I have worked for or with many companies over the years, and there is one stunning and consistent trap that organizations fall into: they bury their “enduring promise of value” so deep within their corporate storage unit, and lock the door shut so securely, that that message seems never to make it outside the firm and into the presence of prospects and customers.
Call it inertia, call it the clarity and simplicity prevention reflex — but it happens and it happens often.
I have developed a workshop whose purpose is to help a leadership team refine and validate their business vision and mission; articulate clear and measurable business goals; develop precise target prospect definitions; and build message platforms to address those target prospect audiences. It is not a complicated process or methodology, but it helps the team learn (or remember) that business focus must be extremely clear and easy to understand. When this is achieved, the company can clear away the distractions, clutter, and resource sinks. The organization can get moving toward a known and desirable goal. Marketing happens with clarity and purpose.
Sometimes a company’s raison d’etre needs to be liberated; sometimes it needs to be flossed and cleaned up; sometimes it needs a “gut / rehab.” If the executive team continuously validates its mission, vision, and objectives against company performance, stretching that Elastic Brand can occur without breaking.
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