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Plain decisions: who the business is for and where those people spend their attention, the one or two things digital should do this year, what to stop, and the next 12 months split into fix now, build next and watch for later. A strategy people act on fits on a page. The ones that fail are long documents written for whoever bought them, or decisions made one at a time whenever a salesperson calls or a competitor launches something.
A few plain questions. Who are we actually for, and where do those people spend their attention? What are the one or two things we want our digital presence to do this year? What do we stop doing because it is not working? And what does the next 12 months look like?
The stopping part is the one most strategies leave out. If everything is a priority then nothing is, and naming two or three things to stop is what makes room for the new work. Most SMEs do not skip strategy because of cost; it feels like a luxury when you are busy, so decisions get made reactively, and that is expensive. Long strategies fail differently: I have watched a client present someone else's 60-page strategy back to me three months later, having clearly read only the executive summary.
Because treating everything as urgent, or everything as someday, is what kills plans. The short list keeps you moving, the medium list stops you forgetting the bigger bets, and the long list means you are not blindsided when the ground shifts. I have used this with everyone from one-person firms to companies juggling several suppliers, and it scales down well.
Make the short list specific: who is doing what, by when, measured how, over the next 12 weeks. It also helps to write down what you will know in 12 weeks that you do not know now, which stops anyone pretending to have answers they do not have yet.
Look for things happening now rather than targets missed later. Targets lag: by the time you have missed one, the quarter has gone on the wrong things. Is the strategy discussed on a normal Tuesday, or only at the quarterly review? Are decisions made faster than six months ago? Are people saying no to things that would have been a yes a year ago, and is the team doing fewer things? Are the numbers that were meant to move actually moving? A goal of a 30% increase that stands at 4% by the end of Q2 needs a conversation now, whether the target or the work was wrong.
The honest test is whether you would write the same strategy today, knowing what you know now. If not, rewrite it.
By not painting yourself into corners. Choose tools you can leave, keep your own data in your own hands, and do not bet the business on one platform's whims. Cheap decisions made deliberately now save painful and costly ones later.
For around £1500 you can sit down with someone who has seen a lot of these, talk through where the business is going, and come out with a one-page plan you will use: priorities, a rough order, and the confidence to say no to the next distraction. The value is less the document than the wasted months and misspent budget it stops you repeating.
Related evidence: 55 digital audits. Here’s what I found.. Earlier in this journey: The boring AI wins that actually save SMEs money.
Because they are written for the procurement function that bought them rather than the team meant to carry them out. A strategy people read is short enough to act on: three or four pages at most, and often one.
What you will stop doing. If everything is a priority nothing is, and naming two or three things to stop is what makes room for the new work.
Most clients begin with a conversation. No pitch, no hard sell.
Just a straightforward discussion about where you are and whether I can help.
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