65. Stop building marketing strategies to impress your leaders

Hey, welcome back to the B2B Marketing Gap podcast with me, Jade Tambini, aka B2BJade. Today I'm going to go through my strategic marketer kit with you. I think this is going to be really fun. I've never actually done an episode like this before. So what you want to do is first head to the link in my show notes. If you're watching this in the future, it may no longer be available on my website. What that includes is a replay of a recent webinar I did teaching you what needs to be included in preparing For building your marketing strategy and where we go commonly wrong. Over 900 of you registered. So if you were there, great. You can get the replay, but there's also a workbook and a guide that you can go through that's going to help you get prepped in readiment for building a marketing strategy. Now that sounds a bit weird. Like, why would I prep for doing that? Well, we've been on a bit of an April challenge if you're inside my community. So everyone on my email list will have been sent this Strategic Marketer Kit. And the idea was spend April getting really honest about where you are with your marketing and line up with your leaders to help them see and understand, you know, what we're doing is not working. So doing that groundwork before you actually start building your strategy, which is guided in the Strategic Marketer Kit that I've put together for you, is such a good foundation because you're giving yourself that time to go, look, let's be really honest about where we are and what's going wrong. And I think it's something that is so missed in marketing education today. I mean, everything that I build, everything that I share with you is all based off of my experience when I was a marketing manager and I was feeling stuck. And so it's all super down to earth, super easy to follow and super realistic. I'm absolutely boiling. I wonder if my heating's on. Yeah, my heating's on. It's April. What's going on? So make sure you've got the kit in front of you. If you haven't already got it, download it. We are going to walk through the kit together. So this is like a really nice little bonus. I usually do these sort of sessions like live within B2B Breakthrough Academy, my marketing strategy course. So I thought like, why don't we just do this as an episode? Because lots of you have been emailing me and letting me know what you're up to. How you're spending April in getting prepared so that you can then use May to build your marketing strategy. So open up the prep workbook. Maybe you wanna press pause here, either get hold of it, look through emails, or just like ask me for the guide through the form I've linked in the show notes or on my website. Get the prep workbook in front of you. Maybe you could even like pause for a bit and read the the, the guide, because what you'll get within the kit is you have a guide explaining to you like how you're going to do this, and you're going to have a workbook to actually do the work. And so it's all about priming yourself. So it's called the Get Honest Strategic Marketer Prep Workbook Guide. Like, I'm just gonna like read it to you. It's like story time. It's going to be fun. So we're clearing the ground before you build your marketing strategy, and I'll talk to you about like my thinking behind creating this. So if you're reading this, something's probably not working the way you hoped. Maybe you're working incredibly hard, but leadership is not taking you seriously. Maybe that sounds like you. Maybe you feel scattered, like you're firefighting every day instead of building something you're actually proud of. Maybe you're saying yes to everything. I've been where you are. I spent years trying to build marketing plans, and it goes on like that. So what is this workbook for? This is your guide to help you create help you complete, even, your prep workbook before you build a full marketing strategy. Think of it like clearing the ground before you build a house. You need to understand where you actually are right now, where you want to be, and what's really going on with your business and leaders before you can build something solid. So this prep workbook is going to help you get honest with yourself, with your business, and with your leaders. You'll answer questions that are going to feel uncomfortable at times. You'll have a conversation with your leadership team that shifts how they see you. By the way, I'm reading this because when I'm given guides, I can't be bothered to read them. So I thought I will read it to you. You're gonna have a conversation within this process with your leadership team to, um, that shifts how they see you. And you're gonna walk away with clarity on what needs to change going forwards. And if you are joining B2B Breakthrough Academy, so just to give you context here. We get started on May 11th building our marketing strategy. So if you want to do that with me, doors open April 28th. So just make sure you're on my email list so that I can, like, let you know when the doors actually open. We do also have a free live class. It's called my— what am I calling it? Um, oh, let's have a look. I'm calling it— I only just built— oh yeah, this, the Live Strategy Clinic. Yeah, I just built it. So I'm holding a live strategy clinic, and that is going to be on Thursday, 30th of April. So make sure you save your seat for that, because what you're going to do on that date is I'm going to