the Friday edition - the start of Q4 planning
Do you have a fully baked marketing plan for the last three months of the year?
There’s such a short window of time between this week - the one where most of us are returning to “normal” activities following summer break and the time of year where we’re distracted by winter holidays.
In some areas, that time for attention is even shorter with US elections in November - not to mention, US advertisers are about to have a lot of digital competition from political campaign spend. Well, I mention that, because you should know and plan for it. :)
Depending on when your business year ends, this may be the time of year to hit your annual targets.
What are some tips for getting the team together to plan?
1. Schedule a planning session for next week! (if you are a fractional CMO client of Advisory 9, you'll see these scheduled)
You want a plan in place BEFORE the quarter starts. I can’t stress that part enough. Businesses that can’t get ahead of the calendar will always be in reaction mode. Nothing long-lasting and scaleable is built in reaction mode.
Block at least 2 hours - preferably 3. Bring energy and music. Ask the team to come with wins from the last quarter and any lessons learned. Have sticky notes if you are in a room together. If you aren’t, use a tool like Metro Retro to collaborate and capture.
2. Take the team on a journey.
Take time to capture and post what went right, what the lessons were, and give out high fives.
Confirm the 2-3 measurable outcomes that are musts for the next quarter - must be measurable.
List the 2-3 things that are creating any unnecessary drag (be kind but maintain high expectations).
From there, you can review scorecards and outcomes to pull forward what’s working and replace or adjust what isn’t.
Brainstorm, prioritize, and plan! What has to happen every couple of weeks to be on track? How will you know it’s done and has had impact?
3. Set timing and accountability
Once you have a prioritized list, someone should be responsible for leading it to get the results and reporting back every two weeks on status and progress. I personally love EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) as a management framework to ensure top to bottom alignment.
4. Set your PM system, book bi-weekly review sessions, and be ready to go day 1!
Obviously there’s a lot of detail about your business, your team, and your goals that have to be factored in, but these steps are a valuable way to get momentum early and improve your success rate.
Are you ready for Q4?
New AI tools that (re)crossed our desktops this week:
Fireflies.ai (after 5 years with Otter, I had to break up - Fireflies is far superior)
New (to us) Ads we like:
