What is a Strategy, and Why Do I Need One?
What is a strategy, and why do I need one? Good questions — glad you asked!
Let’s take them in order.
What is a strategy?
Broadly, a strategy is a plan for setting long term goals and putting in place the actions (tactics) for achieving them.
It will describe how you allocate resources to achieve your corporate goals.
Who cares? Your employees, your investors, and your customers. It is the story you tell about how your company will succeed.
A corporate level strategy will include the following types of items (this is not an exhaustive list):
- Mission of the company (why it exists);
- Vision for the company (what is the desired future state);
- What products and/or services to offer, now and in the future (a roadmap);
- How to make money (business design);
- Growth targets (if any);
A marketing strategy fits within an overall corporate strategy. It is the process of:
- Determining who your customers are (and aren’t);
- What is important to them; and
- What sets you apart from your competition.
Why do I need one?
Most companies think of strategy at one of three main points in the lifecycle of a business: The start-up phase; when things are stagnating; or when growth has run amok.
A strategy provides focus to a business — which is particularly important at each of these stages. Strategies are developed as part of a discrete planning process. Take that mission and vision thing to heart — that will provide the illumination for the strategic plan. It will help you see the customer needs; the changing environment; competition (existing, emerging, and potential); trends in technology; and forces affecting people and hiring.
However, a strategy isn’t rigid – and neither are customer needs. What is important to them (and hence to you) changes with time. Figuring out how to adapt and continue to create new value requires being sensitive to those changes and altering your resource allocations. This process is known as following an “emergent strategy”.
Once the company strategy is in place, the marketing strategy can be developed. How to position your offerings, how to generate awareness of and demand for them, and what you need to deliver a complete solution to the customer will come from that strategy. The most important part is the execution.
There are far more great strategic plans than there are corporate success stories. Putting the right actions into place, and then measuring the right performance elements, and adjusting based on this feedback are essential to the bottom line — where the money hits the bank account.
Many businesses are reasonably successful without a well-defined strategy. Just like innovation, it can happen without a process. There are many, many “one-hit wonders”! But doing something repeatable generally requires some sort of a plan. A strategy.
The bottom line: a strategy can help you become successful on purpose. (Props to Ovo Innovation for their tagline “Innovate on Purpose”!)
Greg is a visionary, entrepreneurial executive with broad experience in formulating effective, actionable strategies for technology-based solutions. He brings leadership skills and knowledge in strategic analysis and planning, innovation management, and strategic marketing to create customer-focused competitive advantage. His extensive industry experience in companies large and small, in industries from high tech to healthcare, in product development/management, executive management, marketing, and strategy positions gives him the experience to know what works. Greg is an adjunct professor at Duke University, where he created and teaches “Competitive Strategy in Technology-based Industries” in the Masters of Engineering Management Program. He is chairman of the NCSU Technology Incubator Advisory Board, a member of the NCSU Industrial Extension Service Advisory Board, and co-founded a venture-backed startup. Greg is a Senior Member of the IEEE and a member of the Engineering Management Society, a member of the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA), and a member of the Association for Strategic Planning (ASP). He received a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Lafayette College, and a Masters degree in Entrepreneurship from Western Carolina University. Greg is an excellent and inspiring speaker, presenter and educator. He is a frequent judge at business plan competitions and hackathons, including MetLife TechJam, Triangle Startup Weekend, and case study competitions at Duke and North Carolina State Universities.
Useful summary. I understand it is implied but based on my experiences I would call out “Go to Market” strategy as part of the Marketing Strategy. I have found this is mostly being designed as an afterthought bordering on coincidence – yet in many companies this is where the difference between success and failure is.