help you to reflect on everything you've put into the workbook that we're going through today. And then I'll also be answering your questions about B2B Breakthrough Academy so that you can, you know, get any final questions answered should you wish to join us on May 11th. So if you do want to see pricing, more details, modules, everything else, you can head to b2bjade.com. So if you're joining B2B Breakthrough Academy, this is what you'll complete before we get started. So basically what I've given you is the prep module of my marketing strategy course. So everyone is given this so that they complete it before we start with module 1, week 1 inside the program, which lasts 6 weeks. So it means that when we get into module 1, you'll already be primed and ready to do your marketing review. It's like telling your family, look, something's gonna be changing, change is coming, so that when we actually make a big change, they're not shocked. It's kind of like that. So, how to work through this workbook. Part 1, complete Part 1 of the workbook on your own. So at the moment, I'm reading you the guide, the PDF guide. Step 2, schedule a 30 to 45 minute meeting with your leadership team. So, Really important here that you book this quite soon because we're wanting to use April. It already is the middle of April. So I would get a meeting in with your leaders, even if you're not sure this second what you're covering with them. Just say, I'd like to have 30 to 45 minutes with you to go through our marketing. You know, I really want to talk about how we get things on track for this financial year. Then, um, step 3, use the leadership conversation guide at the end of the workbook. So that's in the Google document, the Google Docs. Document, um, to structure that meeting so that you've got preparators. I've built you like a prep kit for your meeting with your leaders. Step 4, come back and complete part 2 of the workbook. So you're doing part 1 on your own, you're going off and having a meeting with your leaders, which I've pre-written out for you what you need to ask them, and then you're coming back and filling out part 2. So step 5, bring this completed workbook to our Q&A session on April 30th. So that will be really fun. Just basically like, complete your workbook, make sure you save your seat for the April 30th live strategy clinic where I'm gonna like help you reflect on what you came up with. So before you start, the workbook does ask you some hard questions, questions you might have been avoiding because it's easier to stay safe. Be honest with yourself as you work through it and write down what's actually true, even if it feels messy or uncomfortable. That is where things start to shift. Next steps. So now that we've read that, so, you know, I've, I've read the guide to you, so you don't even have to read it now. You might wanna look, I've made it pretty. Head to the prep workbook Google Doc, press File, Make a Copy, because what a lot of people do is try and edit it and send me a request to let them edit, but you can't edit the master, otherwise everyone will see it. So you gotta press File, Make a Copy, and then answer the question. So what it is gonna give you, it's gonna give you clarity on where you're at versus where you wanna be. It's gonna give you an honest assessment of what's working and what isn't. Because so often we don't wanna face up to when things aren't working. It's human nature. Like if you are in a relationship, if you have a friendship, if there's something that you're avoiding in your house that you don't wanna do, it's easier to look away sometimes. But what we're doing is we're like, do you know what? We're gonna confront this. I am a problem solver. I don't like ignoring stuff. So it's like, we're doing, we're dealing with it. And even if it's really bad, we're gonna deal with it. So you're also gonna get strategic insight from leadership team that's gonna help you in later parts of the marketing strategy process. And you're gonna get an understanding of the real business problems marketing needs to solve. And so what happens next depends on your path. If you're joining B2B Breakthrough Academy, This workbook is your foundation ready to start Module 1. You'll take what you've learned here and build it out into a full marketing review. Then you'll move through the 5-step framework with me to build your complete strategy. We get started soon. Visit b2bj.com to enroll. Okay. If you're working independently, use the workbook as your starting point. The next step will be to move forward and build your marketing review. Then you'll move into setting objectives, selecting strategies, and building your plan. Either way. You've started the transformation, so you are no longer scattered and you are becoming strategic. So I hope that got you in the zone to be excited to complete your workbook. So, part 1. This is the bit where you are gonna listen to yourself deep. You might wanna pause for a bit and just get into the right headspace. I don't actually want you to complete this whilst listening to me. I want you to take time to really connect with yourself and be honest with yourself because this document isn't gonna be shared with anyone in your business. So you don't need to pretend here, you don't need to make anything look good, and this is a really vulnerable, really real document. Um, so part 1, where are you now? I want you to write down 3— like, well, not 3 words, like as many words as