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Strategy Matters delivers news, tips and strategies for effective communications through traditional and social media. 

Don't Keep Your Strategic Plan a Secret

 

Having been involved in corporate communications and public relations for a number of years I'm well aware of the concerns that organizations often have about too much information being shared with too many audiences. Transparency, I believe, is under-rated! 

 

While there are obviously "trade secrets" or "inside insights" that organizations wisely protect, too often information that does not really present any real risk is kept close, hindering the ability of the organization to actually achieve its goals.

 

One big example of this is with the strategic planning process. I often find it interesting that the two things I hear most often from my clients about their strategic planing efforts are:

 

1) they struggle with implementation--the planning part is relatively easy; the implementation part is where many struggle

 

2) they're concerned about confidentiality so they're hesitant to share the plan with staff and others

 

Hence the problem. Organizations desperately need the involvement and commitment of their employees to ensure that the plan will actually be implemented.

 

There's a bit of fuzzy thinking involved here, I think. If organizations feel challenged in the implementation of their own plans, what makes them believe that their competitors will be any more effective if they somehow had access to that plan? 

 

It's not going to happen, for a variety of reasons, but the biggest reason is that they are not you--the unique strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that you possess are what should drive the creation and implementation of your plan. It is highly unlikely that any of your competitors would have the same, or even similar, SWOTs.

 

The biggest issue I've found related to strategic planning in my research and my work with clients is implementation--too many plans simply sit on the shelf or, today, in the cloud. While there are a number of contributors to this, one of the biggest--in my opinion--is the failure to share information about the planning process and planning outcomes with employees, the people who will actually implement the plan.

 

My advice: share and share freely. The success of your plan depends upon it.

 

For more information on effective strategic planning, visit our blog. 

Copywriting Tips Anyone Can Use 

 

Whether you're writing copy for a brochure, a newspaper ad, a radio announcement or a blog for your web site--or even a resume--there are some tried and true techniques that can help you make sure that your copy gets the results you're looking for.

 

Think about writing copy as making a sales pitch to some target audience. Your goal is to persuade that person to do something - most likely to purchase your product or service. Here's how:

 

#1:       Put yourself in their shoes.

 

People don't take action unless there is a reason to do so. "What's in it for me" may seem like a selfish motivation but it is, nonetheless, human nature. In order to effectively persuade a consumer, you need to put yourself in their place and consider why what you have to offer meets their needs. This should not be a quick exercise or one that is taken lightly. Spend some time to really think about the appeals that you could make that would truly resonate with your target audience.

 

#2:       Make it as long as you need to.  

 

Ignore anything you hear about recommended length of copy. There are no hard and fast rules. Your copy simply needs to be as long as necessary to convey your key selling points. That doesn't mean, though, that you should ramble on and on. No. You should identify 3-5 key points that directly relate to customer needs and then clearly and concisely provide enough detail about your product or service to convince the customer to take action.

 

#3:       Keep it simple.

 

Whether your target audience is teenagers or physicians, you need to convey a simple message. Your audience is busy and your message is competing with literally hundreds of other messages and distractions. Know the points you want to make and make them simply and clearly. Edit your copy mercilessly so that it contains only those "need to know" elements that will guide the consumer in making a purchase decision.

 

(Read the rest of these 10 tips here.) 

Are You Losing Online Sales Because of a Clumsy Ordering Process? 

Sometimes I think the most simple thing that we can do as business people and marketers is to "put ourselves in the shoes"-- literally -- of our prospects and customers. Are we making it easy to buy? Or are we setting up unintentional barriers, however "slight," that may interfere with -- or obliterate -- the purchasing process?

 

In retail settings this might mean products organized in ways that make it difficult for consumers to find what they're looking for. It may mean limited - or non-existent -- parking. It may mean long lines at the check-out counter or disinterested (even grumpy) service staff.

Online it may mean much of the same -- the ability to quickly find what we're looking for is important. Parking isn't an issue, but the check-out process certainly is.

 

Have you taken a critical look at your online check-out process lately? Frankly I've seen some that are shockingly difficult to navigate. Even more shocking, in one especially memorable instance, I've pointed this out to a marketer, along with specific recommendations for improvement only to hear: "We don't think it really matters." Really? Don't think so? Maybe it's time to find out for sure.

 

It's easy enough to do the math. Set up a Google funnel on your web site and take a look at how many people make it from the top of the funnel to the ultimate purchase decision - and how many may be "lost" at various steps along the way. Those lost consumers represent lost $$'s - literally.

 

"Bricks and mortar" retailers don't have the luxury of these quantitative analytics to help them identify and remove barriers in the purchasing process. Online retailers do. If you're not using them to identify ways in which you can improve your online purchasing experience, you should be.

 

Do the math.


For more information on marketing best practices -- online or off -- visit our web site.    

 
Volume: 4 - Issue: 10
October, 2012
Strat Comm logo
In This Issue
Don't Keep Your Strategic Plan a Secret
Copywriting Tips
Are You Losing Online Sales?
We're In the News! 
Linda Pophal
Strategic Communications, LLC
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