It’s 9.07 on Monday morning. You’ve barely opened your laptop and already: Sales needs a brochure for Thursday. The CEO has spotted a competitor’s video and wants one “just like it”. Someone has asked you to post about an event you didn’t know was happening. Your carefully planned work is waiting patiently at the bottom of your to-do list. You know you should be thinking about the bigger picture. But first, apparently, you need to find a photo of the team holding a giant cheque. If this...

The campaign calendar is full. Social posts are going out, events are being organised, emails are being written and someone has asked for “a quick update” to the website. Your marketing team is busy. But is everyone clear about why they are doing it? I sometimes see teams spending nearly all their time on the TAC part of SOSTAC®: Tactics, Action and Control. They are choosing activities, getting them delivered and reporting on the results. What is missing is enough time for the SOS:...

You’ve agreed your business goals, chosen your target customers and set out your marketing priorities for the year. The plan looks good. Then the day-to-day work takes over. This is where many businesses get stuck. A plan can tell you what to do, but it cannot create the time, skills or accountability needed to deliver it. Before you commit to a full calendar of activity, ask a practical question: who is going to make it happen? Give someone ownership of the whole plan Marketing often...