For Strategic, Cross-Functional Challenges, Choose Your Advisors Wisely

Strategic Marketing is a complex, challenging arena because it (1) helps multiple parts of the organization and (2) overlaps diverse disciplines that typically have their own coterie of consultants with narrow, specialized expertise:

1. Business strategies from management consultants for CEO
2. Marketing strategies from marketing agencies for CMO
3. Sales strategies from sales consultants for VP Sales
4. Product/Service strategies from product marketers for VP Products

Marketing agencies, for example, are usually ill-equipped to address deep strategic questions because they are more experienced working on short term, tactical projects where such questions don’t often arise. Management consultants, meanwhile, have the opposite problem: they tend to focus on devising strategies without much consideration of the cost effectiveness of the tactics required to implement them.

Loris Strategic Marketing is different. Because we understand the paramount importance of strategy in determining ultimate marketing success, getting the fundamental strategies right has always been at the heart of what we do and is why we have the diverse expertise, wide ranging experience, and well-honed processes Strategic Marketing demands.

And importantly, we’re “implementation-minded” not ivory tower strategists: our strategies have always been informed by our real-world experience creating & managing marketing programs for a wide range of businesses: if a strategy requires tactics that are too hard or expensive, we’ll not recommend that strategy even if it looks good on paper and makes us seem smart during the presentation.

Strategic Challenges

Whether due to the pace of modern business or the lack of in-house expertise, many businesses minimize analysis, planning and strategizing in favor of “activity”, leading to random acts of marketing without direction, synergy or compelling ROI.

While there are times “going with your gut” makes sense, doing so when your business is facing a critical strategic challenge is not one of them. Further, there is no way to be sure you’re spending your marketing dollars wisely and maximizing your marketing ROI without the framework a strategic approach provides. As Ben Franklin wisely pointed out, if you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail.

Loris Strategic Marketing is for clients wrestling with strategic issues, such as:

• Business Disruption: Whether your business has been hurt by the pandemic and the resulting economy or by the entry of a powerful, new competitor, successfully adapting to and overcoming disruptions is one of the most challenging things you might ever have do—and it must be done quickly without sacrificing creativity or effectiveness.
• Go-to-Market Strategy: If you are launching a new product or service, you will be faced with a host of challenging decisions: naming, pricing, positioning (both the new offering in the market and relative to your existing offerings), developing new channels, updating the marketing plan for the new and the old, etc. If these types of decisions are new to you, given the importance of getting them right, bringing in experienced outside advisors may benefit you greatly.
• Repositioning for Growth: If business growth has consistently been below expectations, and your internal fixes have not borne fruit, bringing in a fresh pair of experienced, innovative eyes who can strategically reassess your brand, competition, strengths, weaknesses, positioning, messaging, marketing plan and more may be the answer. Learn more.
• Reducing Time-to-First Dollar: Every business wants to reduce the length of their sales cycle by reducing the time prospects sit in their pipeline. There are many comprehensive marketing strategies that can do this, including Targeting Your Fastest Prospects™ or unbundling your services/products to make it quicker and easier to become your customer. Learn more
• Exit Planning: If you are 3-5 years away from selling your business, you know that growing annual revenue is critical to your retirement (as buyers will pay a multiple of revenue). Are you confident your brand, competitive advantages, positioning, messaging, and marketing plan will deliver the results you’re counting on? Learn more

Loris Strategic Marketing Assists Clients With: