Why business strategy is so important for business growth

Strategy is the topic of this week's episode but James isn't alone, as Paul and Jamie sit down with Method's owner to discuss how business owners, entrepreneurs and heads of departments should be structuring their strategy. We break down the essentials for any strategy to help keep things simple and effective!

Show Notes

Welcome back to another episode, this week sees James talk through business strategy and how business owners, entrepreneurs and department heads can map out theirs. 

James is joined by Paul and Jamie for a collaborative conversation that lays out what a strategy is and importantly the key areas to include...

Buyer personas and SMART goals are two of those pivotal ingredients as they help you to pinpoint who you're aiming to help and your desired outcomes, keeping you focussed and ensuring your decision making is customer-centric. 

Enjoy the episode and drop any comments below or let us know if you'd like to join James for an episode

What is Behind The Madness?

A podcast helping companies grow with marketing strategies, automation and time-saving tips and creative solutions.

James: Hello and welcome to another
episode of Behind the Madness, I'm

your host, James Roberts, founder, and
owner of Method, a growth agency who

are hell bent on unlocking company's
potential through graphic design and

branding, web design development, digital
marketing, and lead generation and

automation and time-saving techniques.

Today it's not just me.

I'm joined by Jamie and Paul both have
Method fame who will be joining me to

talk about business strategy and why
it's so important for business growth.

Onto today's topic, why
business strategy is so important

to, for business growth.

Today, as I mentioned, I'm
joined by Jamie say hello, Jamie.

Jamie: Hey guys Good to be here

James: and Paul.

Paul: Hi, it's good to be here.

James: Jamie and Paul have
obviously been working with us as

part of the team here at method.

And I thought rather than you having to
listen to me all the time on this podcast,

it's about time I roped some of them in.

So here they are.

Jamie is generally pushing me to get
the next podcast out anyway, Jamie is

in charge of our social media and a lot
of the strategy around that, which is

why he is perfect for today's subject.

And Paul does about everything else
within the business from looking after

our HubSpot installs to making sure
that again, I'm doing what I should be.

So today let's start off with what
we're defining as business strategy.

So I'm guessing we're talking about
the longterm goals for the whole

business here, I guess, Jamie,
not just sales or marketing or any

divisions, we're looking at business
strategy for the whole company.

Jamie: Yeah, James, it's mainly about
getting people to identify with a goal and

then utilizing business strategy is often
used as a word, but business planning,

making sure they can have that plan
in place to hit those goals long term.

So like you said, we're going to talk a
bit about goals, a bit about the strategy

of how people may get that and some of
the key components that we think would be

really important to make up your strategy.

James: Perfect.

Does a business strategy have to be
something that's set in stone or can it be

something which we can have as a working
document that we can kind of come back to?

How do you see that?

Would we have a business strategy?

That is a long-term goal that we
can't shift or is that generally

something that , will change over time?

Jamie: Yeah, I think that's a really
interesting point because if there's

anyone over there who has got a strategy
that hasn't changed throughout that

business then I'd love them to kind
of get in touch because I want to

make them the goals should stay pretty
solid and foundational because that's

kind of the vision of the business
where it's pushing onto long term.

So whether it's an increase in revenue
and increase in brand awareness,

whatever that goal is is your target.

So that should stay pretty solid.

Like anything in business, it's going
to be as agile as anything, but the

flexibility within the strategy,
the how you're going to get that

is the really important stay agile
stay flexible because, as you know,

James, as a business owner, day to
day, everything can be different.

So especially in the times we've
experienced in the last two

years, staying agile is key.

James: Paul and I a couple of years
ago now, I think, but went on a sales

training with HubSpot, just so we could
understand how their processes work

and how they did a lot of their sales.

They were very much a round setting these
goals in place and certainly with, sales,

making sure that people were, really
adapting, these business strategies.

And focusing more on
the goals as a business.

For example, if you take the
railroad, their goal was to transport

goods from one side of America
in this instance to the other.

So the best way to transport
goods from one side of the

country to the other was via rail.

But when other systems came into play
that were better than the railroad.

The fat cats who were making all their
money, couldn't see that change and

wanted to continue making all their money.

So their goal actually became
the railroad, not to transport

goods, as easily as possible.

I guess here, we've got to be flexible
enough to understand that change.

And this is where you've got to understand
and adapt as a company and not be set

in stone that you are too stubborn to
change, which can then be your downfall.

And so I guess where the
failing is and can come in.

So I guess we're looking at adapting,
adapting that business strategy but

also something which we can break down
into smaller chunks, to kind of get

that this business plan is very much,
I guess it could be a five-year plan.

