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How many of us have been asked or have thought: “I need to hit my KPIs now, can we do the strategy and communications plan later?”
Whilst this may work in the short-term, the risk is that when your customers don’t know how or why to connect, they don’t!
We must find ways to reduce risk and be more effective in our marketing activities. We can do this by using the S.I.T. model in our organisations.
TMC Strategic Communications have championed this principle by developing an interactive session that draws out the hidden opinions, fears and ambitions from key stakeholders. By recording their engagement and debate throughout the process, this model helps business leaders and marketing teams unite to understand how to develop their future direction.
Over a number of sessions to a total of 73 businesses (to date), we have utilised this technique through our specialist workshops. During sessions, delegates were asked to choose which was their biggest ‘S.I.T’ priority.
The results were as follows:
During the sessions, we opened up a discussion with the businesses surrounding their choices.
The aim of the exercise was to look at trending behaviour and patterns within their initial selection and to compare this with their final choice.
We saw a shift in the thought process businesses adopted. The exercise helped them to step back and visualise the bigger picture surrounding their marketing activities.
Fundamentally, they were all acutely aware of the importance of a robust strategy, even though some businesses openly admitted that they didn’t have a strategy and/or plan at all.
All of the businesses taking part commented on the opportunities of the continual advancements that technology and new channels could bring them.
We then asked the groups, based upon their initial choice of Strategy, Identity and Technology, to choose out of a selection of nine options what would be their top three priorities. The choices they could make were: Content, Communication, Growth, Culture, Storytelling, Visualisation, Innovation, Experiences, and Analytics.
The choices they made were in context with their original selection. For example, if a business chose Strategy as their priority, they kept this in mind when choosing their next three selections.
We asked a final question. If they could only pick one option out of their three choices, what would it be?
TMC Strategic Communications have published the full results on their insights page at https://wearetmc.co.uk/ where there is also the analysis and conclusions drawn.
The benefits of using a S.I.T. model
Using the S.I.T. model forces choice and helps with priority setting. It creates a clear focus that draws out both individual and wider organisational concerns from the participants. These can then be discussed and explored to ensure that the S.I.T. fits with the business, teams and customers.
The process creates structure and reduces the risk of unwanted distraction. Shortcutting this process leads to a greater risk of poor results and higher spend, something we all wish to avoid.
We understand that the fundamental outputs of an exercise go beyond establishing the Strategy, Identity or Technology, and should champion the transitions between them. These are when the moment the Direction and Connections are defined. Ultimately this is the primary goals of all marketing communication.
By using S.I.T. we can make faster and most importantly better decisions. It’s not quicker, but it is more efficient and certainly more focused.
Next steps
If you would like to know more about the S.I.T model, our business workshop sessions, and how it might work for you and your organisation, then please contact us to discuss how it can benefit your needs. https://wearetmc.co.uk/service/strategy/workshops-training/
Please also take a look at the full results from the 73 businesses on our insights page at https://wearetmc.co.uk/insights/using-the-s-i-t-model-to-set-priorities-and-create-focus/
