I’ve rarely had a Client who has approached me with the words “It’s all going so well right now that we’d like you to have a look at our business”. Most people want to see change. Yet many organisations are not really structured to cope with it.
Take that word ‘strategy’. Everyone has one and it’s usually been polished and honed over several generations of management. But how many have an ‘alternative strategy’ sitting on the shelf? Strangely few, given that most of us are always looking for options and choice. Indeed there may not be a better strategy, but searching for one might just throw up some new approaches.
I learned my trade in advertising, and there people are always looking for the magic bullet of a new strategy and blindingly-good idea that will transform sales and popular appeal. Finding it is often learning the art of the contrary – let’s forget about the 70% that do and think about the 30% that don’t. We could never get Galaxy to compete successfully with Cadbury for the family bar market until we realised that many of the family bar potential purchasers were not buying it for the family, even if they claimed the contrary. They were privately indulging themselves and that was a powerful message. Offer silk where before you were comparing cottons and you turn the market around.
Rather like the old joke, getting to where you want to reach often requires recognition that ‘here’ is not always the best place from where to start. ‘Here’ always carries a lot of baggage. Destination marketing talks often and rightly about a sense of place; but starting from ‘here’ almost always leads to a long list of features, each with their own passionate advocates. That’s why so many city websites feature a skyscape on their front page banner.
Turning that round can be better served by exploring ‘sense of worth’ – seeking the common purpose that can unite and differentiate.
If you want to know more, please email me at scott.sherrard@btconnect.com
Scott Sherrard 