Stop Thinking, Start Doing: Strategic Planning for the Future

Shweiki Media teams up with Ryan Dohrn of of Brain Swell Media and 360 Ad Sales to present publishers with a must-watch webinar on strategic planning as applied to the three attributes of revenue success: marketing, sales and customer retention.

or Click here to download the full presentation

Screen shot 2013-11-15 at 8.48.30 AM

 

 

Marketing

Screen shot 2013-11-15 at 8.49.54 AM

 

For any sales, marketing or customer retention process, one can create a diagram consisting of three circles, each filled with duties that need to be fulfilled and goals that need to be accomplished, all organized by priority, department and perhaps even ease of completion.

Marketing is the first of three factors that can be attributed to revenue success. It’s important that publishers have at least three areas of focus that get people excited about one’s products or service. While many companies employ online essentials such as eNewsletters, Facebook ads, and Google Ad Words, an individual focus and push towards success is the most effective way to guarantee positive results.

 

Sales Process

Screen shot 2013-11-15 at 9.07.57 AM

Dohrn sticks with the circular theme when moving on to the sales process. Again, the task isn’t necessarily to come up with a new sales technique (although one could do worse than adopt a strategy listed above) but to take a look at what one is already doing and decide on its effectiveness.

 

In the sales diagram, one circle could include one sheets, better CRM and better ESP; another could include creating a sales persona, hiring salespeople, and ad sales training; the final could revolve around self-service clients and top 50 clients.

 

Customer Retention Process

Screen shot 2013-11-15 at 9.26.02 AM

 

With customer retention–the third of the three factors of sales success–one could do the same thing, having one circle with contests and gifts; one with surveys and referral contests; and a final with e-newsletters, events and lunch-and-learns.

Every circle for each factor should also have dates set for completion. And the dates can’t be week one, week two, week three, week four, etc.; it doesn’t work out that way. It’s important to set realistic goals and remember that most strategic plans will take about a year to implement.

Then the crucial next step is assigning a champion to head up each of these circles, because without someone to head up the projects, it’s unlikely they’ll ever be done.

 

Accountability Buddy

The final step towards completing a strategic plan is assigning every “champion” employee a partner to keep them accountable for their chosen circle, as the best way to complete any task is to have a partner in responsibility.

Like this Article? Subscribe to Our Feed!

Ryan Dohrn

Ryan Dohrn, CEO of Brain Swell Media LLC

Ryan Dohrn is an Emmy award winning TV producer, has overseen over 3,000 Web site builds, is a nationally acclaimed speaker, has been featured in USA Today, on ABC, CBS and FOX TV stations, on Forbes.com and has personally impacted millions of dollars in online and related media revenues for media companies large and small.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.