We need a new understanding of strategy to control strategic management for the future. First, realise that strategy is not about long-term or top-level thinking. Strategy by nature actually must exist at every level of business, in every consideration that management must make.

According to Goldratt and the Theory of Constraints (TOC), ‘strategy’ means: “an answer to the question ‘what for?’” (objective, purpose). This couples with the TOC explanation of ‘tactics’, which are: “an answer to the question ‘how?’” (process, actions).

This impacts on management in a big way. Mark Parker Follett (1868-1933) defined management as ‘the art of getting things done through people’. How succinct.

And since nothing happens without people at ever level, strategy must be considered by every member of an organization to understand and fulfil the purpose and required outcome of their function. This empowers the organization towards greater effectiveness, efficiency and innovation.

This shift in approach (for strategic management to be involved in more than just long-term top-level stuff and for all staff to be more involved with it) will produce the much needed mature and natural progress of management for the future. Although much management stubbornly maintains their monopoly on company direction due to academic traditions or super sized egos.

We still see narrow minded management seeking glory through short-term gains, whilst talking about customer value yet not really seeking maximum customer contribution. Traditional management’s focus remains on efficiencies rather than effectiveness.

But that old paradigm is losing it’s shine. Six years of research by Collins and Porras discovered the key principles behind 19 successful companies:

Each of those companies supported an ideology that encourages staff to build a company that lasts. In Built To Last (1994) they showed how “short term profit goals, cost cutting, and restructuring will not stimulate dedicated employees to build a great company that will endure.”

The most comprehensive set of management tools for achieving this new paradigm can be found in the theory of constraints body of knowledge. TOC works on both effectiveness and efficiency depending on where the greatest determined leverage point is found for progress. And all staff are involved.

Read about theory of constraints marketing and theory of constraints for sales management.

One of the greatest tragedies of modern management is the belief that strategy is long-term and tactics are short-term. Truth is, strategy exists at ever level of the organization and must be considered with every action and option chosen by the company.

According to Goldratt and the Theory of Constraints (TOC), ‘strategy’ means: “an answer to the question ‘what for?’” (objective, purpose). This couples with the TOC explanation of ‘tactics’, which are: “an answer to the question ‘how?’” (process, actions).

This impacts on management in a big way. Mark Parker Follett (1868-1933) defined management as ‘the art of getting things done through people’. How succinct.

And since all people are involved with objectives, purpose, process and actions in some way, to achieve ongoing competitive advantage, strategic management must become more open to bottom-up innovation and a more open approach to engaging people throughout the entire organization.

This shift in approach (for strategic management to be involved in more than just long-term top-level stuff and for all staff to be more involved with it) will produce the much needed mature and natural progress of management for the future. Although much management stubbornly maintains their monopoly on company direction due to academic traditions or super sized egos.

Opportunistic managers seeking quick gains for their own honor can sink the long-term competitiveness of the company and stifle much needed disruptive innovations under the pretence of seeking efficiencies to save money.

But that old paradigm is losing it’s shine. Six years of research by Collins and Porras discovered the key principles behind 19 successful companies:

Each company encouraged and maintained an ideology that nurtures the organization. These core values support employees to build a long-lasting organization. In Built To Last (1994) they identified that: “short term profit goals, cost cutting, and restructuring will not stimulate dedicated employees to build a great company that will endure.”

The Theory of Constraints, through it’s definition of strategy and tactics, and its array of management tools, is providing the means to involve all staff in strategic management.

Continue with more on strategic business management and read the authors recommended top leadership book for learning modern strategy.

Why are other business functions such as finance, fulfilment and operations more organized than marketing?

With today’s business efficiencies, the marketing function probably represents the greatest leverage opportunity for overall business growth and company performance.

And the marketing people feel the pressure – yet overwhelmed by promising new fads and genuine new tactics such as affiliate marketing, social media, Facebook advertising…

But it’s no one’s fault. Business has to mature to absorb marketing as a centre piece of modern strategy, rather than leaving it silo’d. Only then can the marketing function truly shine as it should.

“Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two-and only two-basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business.” – Peter Drucker

And what is the most glaringly obvious opportunity for marketing to improve by? Marketing Project Management.

Training in MPM can come from books on project management… or it can extend into formalised academic project management (most of which I would not recommend), or a comprehensive study and implementation of critical chain project management which is way ahead of standard project management techniques.

The Way Into Marketing Project Management

No matter how you approach developing marketing project management, or the scale of MPM required in your company, here is a 6-part model for MPM.

1. Preparation – Customer focus orientation, productivity training

2. Research – Customer insight, product insight, internal capabilities audits, etc.

3. Development – Web presence, product development contribution, team development, etc.

4. Conversion – Campaign management, website management, email marketing, sales pipeline, etc

5. Traffic – SEO, affiliate marketing, email marketing, social media marketing.

6. Tracking – Web tracking, ROI analysis, etc.

Those six categories of practical MPM are unlocked by the trialectic of management:

1. Outcome – Get clear on what results are possible and are required for high marketing results.

2. Process – Understand the constraints and how to mitigate them.

3. Performance – Controlling daily activity and overall ROI of all marketing campaigns.

With these outlines a marketing manager can begin building a tailored approach to marketing project management.

