The strategy your organization employs takes time to implement, but once it’s developed, it can produce major dividends if you stick with it.

Reputation is everything to any organization and there’s a certain amount of energy, effort and time that’s required to build one. Here are five steps that you need to implement to achieve your goals.

  1. Consider both your internal and external audiences when designing your strategy. Dynamics planned for are a lot easier to deal with, such as regulations and competitive forces. Listening to all of your social media activities can provide you with an enormous amount of insights on a daily basis.
  2. Match the strategy you implement with the true culture of your organization. This is hard for adventurous marketers who want to break out of the boundaries of their current employer, but it is potentially hazardous to the brand and your employment if the promises you make do not match the culture of your organization that needs to deliver them.
  3. Implement a strategic plan across all markets and media that can be effectively managed. Why put something into work that will fall apart as soon as it has begun?
  4. Define the parameters – or metrics – that define success and failure. Knowing these before engaging in a new strategy will keep the evaluation of the program fair and balanced.
  5. Research the impact of your strategy from the customer’s perspective and correlate these findings with the sales revenues being achieved.

It’s interesting to note that organizations that follow the foregoing steps of strategy development need to continually test and refine their strategy. Often, success does not come overnight. Smart marketers know this and are prepared to sustain their strategy over the long-term understanding that long-term yields usually takes time to nurture and grow.