Re-imagining your business is not just about changing the color scheme of your logo or trying out an innovative marketing campaign. Re-imagining your business is about going back to the beginning and “rebuilding” it to give it a fresh and vibrant restart, and this involves strategy.
The strategy of your business is important. It is what keeps everything running smoothly. Perhaps you recheck your strategy from time to time (which is great!), or perhaps you haven’t looked at your strategy in a long while and aren’t even sure if its working for you anymore.
No matter what your current situation is, it is always advantageous to look at your strategy and see how you can rewrite it and improve it. So, let’s look at some of the key components to get you started!
The Key Components of a Good Business Strategy
You may be asking yourself—whether you’ve made a business strategy before or not—what exactly constitutes a good one. It is a valid question that deserves some consideration.
- Have a vision for the future of your company. This includes what you want your business to be in the future. You could look at this component as having a set of goals you wish to accomplish for your business. Once you know where you are going you will be better able to create a roadmap to get there.
- Consider your competition. You need to pay attention to what your competition is doing. This allows you to “borrow” what is working for them while also separating yourself from them so that you stand out.
- Make sure that you have clear targets. This means you should define, for example, what your niche is so that the company can focus resources on the right areas. You do not want sales and marketing to get out of sync.
- Identify where growth is possible. The main point of a business strategy is to help your business grow. However, to do this, you must know the areas that can grow and how you want them to grow. This should be part of your plan.
- Research. Research is vital to a good business strategy. You must take the time before putting anything into practice. Research isn’t just about competitors; it is about your entire business. It is about what can and cannot work. If you don’t do the leg work, the strategy will get off to a wobbly start.
- Make decisions based on what you know. It is important to be proactive, but it is also important to not behave rashly. Make fact-based decisions to move your business forward. Only act upon what you know, not what you don’t.
- Measure and analyze your strategy. Once you put your strategy into practice, the work is not done. You need to properly measure your strategy—in terms of success—and analyze your findings. Why? By doing this, you ensure that you will always be ready to improve your plan.
By understanding these key components of a good business strategy, you can move forward in your plans for your business. Your business always has the potential to grow, but your strategy is the tool you need to make that happen.
What Areas of Your Business Need a New Strategy?
Having a fresh strategy is a beneficial step in re-imagining your business. Consider how it will help you.
A good strategy will also allow you to pinpoint your strengths and your weaknesses. Once you know where your weaknesses are located, you can turn them into strengths by focusing on them. How does this help you? It allows you to strengthen your business while keeping a competitive edge on those businesses around you.
So, what areas of your business need a new strategy? Every business is different, so there is no “one size fits all” answer to this question. However, there are things you can focus on that will guide you in the right direction.
Start by breaking down your business into easily digestible parts. When you look at the whole picture too quickly it can become overwhelming. When you are overwhelmed, it becomes much more difficult to make progress.
You can split your business up into as many categories as you like. They can be formal titles or informal. As long as you understand what it is then it will work.
So, for example, you could split your business up in the following way:
- Marketing & Advertising
- Employees
- Customer Service
- Merchandise & Supplies
Of course, your business may not need some of these—if you do not have any employees, for example—but something along these lines will suffice. What do you do next? You break down those sections even further.
An Example
Let’s take a look at the first section: Marketing & Advertising. Every business need both these things to work for them in order to grow. It is an inevitable part of running a business. Marketing and advertising were important one hundred years ago, and it will remain important one hundred years from now. The media through which they are presented is all that has truly changed.
While marketing and advertising could constitute their own blog (and we plan on writing on this subject much more in-depth soon), let’s look at it quickly in the context of creating a new strategy for your business.
Business X is a small business that relies heavily on organic web traffic for growth. Organic web traffic is traffic that is not paid for. Essentially, it is marketing and advertising where you do not spend money to get those advertisements seen.
Now, this may have worked in the beginning for Business X, but now it is not working the way they thought it would. However, they haven’t done anything to change that. Enter a new strategy.
Business X can look at this in a few ways. The first way, of course, would be to discard the organic traffic model for a paid traffic model. The new strategy would focus on raising money to have paid traffic. However, Business X may also decide (and we recommend this option) to focus on both organic and paid traffic models that work together.
This blog isn’t about organic traffic vs. paid traffic—there are pros and cons of each—but, rather, is using it as an example of a larger picture.
The trick is to see what is working and what is not. Are there areas you can improve? Do you need to create new goals to strive for? If you have employees, are they happy? Take a survey to strategize. What about your customers? How do they feel? A new strategy will help you prioritize and make the right decisions.
Research, Research, Research: See What Your Competitors Are Doing
The best strategies take into account the competitors of the business. You must try to stay ahead of your competitors. You never want to give them an edge. However, you can use them to your benefit.
The first step of re-imagining the strategy for your business is research. Research as much as you can. First, start by identifying your competitors. Locate businesses that are in your industry. Perhaps you already know them, or perhaps you have to start from scratch. Either way, make sure you know who is competing for your customers’ attention.
Once you have identified your competitors, it is time to research what they are doing. Take a look at their marketing and advertising strategies. Consider their customer service. Read the reviews customers leave them; gauge the reaction.
How do you use this information for your strategy? If Business Y is doing something that Business X is not doing—but it is working for them—then Business X should implement that same strategy.
Of course, this is not foolproof; but it is a good start. If it works for you, too, then great! If it doesn’t? Not to worry. You will already have a foundation upon which to build. You can tweak and adjust as much as you like until you hit that “sweet spot” where it all clicks.
It is easy to get discouraged when re-imagining your business. In today’s world, we want everything NOW! But that isn’t always possible. When it comes to your business’ strategy, you must realize that time is your friend.
Time will tell you all you need to know. There are some business strategies—such as paid advertising—that can tell you what you need in a short period. For example, if you are putting a lot of money into an advertising campaign, you want to make sure you are making money. Therefore, a few weeks may be all you need to know whether it is working or whether you need to adjust it.
Moreover, there are some strategies that need a little longer to see the full picture. It depends on how it will affect your business.
While it is good to have short-term goals and plans, it is important to recognize that the only way to analyze the changes in your company is to have a collection of data.
The more data you have to analyze, the more accurate a representation it will be of whether it is working or not.
Therefore, it is important to not give up early (actually, never give up!). If after a those few months you see things are working well, you can keep up the good work. However, if you see things have not changed, or have not changed as much as you had wishes, it is time to take another gander at your strategy.
Conclusion
Building a successful business strategy is a never-ending process. You will always be working on it, improving it. However, the part that takes the most work is creating the strategy at the beginning.
As you move forward, consider re-imagining your strategy from the ground up. Sometimes it is psychologically a good move to start “fresh.” It is like how everyone likes to start over on January 1st, It is a frame of mind, and that frame of mind can go a long way.
Your strategy is your business’ backbone and is worth considering a re-haul of. Take your time, analyze your business, and see what works for you.