Strategy is really just another word for intelligent planning of your business in order to maximize value creation and delivery. It can involve re-vitalization of brand; new product plans; expansion into new geographies; and much more.

There are some basic issues that turn up time and again.

• Core competencies – What is my company really good at?
• Sustained advantage – What must I do to sustain those strengths over time?
• Differentiation – How do my strengths set me apart from other companies?
• Segmentation and market analysis – Who are my customers
• Value proposition – What is most important to keeping and growing my customer base?

Without a crystal-clear understanding of these issues, it’s very difficult to run your company effectively.

All the other questions – product and corporate positioning, branding, launch planning, channel strategy and so on, depend on understanding the five questions above. The questions of core competency and sustained advantage are about value creation – the way you generate something of interest to a customer. Differentiation clarifies your position relative to competitors, and segmentation and market analysis allows you to focus your message specifically to maximize the communicated and delivered value to different kinds of customers. The value proposition is the ultimate boiling down of your message – sometimes we call it your Unique Selling Proposition, or USP.

If you need answers to these five questions or others, we can help. We have a specific methodology that begins with examination of the five questions, and proceeds to positioning, brand development, message development and marketing communications.

There are some interesting tools available to help with strategy development – market research is often an element, supported by value web analysis – examining the nature of the relationships that support your business – suppliers, partners, channel, and customers.