How learning chess reinforced my love of strategy and strategic marketing

Earlier this year, my son decided he was going to teach me how to play chess, and despite my initial disinterest, he not only managed to successfully persuade and teach me, but I even almost won a game against him...once!

As green as I am on the chess board, I have a deep appreciation for the time players spend learning various tactics, as well as the skilled practice of thinking through and playing out different scenarios. Thinking strategically in marketing and business is a lot like a chess game, which is why chess is so often used to visually convey strategy.

Let’s explore the parallels between chess and business and marketing.

Small business pricing and profits: The importance of aligning your prices to your values

Pricing can be tough when you’re a small business or solopreneur. As business owners, we’re intimately connected to our clients and our pricing. Because of this interesting dynamic, I find small business owners make more emotional decisions, modifying (or not modifying) their pricing based on what they feel their clients can afford.

It isn’t enough to simply pick a number that sounds good out of thin air for your program or service. It isn’t enough to just check a few items off your “marketing to-do list.”

Your pricing needs to reflect your values. And when you take the time to gain clarity on your values and goals for each of the offers you have, you’ll feel much more empowered to share about your business, promote your services, and find your clients.

What kinds of goals can you set for your business?

We've talked about setting goals before. The importance of establishing your company vision and the direction you want to move in, gaining clarity on your business and marketing goals, and how to use the S.M.A.R.T. framework to define your goals with more intention.

But what are some of the different kinds of goals you can set for your business? And how do you decide what to focus on? Here’s how to get started.

Business, Systems and ProcessesJasmine IrvenDecember 8, 2022goals, setting goals, entrepreneur goals, revenue, planning, marketing strategyComment

Know your competition, but don’t try to become them

One of the foundational activities I love to do with my clients is to look at similar businesses or organizations to see what they're doing and whether it's effective.

The goal isn't to emulate them or even to get inspiration. It's about finding gaps in the marketplace that could be filled with my client’s business offerings or through communication and marketing differentiation.

Being different is GOOD. After all, if every company presents itself in the same way, what's the point? Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but it's not going to show how you're different. And your strength lies in what you do differently.

Case study: Don’t write "how-to" articles that aren't helpful

There are probably hundreds of millions of marketing-related articles out on the internet. A big portion of those articles are "how-to" guides for various activities us marketing types like to encourage business owners like you to implement.

The problem is that way too many of these articles have little to no real value in them.

Let's break down the points of one of these articles and instead review what real value looks like.

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