Your Marketing Strategy Is More Than Part of the EOS V/TO13 min read

by Sep 26, 2023Marketing, Strategy

team-planning-meeting

EOS is an operating model with tools and tactics designed to maximize your business operations. For organizations following the Entrepreneurial Operating System, or EOS for short, the Vision Traction Organizer is an important tool for setting the direction of your company. But, your marketing strategy should go beyond filling out the VTO worksheet.

DVS is an EOS-practicing agency and we specialize in practical and actionable marketing strategies.

Define a Narrow Target Audience and Create Personas

There’s a famous quote by Meredith Hill along the lines of “When you speak to everyone, you speak to no one.” In the world of marketing, those words couldn’t ring truer.

Of course, we’d like to reach everybody, cover all ground, and leave no stone unturned, but is that really a valuable use of time and resources? Your sales staff, marketing channels, and budget do not have the bandwidth to communicate with every demographic of the human population. Narrowly defining your target audience allows for effective use of time and marketing budget.

Developing personas is one way to help you understand your customers better and refine your target audience. Well-defined personas make it easier to tailor content to the specific needs, behaviors, and concerns of different groups. Persona-tailored content allows your team to stop wasting time on low-quality leads and start generating positive engagement with high-quality ones.

Personas are created through research, surveys, and interviews of your target audience. That includes a mix of customers, prospects, and those outside of your contact database who might align with your target audience.

Set Yourself Apart from the Competition

Recently, I was attending the Grand Rapids Chamber Quarterly EOS Meet-Up where we had to stand and introduce our tables. I counted three individuals who identified themselves as “just another IT service provider in the room,” and my jaw dropped. Even if they provided similar services, the three companies should have their own unique differentiators. This is especially true if you’re an EOS organization utilizing the VTO.

Defining what makes you unique takes quite a bit of time and thought. It can help to conduct a SWOT analysis (i.e., strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats). Spend some time looking at your competitors. What holes are they leaving in the market? Sometimes, gathering key stakeholders in the room and filling up a whiteboard with any idea, good or bad, is a great way to get the creative juices flowing and narrow down what sets you apart from the competition.

Let’s take it one step beyond defining those uniques. Defining them doesn’t do you much good if you’re unable to communicate them with your target audience effectively. Use your messaging (in advertising, on your website, in your day-to-day communication) to reflect those uniques and to ensure your target audience can identify what makes you different from others in the room.

Communicate Your Process

This puzzle piece can trip some EOS users up. Having a visual representation that’s clear, concise, and aesthetically pleasing is difficult to put together without a background in graphic design. Thankfully, there are tools that enable non-designers to create simple graphics.
If your Proven Process is primarily for internal use, utilizing PowerPoint or Word might be sufficient. If your Proven Process is a client-facing tool, especially one used in your sales process to connect with target audiences, then I highly recommend sourcing a graphic designer to put together a professional piece. For either end-user, keep in mind that the process needs to make sense not only visually, but as a whole. From simple to complex processes, ensure your verbiage and steps explain to an unfamiliar customer what to expect when working with your company.

Once the Proven Process is displayed visually, test it out! Share with friends and family, and to give it a real test, share it with someone completely unfamiliar with your company. If someone outside our industry can understand the Proven Process, it’s safe to say you’ve got a solid process and visual representation.

Refine Your Marketing Strategy with DVS

As an EOS-practicing agency, we know how important it is to have a clearly defined marketing strategy. Whether you’re an EOS veteran, newbie, or non-practicer, DVS can help you create a marketing strategy that supports your goals.

Schedule a no-pressure 20-minute conversation with a DVS team member today and learn more about how we can help you refine your marketing strategy.