It could be a 10 year plan, I
guess, I guess the timeframe doesn't

necessarily matter, but then we can
start to look at smaller challenges

of smaller tasks within that bigger
goal and break those down for them.

in terms of breaking down these,
these bigger business plans, one of

the things that we obviously look at
and it's very much a coined within

a, a marketing sense smart goals.

So, Paul, do you want to talk to
us a little bit about smart goals?

Paul: So basically a smart goal is it's an
acronym, so it's a specific, measurable,

attainable, relevant, and time bound.

With a smart goal, you're increasing
your odds for success by verifying

that was goal as achievable.

You're identifying metrics that define
the success and you're creating a

roadmap to, reach those metrics.

James: Cool.

So we've also just as a, as a little
interlude, we have a download all

about smart goals on our website.

So if you go to the resources tab
on our website, hellomethod.co.uk

scroll down a little bit.

You will find smart goals as a
little template that you can follow.

But what I want to do quickly, if
I can, is just to give you, let's

say an example of a smart goal.

As Paul says, smart goals are
something that's achievable that

you can work to in a timeframe.

So you might have a number of smart
goals to reach your business plan, but

let's say you're looking at blog traffic.

So blog traffic is your goal.

So to be specific you want to boost
your blogs traffic by increasing

your weekly publishing frequency from
let's say five to eight times a week.

Then measurable would be something.

How can we measure that?

What we're looking for let's
say an 8% increase in traffic.

Attainable, your blog is
increased 5% last month.

So when we increased our weekly
publishing, we could actually see

that increase in blog, traffic.

Relevance, well, we want to
increase our blog traffic.

So we want to boost our brand
awareness by generating more leads.

So it's massively relevant to increase
those blogs and the frequency of our

blogging, and time-bound where we want
to get it done by the end of this month.

So we have a nice little smart
goal that has all of the ticks

that Paul mentioned earlier.

So now we understand a little bit
around kind of some elements which

are within the our business plan.

I think Jamie, you mentioned earlier
about the Goldilocks point, which is

being able to find a balance, which is
something that's just right, where you're

not spending too much time planning and
you're not spending too much time just

doing, you have that middle ground where
you've got a business plan that has had

enough around it to formulate something
that you can actually do and stick to.

And you, haven't also rushed ahead
to execute that plan without having

enough kind of foresight beforehand.

So Jamie, if you would, let's have
a look at some of the things that we

might include in our business plan.

What steps would we take?

Jamie: So there's three main steps.

James I'd make sure any businesses
trying to really now, when they're

looking at that business strategy,
first one is making sure that

they're identifying the problem.

So a lot of companies fall in love
with their solutions, but it's

making sure that they are identifying
what problem they are solving.

So whether it is to alleviate a pain
point or to add value into someone's

life, through delight, making sure you're
really clear and have clarity on that

is pivotal because that's your offering.

That's your value.

Then it's about who for, so this is where
tools like a buyer persona and customer

journey mapping are really key because
they allow you to identify and emphasize.

Who you are creating that value for.

That will then lend itself to
your sales strategy or your

marketing strategy and gives you
and your team a big picture of it.

And then the last one is about the brand.

Making sure you have your core
values identify the culture you want

to address with, and also the USP.

So whatever makes your brand different,
because that will influence the how

so you take those three elements.

So your buyer persona, problem,
and the value creation and also

your core values as a brand.

And you work out how you are
going to address where you are

now to where you're going next.

So with the strategy, we can use something
called a bridge model, which is where

you've identified, where you want to be
like Paul discussed with the smart goals.

You now know where you are, and
then it's about drawing that

bridge across to identify how
you're going to get from a, to b.

James: And using your bridge
analogy, I guess if we don't have

any parts of that, then your whole
business plan falls over because

you don't know who you're targeting.

You don't know really the problem
then that you're trying to fix

for somebody and your values.

I think values are something
that we come back to all the

time where we help businesses.

We help businesses grow.

We help the business become the
best versions of themselves.

That is quite a wide scope that we have,
but our skillset is obviously through more

creative services or marketing services
and obviously the design, et cetera.

That's where we can help an ad the most,
the most benefit to kind of companies.

I guess in turn, those steps,
Jamie, that you mentioned, the

buyer personas the problem, the core
values are almost the other way.

Round people generally know that their
kind of core values, they know the

problem that they're trying to solve.

And the buyer personas then can be created
alongside that problem that they're trying

to solve, they will then realize who those
buyers are for that problem, is that the

way you would kind of break that down.

Jamie: Yeah, absolutely.

I think those three as you've
identified are really key.

Making sure a business does
what a business needs to do.

And having that breakdown just allows
you to build that bridge and build

out the house because everyone's
going to do a different house.

If we look at some really good examples
of business strategy and we'll take a

local brand, Gymshark, they built out the
strategy on sending t-shirts and sending

gym gear to YouTubers, others, and people
on social platforms that they admired.

