1. PREPARATION

The Career Troika (business, marketing, and productivity) involves many strategies, as outlined here:

• Corporate Strategy
• Business Strategy (Balanced Scorecard)
• Marketing Strategy
• Sales Strategy
• Customer Strategy
• Product Development Strategy
• Organizational Strategy (resource management, process management, knolwedge management)
• Personal Strategy (efficiency, planning skills, interpersonal skills, etc.)

Corporate Strategy

If you are working within a corporate environment, or want to know what the guys in the suits do, check out the page on Corporate Strategy. It helps the Marketer and Copywriter understand the broader picture for each marketing campaign.

Business Strategy

In what Markets will your business unit operate? What risk-levels, and cost of capital is it constrained by? What returns must it look to achieve?

Marketing Strategy

By what Positioning in the market place can you achieve the business objectives? The Marketing Strategy involves balancing capabilities with target customer insight, and competitive analysis. See the Marketing Strategy page.

Sales Strategy

How will direct sales teams complement the marketing engine?

Customer Strategy

What processes will maximise and optimise the customer experience for the full customer life cycle?

Product Development Strategy

What NPD (new product development) must occur, what is happening in the marketplace, and what is the current product road-map?

Organizational Strategy

What internal culture and set of operational processes and procedures will best serve the marketing plan, business objectives, and corporate strategy?

Personal Strategy

Review your current situation, skills, abilities, knowledge, aspirations, motivations, hurdles, experiences, and connections. See the Personal Strategy page.

Dynamic Preparation Through Continuous Research:

These strategies evolve through macro-environmental trends and micro-environmental developments. The next section focuses on researching your market, niche, and prospect.