Most businesses I work with don’t have a strategy—at least not one written down and available as a document. I’ve never had a business say to me, “Bernard, as our newly appointed marketing consultant, we’d like you to familiarise yourself with our strategy—here, take a look.” And yet, on social media and business publications, “strategy” is the predominant topic the gurus talk about. You need a strategy! And by the way, make sure your strategy isn’t a plan…and not a vision. Make sure it is a real strategy! It’s such a stark contrast. Everyone talks about strategy, but hardly anyone has one. Small businesses don’t need a strategy Strategy is like the steering wheel of a car—it gives direction. The thing is, for many young businesses, the owner isn’t yet sitting behind the steering wheel but is still outside, pushing to gain momentum. Only once the car—their business—hits a slight downhill can they jump in and start steering. Only now do they need a strategy. A business with zero revenue

As I sit back, reflecting on the rise and fall of the Drip sneaker brand here in South Africa, I can't help but feel a tinge of disappointment. You see, the journey of building a lifestyle brand isn't one that happens overnight, as I remarked in a recent LinkedIn post. I watched as these guys attempted the impossible, trying to weave themselves into the fabric of our sneaker culture, which is undeniably entwined with our fascination with celebrity. From the outset, it was clear they faced an uphill battle. South Africans, myself included, have always had a soft spot for American sneakers. It's as if they carry a certain allure, a status symbol we eagerly embrace. So when I witnessed Drip sneakers plastered across billboards in Johannesburg yet failed to spot a single pair adorning someone's feet, I couldn't shake the nagging feeling that something wasn't adding up. My scepticism wasn't unfounded, as echoed by Mxolisi, a fellow observer on LinkedIn . The deci

You can replace the word "strategy" with "focus". Where are you going to focus? Understandably, entrepreneurial businesses prefer to refrain from concentrating their efforts because they aggressively explore every possible opportunity. Yet, they have the most to gain from targeting their limited resources instead of following a spray-and-pray approach. The Consequences of a Lack of Focus  The problem with not putting enough effort behind a single point is that many ideas remain sub-critical - they never receive enough support to either work or fail entirely. In our experience at Firejuice , doing more of one thing allows the business to get a clear sense of whether it works or doesn't. Unfortunately, in too many cases, a chronic lack of focus often leads to murky decision-making and companies that end up chasing their tails. Structured Opportunity Exploration Entrepreneurial businesses will always search for opportunities, but exploration should not be unrestrai

It is common for business owners to ask a marketing agency to come up with a proposal on what to do. However, the result is almost always an outright disappointment or an eventual failure. The job of setting a company's marketing strategy should never be completely outsourced. At Firejuice , we prefer to support our clients so they can determined themselves - at a broad level - how they want to do marketing before involving an agency to execute it.  If your marketing agency drives your marketing strategy, then that strategy will primarily benefit the agency, not your business. This is why it's so critical for a business to figure out what it wants to do before asking an outside party to tell them how.   A good marketing strategy answers the following three questions: What is our business objective in doing marketing? What are the two or three key initiatives we will pursue to achieve the objective? What activities will we invest in to support each initiative?   It's only at