How to Turn An Authentic Marketing Strategy Into Marketing Action
How to Turn An Authentic Marketing Strategy Into Marketing Action
How to Turn An Authentic Marketing Strategy Into Marketing Action
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Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post from John Jantsch, a marketing consultant, speaker and author. The ideas in this post are drawn from his most recent work – The Commitment Engine – Making Work Worth It. Find more information at www.makingworkworthit.com

To me getting clear about strategy is the most important challenge business owners face and today.

I think you find your true authentic and perfect strategy by first looking inward and choosing a marketing strategy that is infused with who you are, why you do what you do and how you can use story to attract opportunities and clients.

While that notion isn’t entirely novel, so few actually employ it and even fewer can define how to turn a strategy based on purpose into actionable steps that bring it to life.

Here’s the deal.

Every industry group feels that their business, their needs, their way of marketing is unique.

While every industry has a unique set of clients, a unique language, maybe even an unusual distribution model, the way that customers come to know, like and trust them is fundamentally the same.

What follows is a core set of practices that every business can use to communicate their simple, clear, marketing strategy.

Build and tell stories – You must develop a set of core stories that you use in your business building. The stories that help people understand how your business is different, not because of what it does so much, but because of what it cares about or doesn’t do.

These stories must radiate from you, your staff, and your community and will ultimately make up the foundation of your brand promise.

Sell by teaching – You must commit to using education as your primary means of influence. This is one of the most powerful ways to differentiate your business in the eyes of those that come to work for you as well as those that comes to experience your unique point of view through exposure to your teaching.

When you embrace teaching in everything you do, your staff begins to understand that the company is their first customer.

Become a platform – It’s no longer enough to think in terms of building a product or service. In fact, it’s no longer enough to simply build a community of prospects, users and buyers.

In order to truly differentiate you must begin to think of your business as a platform for others to get what they need. You must expand your thinking from business to marketplace.

Can you create opportunity for strategic partners? Can you teach others how to launch businesses from your business? Can you mentor employees and become a hub for their personal growth?

These are questions that will take you far beyond the typical business building mindset, but the answers may become the higher purpose for your business.

Reverse the experience – Finally, I’m going to suggest that the greatest way to deliver a remarkable marketing strategy is to deliver a remarkable marketing experience before, during and after a customer is a customer.

I’ve shared my concept of the Marketing Hourglass now with tens of thousands of small business owners, but only recently have I determined that the best way to construct any product or service experience with this tool is to do it in reverse.

To borrow from a well-worn bit of wisdom, if you want to deliver an exceptional experience you must start with the end in mind. You must begin the entire process by considering what you will do 90 or 180 days after you make a sale and then work backwards to the point where you first meet.

To some these ideas may feel foreign and not at all like a substantial way of doing business, but to others they will ring true and real and perhaps for the first time they will be able to differentiate their business with perfect clarity.

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About the Author

Jason Falls
Jason Falls is the founder of Social Media Explorer and one of the most notable and outspoken voices in the social media marketing industry. He is a noted marketing keynote speaker, author of two books and unapologetic bourbon aficionado. He can also be found at JasonFalls.com.

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