you want, words to describe where you are as a marketer right now. So like, what would you use to describe who you are as a marketer? It could be overwhelmed, invisible, stuck, reactive, exhausted, scattered, like what words come to you. And I want you to, before you start this work, I want you to get into a clear space, whether you've got somewhere in your home that's quite zen. Maybe you have like a quiet corner in your office where you will not be disturbed. Maybe you could take a short walk before and just really like clear your mind of everything you have to get done. So you get out of like a kind of task mindset. It's so important that you go into this with the right head on so that you aren't just feeling like, "Oh, quickly, just get it done." Like, take your time with this. So, once you've, like, calmed yourself, for me, sometimes going for a walk, reading a chapter of a fiction book, something chilled, having a hot drink really helps me to just, like, center, settle into myself. Maybe you could have, like, inspiring, calming music behind you. This type of stuff really helps me. I don't know if it does you. So, write down the words to describe where you are right now, and then you're gonna write down what a typical day looks like for you. Like, like, try and channel this. Please do not drop stuff into, like, thoughts into AI and, like, come up with a clever long paragraph. Like, I don't know if this relates, like, let me know if it does. But when I channel, like, I ask, I don't mean in a spiritual sense necessarily, but, like, I kind of ask my brain and my body and something above me, I don't know what, to, like, channel. And just write. Don't like overthink it. This is not about like getting it right. This is about channeling and brain dumping. There's no direction to this. What is your typical day like? It's wild. It starts with this, then it's chaos, then it's this, then it's that, then it's meetings. And just like throw it down. And then how do you usually respond when leadership asks for something? Just Throw down what comes to mind. Like maybe you freeze and you just say yes because you're not sure and you feel imposter syndrome. Like throw down what it is. Do you currently have a marketing strategy? Yes or no? And so then we're gonna be assessing the current strategy. So if you answered yes, you do have a marketing strategy, can you write in the box, like if possible, can you explain your marketing strategy in 2 to 3 sentences without looking at the document. Just explain in a nutshell, like, what you're going for with your strategy, as simply as you can. Because most of the time I see marketing strategies and they're really scattered, and they basically just like— everyone in the business has told you what they think you should be doing, and you're trying to stuff it all in to impress everyone else and make— not, not impress, but like make them happy. And get them off your back. But that's not what we're trying to do anymore. What we're trying to do is go, our business has a problem. It needs growth. It needs to retain customers. It needs to be stable. It needs to be profitable, whatever it needs to be. And we need to find the most efficient way to help the business deliver that and help them to be a strong brand, a strong business that people actually want to work with and attract the right people in and convert them into customers. We want to do that. So what is going to be the most efficient way to do that? Not what are the most things we can cram in with our resources. So we're really flipping things on its head. So I want you to see if you're able to describe your marketing strategy in 2 to 3 sentences, because if you aren't, it probably means that it's a bit scattered and it's not clear and it's not connected. So when was the last time you referenced or used your strategy document to guide your activity? So this week, this month, can't remember, haven't ever used it. A lot of people, you'd be surprised. Are there. Does your marketing strategy include the following things? So just tick clear marketing objectives that connect to business goals, not just generate 50 leads in 3 months. You'd be amazed how many people like run with these types of, um, objectives. And like, it's not that they're wrong, it's not wrong to target yourself on like a, a number, but the problem is when you get to— and this is not just me, like Rory Sutherland, who is like the greatest, he goes on about this so much. As soon as you make your goal the actual outcome, the output, you basically break everything for yourself because you come obsessed with the outcome. So a good example of this is I'm currently training for some running that I'm doing. I'm signed up some running events, and if I just obsess about achieving a particular time in a running race, um, I will become so fixated on that that I forget to just work with my body and what my body needs to be in a really good condition, so that as a result of that, I'm going to achieve that time. And a very, very good example of this is, um, I wasn't able to run for a while due to some injury— like, not injury, but like, after I had my children, my lower back was a real problem, and I've lacked core strength. And then I was basically, every time I ran, I was just making the whole system, overloaded and not work properly. So part of my training to get a really good time for running was actually I wasn't allowed to run for quite a while because I had to do