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5 tips to creating a successful business strategy
‘Make a plan’ is the first piece of advice given to anyone considering starting a business. But will a plan alone suffice, or does there need to be more? In this blog, our founder and MD, Andrew Scott, explores the topic of business strategy and marketing, providing valuable insights for companies operating across the UK.
Business planning
In 2004, I sat at my kitchen table and began to sketch out what would become the company I still own and run – Purplex. The idea was to create a marketing agency and business consultancy that would be a one-stop shop for businesses.
I had a plan and knew what I wanted to do, and by putting all my thoughts down on paper I had something of a blueprint to work from.
Two decades on, the concept of a strong and sound business strategy – one that gives you a template to work on while leaving room for the many variables you’ll inevitably encounter – is as essential as it ever was. It might be a simple set of preferred aims sketched out on a single sheet of A4, or it may be a fully comprehensive strategic plan that looks in detail at every aspect of the vision. Whatever it is, it MUST exist because if it doesn’t, all you have is an idea that is doomed to not to succeed. As the saying goes, fail to plan, plan to fail!
High-performing UK marketing agency
Today, Purplex is a highly respected, multi-million-pound organisation that provides top level marketing and business strategy expertise to a range of businesses in the UK. We’re always looking ahead, pivoting ourselves to align with emerging marketing trends as technology develops at an ever-faster pace. How do we achieve this? We plan, plan, plan….
5 tips to create a successful business strategy
Below are five thoughts about the creation of a business strategy, and how this aligns with strategic marketing to create the perfect recipe for business success:
1: Business vision and mission
With a vision and a mission, you can begin a business strategy that defines purpose, value and aspiration. You’re looking at your USP, your focus and your differentiation, and alongside these strategic marketing enhances your core messages, making sure that every campaign, customer interaction, social media post or piece of PR aligns with and reinforces your core narrative.
2: Invest budgets wisely for maximum business growth
You know your budget – now you’ve got to work out how and where best to spend it to maximise the growth of your business. This can be a real high-wire act, with some areas of your strategy crying out for cash to be thrown at them while others face the real possibility of neglect. Certainly, you have challenging decisions to make, and when they are made you must ensure that your marketing budget are allocated to match these decisions, targeting high-impact channels and campaigns that resonate with the company’s overall goals.
3: Building your brand
Once you’re up and running, a strong emphasis of your business strategy should be brand-building. Here is your opportunity to carve out your space in the market with a strong message about your uniqueness, and why you should be the go-to choice in your field. Strategic marketing refines the conversation around your brand, giving it a story, a visual identity and an emotional connection, ensuring consistent messaging.
4: Long-term business goals
In terms of marketplace positioning, the business strategy should focus on the long-term goals. What do you want from this? How will you expand? Where do you want such expansion to lead to? How will you get there? These goals run parallel to strategic marketing, which makes real-time adjustments to the long-term strategy that take into consideration fluctuating market forces, competition, emerging technologies and other pivot-points.
5: Understand customer behaviour
However good your product and your brand are, you’ll make no progress without customers. Here, strategic marketing comes to the forefront, digging deep into customer behaviour, unearthing likes, dislikes, spending habits, external considerations and trends, to help inform the overall business strategy. As business people we ignore consumer demands at our peril…
Business strategy and strategic marketing go hand in hand
These are just some of the insights that we’ve discovered over Purplex’s lifetime, and like any successful business we make sure that we’re always learning, always discovering something new for our customers. We understand that when business strategy and strategic marketing move together, they create a harmonious partnership of growth, resilience, and impact. This partnership is the key to a successful business strategy that will continue to deliver over the decades.
Are you looking to better align your business strategy with strategic marketing? Speak to a member of our team today to strike up a new partnership with marketeers who ensure these two fundamental business growth activities go hand in hand.
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