After a number of years in which the trend in business strategies consisted of reducing costs and “looking within”, like an armadillo, with companies closing in on themselves and trying to stay afloat while the crisis shook them left, right and center, it could be said that they were in “protection mode”. However, thanks to a certain degree of improvement in the economy there has been a paradigm shift that has enabled companies to widen their horizons and set new challenges. This is in fact the only way to grow and not just try to “stay alive”. This has had a clear impact on the national economy which has clearly benefited from this new vision.
Strategic consulting consists of clearly defining where to direct the company, and should contain a strategic plan and marketing plan that define the ideal strategy to make the company grow. And this is just what we’re going to see in this section.
1. STRATEGIC CONSULTING:
As we saw, it’s very important to clearly mark the aims and the roadmap to be followed.
With a consultancy service and business strategy marketing companies can understand the needs and challenges, define the objectives and the actions required to achieve the established aims.
A good consultancy service should consist of the following points:
In the first phase, an initial audit, to gain in depth knowledge of the company to detect its strong and weak points and its market environment (regulations, competitors, maturity, etc). A benchmarking of the competition is carried out along with a market yield identification. This way the challenges and objectives can be identified. After this stage, the next step is to define the value and performance indicators, or KPIs. Finally the global strategy needs to be specified, which covers: the marketing, sales, channels and scope in the different markets.
Then the strategic roadmap is defined. The leverage pillars are also defined to improve the yield and growth of the company.
1.2 WHAT SHOULD THE STRATEGIC CONSULTANCY BE GEARED TOWARDS?
A business consultancy service should be geared towards achieving growth in business opportunities and guaranteeing maximum investment returns. . Evidently, all this should be reflected in the building of a consolidated process of improvement of the global business yield.
2. THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING CLEAR COMPANY OBJECTIVES
As we mentioned, it’s very important to have clear objectives, and that means having clear company goals, something that it wants to achieve. Some general objectives and some other specific ones are set, which in turn are divided into strategic, tactical and operational objectives. The objectives are divided into short, medium and long term. To establish them, you need to visualize where you want to be and to do that you have to clearly define the mission, vision and values of your company.
What’s almost as important as knowing where you want to be is understanding where you are now. That’s why two types of analysis are carried out: an external one to know the environment better, and an internal one to find the strong and weak points of the company.
Finally, the next stage is to formulate the strategy in which the key aspects companies should focus on to achieve their objectives are identified.
2.1. WHAT ARE THE SMART OBJECTIVES?
The word SMART in this case is an acronym with the following meaning: specific, measurable, attainable, realist, timely. It is used as a play on words as when we talk about SMART objectives we are talking about intelligent ones. But what does this acronym really mean?
- Specific: The objective should be as specific as possible.
- Measurable: It should be possible to measure the objective, and so you should bear in mind that this goal should be measurable.
- Attainable: The objective should be a challenge, but a reachable one.
- Realist: The objectives should be within our reach, it’s important to consider the resources available and the situation you find yourself in.
- Timely: You should mark fixed periods that are divided into different stages.
The objectives marked should always have these characteristics, this is the correct way to define an objective.
3. WHAT IS A STRATEGIC PLAN AND A MARKETING PLAN AND WHAT ARE THEY FOR?
Major companies know the importance of implementing a strategic business plan, to not do so would be like sailing a boat without a rudder, that’s why they spend part of their resources on clearly defining where they want to go and what they should do to reach their objectives. A marketing plan is just that: defining how, when and where, giving over resources and making efforts to achieve improvements in the yield of the brand, products or services, channels and markets.
Small companies often believe that they do not require these practices. But it is just as important to set a strategic plan for a small company as it is for a large one.
A strategic plan should consist of specific and measurable activities that can help you to achieve the established objectives. Engaging in activities without any way of measuring them or without a plan behind them means that you only spend money without any guarantees of a positive yield or impact. At the same time a strategic plan should include the main areas for action. These can be summarized as: Business yield, expansion and attraction, user and experience, outsourcing and digital development. To cover every area it is important to defined what services are needed to achieve the established objectives.
4. IMPORTANCE OF HAVING A BROAD SCOPE OF MARKETING, COMMUNICATION AND COMMERCIAL CAPACITIES FOR A BUSINESS:
A strategic plan should include all the options in terms of campaigns, channels and markets that a business needs to reach its goals. That’s why it’s a good idea to have an external partner that can help in the scope and the expertise, along with an outsourcing service that enables you to access the most appropriate campaigns and methodology for your company.
Lifting Group is a company that specializes in Marketing Outsourcing, and not only more than ten years experience is proof of that, our methodology is also a guarantee for success. Talking about a Marketing Outsourcing service where Lifting Group is concerned, is to talk about outsourcing services that are totally adapted to client needs, because we know that every company is a world in itself.
The methodology we apply in outsourcing continues to be most innovative one in the sector:
- Analysis: In the first month or every year, we identify the real status, carry out Basic Audits and define the KSPIs (Key Service Performance Indicators).
- Strategy: In the first and every six months we plan the development of the service, the interaction of the team concerned, and the roadmap is defined along with the investment budget.
- Implementation: The actions and campaigns are then repeatedly defined and implemented. Roadmap and budget tracking.
- Tracking: The KPIs, KSPIs and ROIs are frequently monitored.
The capacity to work on all the channels from the same company ensures that they are all correctly coordinated since they have to be worked on as part of a global strategy. At Lifting Group we work with trained specialist teams and by doing so we guarantee the best quality in terms of service. Every team has a Senior Marketing Consultant, who is responsible for defining and implementing the marketing strategy. This Senior Consultant is not alone, he or she has a team of different specialist profiles in the channels that he or she selects according to the scope of the service. That way we ensure the established goals are met. Lifting Group is different from other marketing agencies and consultancies because it specializes in outsourcing the management and implementation of the marketing. The true difference resides in the fact that our aim is to reach such a degree of commitment and involvement in the project that the client feels we are like one more department of the company. This is achieved by close communications and working flexibility. The importance of defining a roadmap at the start of each project revolves around this final point, flexibility. For us flexibility means being able to adapt time to the current situation of the service, while the best professionals can be assigned depending on the needs of the moment.
THE OUTSOURCING SERVICE FOR THE COMPANIES OF LIFTING GROUP FOLLOWS A METHODOLOGY BASED ON FIVE BASIC KEY STEPS:
- Analysis, to define needs and strategy.
- Planning of the action strategy, which consists of defining the implementation roadmap.
- Implementation, which consists of involving the team and methodology of Lifting Group.
- Tracking, which consists of monthly reporting and regular follow-up meetings.
- Evolution and adaptation of the strategy depending on the current scenario of yield and achievement of objectives.
At Lifting Group, our clients objectives become our aims. Our level of commitment is one of the aspects that is most highly valued by our clients. Commitment and involvement are key factors in outsourcing such an important service as this one. That way our clients’ management can be dedicated to other areas of the company and Lifting Group becomes a strategic partner that helps the client to grow and reach his goals.