my core strength work. So if I just fixated on how do I get the best time, how do I run, run, run, run, run, run, run, I wouldn't actually work on the overall problem, which was the parts of my body that needed attention and the reasons why I wasn't already able to run, say, a half marathon in a set time, or a 10K in a set time, or the park run in a set time. If I became obsessed with those times, I only focus on the time as opposed to actually how do I get my body into the best peak condition it can possibly be with where I am right now. And then the— and then it, as a result, the time will be achieved. So how that translates in objectives is we need to ask ourselves the question, similar to a half marathon, like with a parkrun, like why is my time not 23 minutes yet? Um, why is that? Not, um, achieve 23 minutes. Like, that's obvious. You want to get leads, you want to get a good time in a parkrun. Um, so we're looking at, well, why aren't I there yet? So for me, it was lacking core strength, um, need repetition of, um, upper body exercises, um, need to like XYZ, all the things, all the components. There was also diet came into it as well, making sure that I'm You know, fit and healthy and well and sleeping well. And so by identifying in the objectives what the gaps are, like the reason we're not already there, that really helps us to, like, for example, if your objective is obsessed with why someone, um, like a high, high loss of customers. So maybe like your retention rate is reducing because there's a cheaper competitor. You wouldn't just say in your, with my framework, you wouldn't just say increased, um, 'Customer retention rate by 10% within 6 months,' which is what SMART goals will tell you to do, because then you're just obsessed with that metric. Like, how do I get that? Like, instead of going, 'Why is this business not already at 85% customer retention rate? What's gone wrong? Why are we not there now?' Oh, people think we're not worth the money. We're saying we're premium price, but they don't feel they're getting, um, more than they would a cheaper competitor. So we either need to sort our shit out and like up the service to justify that price difference, or we need to better communicate to new people coming in the door and people already here, like why it would be da— dumb to go with the cheaper alternative. So do you see why understanding what's really going on think of me with my running, like maybe someone else has had a knee injury, maybe someone else has got breathing difficulties or mental health challenges, I don't know, like why are we not already there? Then we need specific strategies that explain how you'll achieve the objectives, not just a list of tactics. I'm not going to go into loads of detail on all of these, but just to know that like strategies versus tactics, big difference. Strategies is like, what's the big thing we need to focus on? And tactics is what we'll actually do. A realistic budget breakdown. So you're just gonna tick, like, how many of these have you got within your strategy? Now, specific strategies explain how you'll do this. I'm talking like as few as possible. If you've got a huge long list of all the strategies you are gonna adopt, don't tick this because it's the word specific is quite important in this. A realistic budget breakdown showing where money will be spent. And this is where you're able to show, like, of the strategies we're going to do, here's where we're going to spend. A defined target audience with their real-life pain points and challenges. So not just like— and this is something I used to do a lot in a marketing strategy. I would be like, target audience. I'm just like, uh, just throw down some like demographics, firmographics, all that sort of stuff, and just like, uh, just move on. Company size. No, we need to talk about like, of your customers, Who is your dream client? Like, who would your leaders want to clone times 100? Like, if you only ever had to deal with one customer and they were just cloned, who would it be, right? Write about them, what their challenges are, how you help them, why you're best placed to help them, all that stuff. So have you got that? Have you got a marketing review showing what's working and what's not really openly, really honestly, really down to earth with all of the stats and metrics that you would need from other departments? Have you got a plan you can actually deliver within your current team and resources that doesn't make you feel overwhelmed and stressed? Have you got that? Clear metrics, and very few of them that connect to the business outcomes, not just vanity. So what you want is like, here are the things we're measuring for the leaders, like 2 or 3 things, and here are the things per strategy that marketing will keep an eye on, but not too many. Prioritised activities in the form of an actual project plan, not a shopping list of everything you could possibly do, but what you will do and really will do.. And when you look at it, you're like, we can deliver that. I feel good. Like, that's how I feel about my marketing strategy. Timeline showing when things will happen. And have you got— this is a big one, the last tick, most people can't tick this— have you got buy-in from leadership on what you're going to focus on? Or are you just like, they've seen the strategy, or maybe they haven't, maybe haven't even finished it, maybe you don't have one, and that's fine because if you ticked no, you