Strategy Requires Execution

Chalkbox just completed work with brand strategist Liz Behlke to solidify our positioning and plan our marketing efforts in the coming years. Liz is a magnificent guide for this—the process was fun, easy, smart, and productive. What comes next is the hard part: executing the plan.
“Without strategy, execution is aimless. Without execution, strategy is useless.”
- Morris Chang

This is where we’ve faltered before. Some of our faltering has been due to prioritization—instant-gratification work (our clients) bumps the long-term business work (our plan) onto some back burner where it is forever forgotten. Other faltering has been caused by a lack of understanding (on our part) as to what exactly execution means or looks like. And if we’re being honest, some of it has been simple procrastination. (“We’ll get to that later.”)

We shared these concerns with Liz, and she factored them into our plan so it is made up of things we are more likely to tackle. We also shared our challenges with a mutual friend and advisor, Brad Krueger at Success Beyond Luck. He suggested we think about this in a completely different way: Putting off the business work, the long-term growth work, means we are also putting off the long-term benefits and successes we hope to achieve.

This struck a chord with me.

Suppose we delay the complex task of finding and hiring that critical employee for a month? The gains in capacity and revenue that come with that person would also be delayed.

What if we put off that expensive equipment upgrade for a year? The increase in speed and efficiency that equipment brings would also be pushed back.

And what would happen if we waited to execute this marketing plan? We also would be postponing our exposure to great new clients—along with the opportunities and success they bring.

Every day we don’t do the important business-building activities we could be doing (or having people do for us), our long-term growth and success are delayed by at least a day. That means my retirement is delayed by at least a day, too—and that is motivation.

We are committed to not faltering this time. The work will get done, whether by me or someone on my support team below. Stay tuned, because I’ll be sharing more here as we progress (knowing I have to write blog posts about this helps to keep me accountable).

Our Team

We have design covered. But with marketing, we need quite a bit of help. These wonderful people fill in the gaps for us. We love them. We think you will, too.

Brand and marketing strategy

Liz Behlke
lizbehlke.com

Content and copywriting
Mike Plaster
Plaster Consulting Group
Photography
Jenny Boyle Penney
Jennifer Boyle Photography
Web development

Tony Richardson
Adoration LLC
adorationllc.com

Printing

Weston and Remy
Seattle Printworks
206.623.3512
seattleprintworks.com

Social media management

Kate Hagan
RipleyK8 Digital
ripleyk8.com

Advertising

Brian Hurley
Adavanza
adavanza.com