Every organization goes through transitions. Whether it is planned or unplanned, it is part of “the circle of life” of a business or organization. As a leader, in the midst of transitions, you can keep your organization moving forward and stay on track to be the best you can be and move through the transition, coming out better than before!
When your organization or company is in transition, it can affect your company’s ability to market itself. Many times there is a level of confusion and lack of direction. This affects the clarity of your strategic marketing process and your ability to effectively communicate with your audience the message of who you are as a company.
When transitions happen naturally or when they arrive abruptly in a crisis, they provide the opportunity to make a choice. It can either be a period of time that spreads confusion and lack of direction or it can be a time to sharpen your message and give you insight on what your organization stands for.
Transitions provide an opportunity for your organization to
refine your message and demonstrate your values.
But how do you, as a leader, navigate these transitions so that your organization does not lose productivity, effectiveness and so that confusion doesn’t creep into your marketing process and affect your customers?
You want to keep your organization on course, sharpening and refining your message to communicate even better to your customers and potential customers. In fact, how can you use these transitions as a spring board instead of a stumbling block?
One way to keep your organization and those involved focused on a strategic marketing process is to use a coaching model to navigate the process. You can either have a leader within your organization facilitate the process, or better yet, higher an outside consultant who is trained in coaching and can keep a neutral stand. Either way, doing something is better than nothing.
The process we recommend comes out of the book The COACH Model® written by Keith E. Webb. Webb describes a coaching model that keeps your organization on track with these 5 stages:
- Connect- Build rapport and connect back to previous experiences you have had as an organization.
- Outcome- Set goals and desired outcomes you want to achieve in your marketing messaging.
- Awareness- Lead your organization through a dialogue that will give context, get perspective, allow for discoveries and give insight.
- Course- As your organization gains insight into who you are as an organization, create a course of action, mapping out the steps (big or small) that you will take.
- Highlight- Take the time to look back and review the big discoveries you made as a group and any “wins” that came out of this coaching process.
Walking through these 5 stages with your organization can bring clarity and new insights that will allow you to not only have a better understanding of who you are as an organization, but will enable you to develop a strategic marketing process to Craft a clear message, Tell it in the most effective way, and Live it out so your customers see what you value.
This can be a very powerful, pivotal point for organizations and can have a positive impact on the future direction of your company. The choice is yours; will you allow the transition to dictate where you end up, or will you coach your organization and develop a strategic marketing process so you control where you go from here?
What choice will you make today?
If your organization is making a transition, or you are simply ready to tighten up your marketing message, then contact Half a Bubble Out for a Free Marketing Assessment.
Since 2002, Half a Bubble Out has been dedicated to providing marketing, advertising and small business consulting that meet the needs of our clients. We specialize in powerfully telling stories through Inbound Marketing to grow your business filled with more passion and provision. Based in Chico California, we serve clients throughout Northern California and across the country to New York.