won't be doing any of this. Cause it's amazing how common that is where like marketers don't have a marketing plan. Don't panic. You are often on the task wheel. Okay. Okay. So next question. Honestly, this goes no further. Did you build this strat? Now just let go of your ego here. Okay. Cause I wasn't very good at doing this. I'd be like lying to myself. Okay. So be honest. Deep breath. Did you build this strategy with the main goal being to impress leadership in a meeting or to actually use it? That is so exposing. Like that, if I'd been asked that when I was trying to build marketing plans, and they were never very good, they were all over the place. You know, when I was in 2014, 2013, when I was a marketing manager, I was building them for the meeting to make sure I'd crammed all their ideas in to make sure they'd be impressed. But what I want you to do is impress them by doing the opposite. Now I want us to get honest. Okay, so when you look at your strategy document, again, deep breath. What do you feel? Excited to execute it? Can't wait. This is realistic. Love it. Overwhelmed by what's in it. Confused about where to start. Like it's gathering dust. Or other. I would be very interested to see your others. I, because you guys are a humorous lot, I reckon it'd be like, burn it. If you answered no, that you don't have a marketing strategy, why not? Never had time to build one. Don't know where to start. Leadership haven't asked for one. I've tried it, but it never sticks. Or other. Okay, so part 3. Now I need to edit the workbook because this says part 2, but it's part 3. Maybe I'll just be naughty and just make, I don't know why part 2. Part 1B assess your current mark. Okay. This is why I love just working on my own. I can just change things. Okay. So you're gonna schedule your meeting with leaders. You're gonna have your leader meeting, and I've put a little guide at the bottom, leadership conversation guide. And basically you're gonna say something like, I'm working on building a clearer marketing strategy that connects to our business goals. To do that well, I need to understand a few things from your perspective. I've got about 10 questions and it should take 30 to 45 minutes. Is there a suitable time we could do this? You can literally just copy and paste into an email. If they say no, run. Like, who says no to that? Are you mad? Okay. Questions to ask. Where is the business trying to get to in the next 3 to 5 years? Listen out for things like their vision, their ambition, what success looks like. Don't leave it with like double in profitability. Like, ask them like, where do you want it to be? You want it to grow, bigger team, move offices? Like, what are you thinking? What are the key goals for this year? You wanna listen for revenue targets, growth percentage, market expansions, new product, products. Listen, they're just gonna enjoy being asked. What's currently standing in the way of us hitting these goals? So listen for the real problem. If you possibly can, try not to be like, "Question 3, what currently stands in the way?" Like, drop it in conversationally because you're gonna, if you can get them to flow, you're gonna get them to like open up a bit more. When you think about our ideal customers, who comes to mind? Get them to describe, you could even say like, I'm going to put that in there. Who is our best customer in terms of how well we work with them, how easy they are to service, and how profitable they are to us? Now, that is to me what makes a good customer. So listen out. Okay. Because it's not like, oh, everyone. What do you think makes us different from our competitors? Listen for things that are truly unique, not just like their perspective. And when, We're just trying to get their perspective. What do you wish marketing was doing differently? If marketing could solve— ooh, what have I done? If marketing could solve one problem for the business this year, what would it be? So you've got to listen out for the priorities. And like, if they say things like get more leads, just try and softly nudge them into different directions. Number 9, what does strategic marketing mean to you? Like, what do you think the role of marketing is? And number 10, what would you need to see from marketing to feel confident we're on the right track? So there's a little section there to jot down takeaways. I'm not going to go through every single question now, um, every single section, but like within the workbook you're going to like put in there all the things that have been working about the marketing, what you're currently doing, what you're not doing, who your competitors are, who your ideal clients are. So basically like your conversation with Your conversation with leaders is giving you input from them that then helps you to fill out the rest of the workbook. I really hope that you enjoy the process because I think when people actually start building their marketing strategy, there's an element of pressure that comes in and they feel like really formal about it. I think this is such a lovely piece of work for you to do during April before we get started, if you want to join us in May. Because it gives you that just like time to just reflect, breathe, gather a few things together so that you're like, okay, I know what I'm doing. I've got leaders on board-ish. And I think the meeting, the meeting that you're gonna have with them is purely just to get them opening up to you, hearing that