And those people then wore them on their
channels and the inception of influencer

marketing kind of really kicked on.

But these guys were doing that as part
of their strategy, part of their, how,

before that was kind of labeled a term.

So that's how they identify the USP that
they wanted to do and it really worked.

James: Are we trying to get Gymshark
to send us a load of merchandise?

Is that they start that plug there?

Jamie, we were all should we just give
the address as well while we're at it?

Jamie: with that in mind, I
would like to just say make

a comment about under Armour.

James: Yup.

Apple let's mention a few others.

So that's just, I mean, the
more we can open ourselves up to

the more, the more we can get,
everybody knows that we love Lego.

So let's let's mention a few more brands
and then we'll, and then we'll move on to

to kind of the reasons that people fail.

Obviously what we're talking about
as well with this, with this brand

plan, this grand brand business plan.

We're not excluding anybody.

And this is what people often think with
certainly with buyer personas is that,

well, hang on a minute, if I'm focusing
so much on this buyer persona than

what about the others who come about?

Well, we're not saying we're
going to exclude anybody here.

This is what we're going to
use to meet this big goal.

This is what we want to achieve, and
this is the best way of doing that.

Other people are still going to come along
and have touchpoints with your brand or

with your business and still buy from
you because you're not excluding anybody.

This is just the best route
forward for that long-term goal.

And again, those smart goals might
break that up a little bit more.

My main point, there again is, was
not excluding anybody from buying it's

just more targeted towards the bigger
mass where these people are and we're

putting all of our effort into that and
then over time, the goal might change.

The persona might change.

We might add an extra buyer persona,
but you don't have to have one.

But you know, you, we're trying
to maximize your effort here

and we're trying to focus on the
best plan to get those results.

And if you're focusing on 5, 6, 7
buyer personas, that's a lot of work.

So prove one, then look at automation
of how you might be able to keep

that moving while looking at
maybe then the next buyer persona.

Once you've proven that
journey, the first time.

Jamie: I'm going to jump in there
James, because I think that's a

really important point because an
analogy I'd like to use is a toolbox.

When you have a toolbox, you may have a
project in mind, whether it's building

a shed or just putting up a shelf and
you'll have different tools in that

to tools take on the task at hand,
but that doesn't mean what you have in

your toolbox won't be good, like future
projects, but also you may not have the

tool when the future project comes along.

And so therefore you need
to replenish that toolbox.

And so as James says, if a new
persona becomes your demographic and

that is whether the value is better
suited, and that doesn't mean you

can't get rid of some of the old
tools and bring it to the new one.

It's about staying flexible, but making
sure that you do have something that

roadmap that you can follow throughout

Paul: Buyer personas that are
an ideal customer, essentially.

Like james said, the you're
not excluding everyone else.

But they're the ones
that you want to target.

They're the ones that you want to put
the money into advertising to, you'll

catch other people along the way.

But they're, the target
market essentially.

James: So now we've got that kind of
outlined we've all know companies,

big, small who have failed to really
change or look at their business strategy

and change that business strategy.

And I think that is where most businesses
will fail is not being able to adapt.

And if you don't have the business plan
in the first place, then obviously you,

you can't revisit that and see what's
going wrong, but also having a business

plan that you are so stubborn too,
that you can't see what is changing

around your marketplace, or even in
the wider net, new tools, new ideas

might come into the mix where people
are buying on different platforms.

They might be visiting you in different
ways and sticking to that I think

is going to, it's going to cost you.

Paul: Yeah.

Blockbuster Video is a
great example of this

So with Blockbuster video, they had
shops where you'd go and select to

video or DVD to rent off the shelf.

After spending half an hour or so
deciding what you wanted to watch,

then you'd go and buy some of their
expensive popcorn, take home and watch it.

After you'd watched it, you'd
drop it back off at the shop.

There are a few online DVD rental
companies that merged to create

a blockbuster through the post.

You'd go onto their website,
select a film within a day or two.

You'd get the DVD through the post and
you post it back when you'd watched it?

No, there's no late fees.

But you couldn't rent another
one until you sent that one back.

that fairly quickly turned digital through
streaming services like Netflix emerged.

Which were instant, the monthly
fee thousands of films choose from.

Jamie: It's a great story because
I think Mark Randolph and Reed

Hastings, who are the founders of
Netflix really identified that problem

that we're identifying earlier.

Like, I dunno if you remember Paul
but Blockbusters use have extortionate

late fees and also going in and kind of
being like, oh, I want to watch the new

Avengers film or something like that.

If Joe down the road had it out
and they only had one copy, so

straight away you're out of luck.

Paul: So I think especially with the sort
of the top new films that had several

sort of five or six copies, like you
say, there was a popular film they're

out you had to find something else to
watch where blockbusters went wrong is

that they didn't think that the digital
age would take off as much as it did.

