Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Nice work Max. Here are a few notes:

1. Definition of desired client market space
(define current segment(s) and untapped desired segments)

2. Marketing strategy
(company positioning statement, individual product positioning statements)
a) Market needs
(fulfilled, unfulfilled, unknown to the customer)
b) Segmentation (preferably by needs)
c) Segment selection
(b & c could be combined, for sequencing some segmentation work occurs with step 1)
c) Competitive and PEST analysis (per segment)
(don’t forget SWOT)
d) Positioning/USP development (per segment)
(again, some during step 1)

Your outline and sequence are fine; success comes with making the right informed planning decisions and executing like a mad man.

Best of luck.

mbarber nailed it. Great advice!

Good luck!

Max,

The only thing I could add to this would be to get the client to precisely verbalize their goals and expectations prior to planning. Write those down, and get them to, as specifically as possible, define how you will all know what the metrics of success are. Of course, ROI isn't always a valuable early stage measure.

I like to begin managing client expectations from the beginning, and keep an eye on these issues throughout. It is very often the case that clients have hidden expectations or false standards, sometimes regardless of what they say.

Maybe this is considered too fundamental, but I find that keeping an eye on the relationships of expectations, plan goals, metrics helps keeps us all with one foot in reality, while the other foot dances around the dream space of overnight miracles...