truly told your story until someone else can tell it.™ Use your V/TO™ learnings to define and develop your brand message so that your leadership, salespeople, and customer support teams are all on the same page. Because when you are all telling the same, consistent brand story, chances are your customers will be, too.
Build cohesive campaigns to reach more customers.
Your website is probably the most customer-facing aspect of your business and will likely serve as the anchor of your brand. Once it’s telling the right story, it’s time to reach out to prospects and customers to get more website traffic. For many businesses, this means inbound marketing. You can drive qualified traffic with marketing campaigns consisting of blogs, emails, social posts, infographics, eBooks, and white papers. These campaigns should offer prospects and customers consistent themes that complement your brand pillars and educate and add value. Useful content also provides your sales team with thoughtful ways to share your brand story (and thought leadership) during key touchpoints of the customer buyer journey.
Utilize marketing KPIs and a marketing scorecard to measure progress.
The goal of your marketing strategy is to provide your customers with everything they need to make a purchase decision during every step of their buyer journey. How can you tell if this messaging is resonating? Are there any unexpected friction points? There is always room for improvement, and tracking Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) on your marketing scorecard can help you measure progress and ensure your results align with your marketing Rocks.
Rock on.
It’s all a lot to take in. At Spoke, we’ve come to realize that achieving our Rocks is a journey, not a quick sprint. Need a little help formulating your own marketing plan and putting it into action? We help clients prioritize their strategic marketing Rocks each quarter, such as establishing a content program, executing a trade show campaign, launching a new product, or targeting a new vertical. Then we help them develop milestones to ensure progress and successful results. Accountability at every turn helps ensure success.
We’re always here to talk about how we use EOS to achieve our business goals, and how we use it to help our clients achieve theirs. We’re always here to help you use your marketing Rocks to go from where you are now to where you want to be.™
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