They thought people liked the
experience of walking into their

shops, spending time, trying to find
a film, and didn't adapt to a mail

order or a streaming service, they
could have quite easily have done that.

They had the ins with the film industry.

There were a massive customer, so they
could quite easily have set up a streaming

service themselves, but they just didn't
have the foresight to do that others

did and sort of became the standard.

Jamie: I'm going to jump in here and put
James on the spot to there for you guys as

a business owner why do you think people
wouldn't look to adapt when the technology

is evolving, what would be the barriers?

Would it just be arrogance or
would that be stuck in your ways?

What kind of things do you think.

Paul: Was there a too
big to fail aspect to it?

James: So I think in terms of blockbuster,
I think there was an arrogance.

I don't think they thought that everybody
who had video players or anything in their

homes were going to really just abandon
them overnight I think they would have

probably thought that the, you know, the
internet streaming services weren't up

to speed or people wouldn't be streaming
it that quickly in their house as it

happened it was very, very much overnight.

The infrastructure was there.

So I think in their terms, I think
they believed that it would have

been around for a lot longer.

And didn't have their eyes fully
open, I mean, that is going from

something which is very much a
physical product into a digital world

when they were very, very analog.

Everything that they did was very analog.

So it was a little bit
of the unknown for them.

We, we've always been
very lucky that we are.

Small as well.

They're a large organization, which to be
able to pivot like Ross from friends will

let you know isn't just a nineties pun.

Wouldn't be able to, to move as quickly
as say we can, we're a small company.

We don't go to a board to make decisions.

We pretty much all get on a slack call
and decide which route we like and which

route we think we're going to go for.

And we can change very, very quickly
and adapt very, very quickly.

And we do, we are constantly changing how
we operate to stay up to date with that.

Now it's harder the bigger the company is
because there's a lot of decisions to be

made which can impact that bottom line and
a huge amount of staff very, very quickly.

If you take for example, all of
those shops and all of the staff,

which initially was shut down
anyway, there is a, probably a due

diligence of care there as well.

They are probably thinking about
their staff who, if they all

went online are the jobs there?

Certainly not to the same degree.

So I think it is.

I mean, we'll never,
we'll never really know.

We probably could find out, but I think
from my point of view, it was harder to

make those decisions then then it is for
smaller companies to adapt, but again,

it will also come down to the owners.

We are very, we're very changeable.

And I'm very, open-minded, yes.

A business owner has to make
the final decision because it's

got a rest on his shoulders.

And I think that we do, if
it fails, it's my fault.

It's nobody within the company's fault.

But at the same token, if anybody comes
to me with an idea that we maybe should

be going down this route or going
down that route, they can come to me

and it will certainly entertain it.

Again, yeah, it's easier being
a smaller company though.

So in summary, our business plan
or strategy has to be adaptable.

It has to have a long-term goals that
we can stick to and achieve those

goals through smaller Smart goals
or smaller little tasks that we can

run alongside this overview, which
is really for the whole business.

I think we've also said that we have to
find that nice Goldilocks point where

we can spend a good amount of time to
build up a business plan or a business

strategy, but also have something
that we can act on, but not running

into that, into those action points.

We want to not be fixed or
set on a particular plan.

We've got to keep going back to our goal.

Let's think about the, the railroad and
keep going back to, what are we trying

to achieve and what do we want to do?

But as a whole, I think, you know, really
focusing down on your core values, your

problem, and your buyer persona will
help massively, your buyer personas

are going to change over time their
needs, their challenges, the way they

want to get information from you or
buy your products is going to change.

So I think as a key takeaway, focus on
them and learn from them, listen to them.

No matter the size of the
company, speak to your customers.

If you're right at the top, take the
time to go and speak to your customers.

Then you're going to be more
ready to change and not fall into

the trap that blockbuster did.

So once again, it's been nice to have
the boys with me to help me through

another podcast and, to push me
through, to recording another one.

Jamie: Thanks, James.

Paul: Thanks for having us.

James: And remember we have some
downloads on some smart goals.

There are some other really
interesting things around business

planning as well, which are there
as a resources from our website.

So do jump on there.

hellomethod.co.uk, and then the resources
tab will be available to download

again, we're across social media.

We've put a few new, slightly different
tweaks on our Instagram, which is

definitely worth a follow because it's
basically me making a fool of myself,

which is always worth a watch so go and
follow us on Instagram, which is hello,

underscore method where we're also sending
a lot of tips and business strategy,

marketing strategy out on that as well.

Again, if you have any questions, if
you have any feedback, if you want

us to to slightly adapt what we're
doing on the podcast, if you want to

get in on the podcast, then drop me
an email at [e-mail]

until next time take care.

Bye for now.