Take hold of your marketing project management and learn about teamwork training.

Internet Marketing

Anyone who owns a network marketing business or other online home based business will tell you, developing a website marketing strategy is the cornerstone of a successful business. Keep reading for some hot tips on creating your small business strategy.

Strategic Internet Marketing

Despite the fact that most online marketers seem to feel that the more high volume emails they send out the better their chances of success, this method of marketing is actually the downfall of a lot of businesses. In order to build a strong list of business partnerships, a better website marketing strategy is required.

Top Five Dos and Don’ts

1. Don’t send out impersonal form letters to other online marketers asking them to promote your product. This is not only annoying it can be considered spam and will lead to any future emails from you going straight into the trash.

2. Don’t contact websites or blogs that have nothing to do with your product or service. Ultimately this is just a waste of your time, but time is money in this business. Use it wisely.

3. Reach out to fellow online marketers with a warm and personal touch. Learn a little about their business before writing your email and make sure they know that you’ve done so in your correspondence.

4. Focus on highly targeted websites or blogs that have a strong relevance to your products or services. This streamlines your efforts and allows you to better manage your resources.

5. Do provide answers and solutions up front in your initial contact emails. Preempt their questions by speaking to what your products or services have to do with or can improve upon their business.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Perhaps the single most common mistake made while creating a website marketing strategy is expecting success to happen overnight. People often feel that they must flood the internet and announce their presence from every hill top as opposed to creating a solid foundation over time. Be patient, be persistent and be dedicated and you’re sure to win.

Find out about the largest online community of people who want to help you transform your website marketing strategyand start making you more money immediately. Just imagine finding the best internet marketing help available today. Free reprint avaialable from: Website Marketing Strategy – Discover The Top Five Secrets To Success.

Small Business Owners need to recognize that not all customers are ideal customers. When targeting future customers it is import that they fit the profile of an ideal customer. Reality: you have customers that are costing you time and money. Strategic Marketing ignores those kinds of customers and targets ideal customers. You have limited marketing dollars to spend, so make sure you are targeting potentially ideal, profitable customers.

This marketing investment is the design for your future. The strategy is to populate that future with customers who do repeat business, customer who refer you, and customers that put a high premium on your products, services and expertise.

One of the pitfalls of trying to be all things to all people is that when you talk about your business, the message has to work with the lowest common denominator. As a result your message becomes vague and generic, failing to capture the imagination of anyone. You want a message that resonates with particular clarity to the recipient. The message tells them that you understand them and can deliver what they need.

Most business owners fear that if they don’t cast the net wide, they may not haul in anything. Sadly, I’ve seen business owners invest in large campaigns (nets cast wide) only the haul in nothing – or worse, unqualified prospects, where you spend time explaining why you can’t help them.

The truth is you will have better results marketing to 100 ideal contacts 10 times, than 1,000 random contacts once.

Remember you have to develop credibility with this group. Right now they don’t know you. The quickest path to credibility is an ongoing campaign where you build their trust by demonstrating you understand what they need. It’s going to take more than one attempt to communicate this message which is why marketing to large diverse lists is a waste of money. You can’t afford to market to the unqualified. By focusing on the qualified, the list will become smaller and allow frequent outreach. When that ideal customer visits your website or takes that call from you, you will be better positioned for a meaningful discussion with much greater odds of closing the business.

What are the characteristics of your ideal customer? First and foremost they value you. They are not making life miserable for you or your staff. They do repeat business and they refer business to you. Make a list of those customers. Are there characteristics that they share? It might be traditional demographics: zip code, income, SIC code, number of employees, years in business, etc.

Other characteristics may be more subtle, but the degree to which you can identify these more subtle characteristics the more successful your marketing will be. Let me give you an example. I was responsible for marketing a software solution for nonprofits. There were 1.5 million nonprofits. I couldn’t afford to market to all of them. Based on annual budget, I was able to pare that list to about 80,000. Based on interviews with existing ideal customers, I was able to identify a couple of subtle differentiators. My ideal customers were nonprofits who had more than 5 funding sources (which meant a whole lot of reporting requirements) and there was a professionally trained accountant/finance director on staff (someone who would not be subject to sticker shock because they would immediately understand the ROI). Those two characteristics culled my list down to about 50,000. I then segmented the list into like organizations resulting in much smaller lists of between 500 and 3,000 contacts.

Then I did some testing. I did monthly mailings to a segment of both the smaller targeted list and a segment of the larger diverse list. The smaller lists had much better results with response rates of 12 – 30%. The larger list had response rates in the single digits with much lower conversion rates.

The message to the smaller lists had the advantage of being more relevant to the recipient – it was all about them and the challenges in their world. By writing about the particular problems facing these more targeted groups, and more quickly gained credibility with the recipient. Marketing to the larger did not allow the more potent messaging. I had to use more generic language, more generalized business scenarios.

Starting small and targeted is the best use of your limited marketing dollars. It will allow you to be more memorable, valuable and frequent in your outreach to ideal future customers. Once you have identified the ideal future customer, it is a much easier exercise to take your marketing to the next level, which is “Where do I find more people like this?

Want to find out more about strategic marketing , then visit Dawn Westerberg’s site on small business marketing consulting for your needs.