Marketing and Communications Strategy

Some describe strategy as being similar to a game of chess. I prefer to think of it as flying a helicopter - you can see the whole of the ground below you but none of the detail.

What do I mean?

Writing a strategy is all about where you want to go - it is about vision. If that grass looks lovely from above but patchy when you walk on it - what do you need to do to make that change? Out of this vision comes the operational plans that will water the grass and trim the edges.

Many small businesses find this a daunting process, or they are just too tied up with the everyday problems to be able to divorce themselves enough to think visionary. This is why it sometimes helps to bring in an 'outsider'. They are not seeing the world, within which you work, as a microcosm - they can place it in the real world; put the problems into perspective and ask the right questions. The challenge is often incredibly healthy and refreshing to those struggling to see those precious trees within a forest of problems - suddenly the process becomes exiciting and the reason you started your business becomes clear to you again.

Marketing and Communication Strategies drive an organisation forward - they are the life blood that makes it happen - and they are not set in stone. Strategies should be reviewed annually and lived daily as part of the ethos of the organisation