like, okay, this, this person wants to become more strategic. And then if you join the event on April 30th, so the link to join is in the show notes. For my live strategy clinic, just come having had your meeting, having filled out your workbook, and just share with me, like, what did you find difficult? What surprised you? You know, how did the leaders take it? Did they— I mean, a lot of leaders will literally see you as strategic even after that conversation because you're being proactive. You're taking it away from any one task. You're not just, like, pushing back, which I used to do a lot. I would be like, no, we shouldn't do that. We should be strategic. We shouldn't do that. What I should have done was like set up some time to say, look, I want to fix this. The marketing's not doing what we want it to. Like, here's what I'm thinking we'll do. Can we have some time? So make sure that you join me on April 30th. I'm really looking forward to seeing you. If you don't have the Strategic Marketer Kit already, don't worry. There is time. You can head to the link in the show notes or anywhere on my website, b2bjade.com. If for whatever reason you're watching this long into the future, there will be lots of great— there's always freebies on my website, whether that be I'm promoting a webinar or the marketer kit. But if you really want this kit, just drop me an email, jade@b2bjade.com. I have to say this every time as well. When you fill out the form, you'll get a little double opt-in from my email provider. Make sure you do that and then check your promotions and spam just in case. I know Gmail is an absolute nightmare for this. Your work email is usually best, to be honest, to use. But if you do use your Gmail, just make sure you Check promotions and then drag it into inbox so that it likes me again. And yeah, I just, I'm going to spend the last couple of minutes telling you about B2B Breakthrough Academy. So on the 30th of April, there will also be a segment where I'll answer your questions about the academy. Doors have been closed since February. Okay. I have been rebuilding, like soul searching. I've moved to a new platform to host it. I've refreshed a few things and I've also built out AI Jade. If you're interested in how to use AI in your marketing strategy, I recommend watching the episode before this. So I think that's episode 64, um, about how to use AI in your marketing strategy and how not to. I've built AI Jade because I really believe that you do need an AI partner when you're building your marketing strategy. And I'm absolutely not saying don't consult with Claude and ChatGPT as well, But I've built AI Jade because she's fully trained on the program I take marketers through. So the way B2B Breakthrough Academy works is doors open on April 28th and the doors close on May 7th. So if you are interested, you can get hold of the leader's guide, which is something you can give to your bosses to help them understand the value. You can find that on my website on the Breakthrough Academy page. We get started on Monday, 11th of May. And we will start with the prep work. So everything you're doing in this, we'll build on it a little more, and then I'll be releasing Module 1 a few days later, and there'll be a full onboarding call. And then every 2 weeks after that, we have a live call with me to answer your questions, give you some support, help you with your plan. Maybe you've written some objectives, you're not sure, you wanna share them on screen and show me. I'll be able to do that with you. So you get that access to me. What you also get is 24/7 access to AI Jade. So she is me. She's been fully trained on my brain. She has— I'm still doing it. She is basically like super me. So I have given her hours and hours and hours of consulting calls so that she knows in every instance how I answer a question. She's fully trained on the framework of B2B Breakthrough Academy. So she'll be able to say, well, that's not the type of objective we, we write in within B2B Breakthrough Academy. 'How about this one?' So you can go back and forth with her. You might be able to say, 'Well, I'm stuck on my strategy. This is my tactic. Where have I gone wrong?' That type of stuff she's trained on. So when you go to ChatGPT to say, 'Hey, here's my marketing objective,' it might pull on one of millions of different approaches. And so then you kind of go off course. So I just, when I was seeing past students use AI and my programme, I was seeing where they were going wrong. So I decided to build AIJ just to be that additional support, even though you do get live access to me. There's also a community where you can post and ask questions. I reply, your friends can reply too, all people in the same boat. And then yeah, each week a new module comes out. So within 6 to 8 weeks, you should have built your marketing strategy that your leaders will love and you will feel so confident to deliver. I've had people tell me that this experience is better than their degree and any course they've had put together. Um, and it's not, um, a coincidence. I built what was missing. Like, I saw a gap. People need simple strategy, but one that really leaders can buy into and that they can understand, and there's no jargon. So I would love to see you, um, in our next cohort. And, um, make sure that you're on my email list so that you get alerted when the doors open. As always, thank you so much for listening in, and I will see you next time.