I wish I had a witty and clever answer to the question above. But I don’t. It’s just a great title for a blog post. But it does cut straight to what I want to talk about today, which is the ubiquity of “strategists.” Has there ever been a more bullshit title than strategist? And yet, it is what I call myself most of the time.
If I could change anything right now, it would be to go back in time and study computer science, graphic and web design and psychology. I really wish I had more quantifiable skills. Because although I may have a big brain (this is often seriously in doubt), sometimes you want to just tell people, “I built this, I invented that, and I solved this problem.” I confess to being occasionally ashamed at calling myself a strategist.
As I work with my new colleagues to continue to build this business I want to ensure the services we offer are exactly in line with what we believe our clients need. Therefore:
How To Know What You Need
One of the easiest ways to know what you need is to listen to how you explain your services to your clients and potential clients. When I pitch clients I always emphasize our ability to serve all their needs, from traditional PR to web design and branding, to technology and customer service training. Now it is true that I can do all of these things for my clients.
But just not in the way I ultimately think I will need to. Eventually, I want to do everything for my clients. I want to
I’ve talked and written extensively about what the agency of the 21st century looks and feels like. I want to build that agency. I want to show my peers and competitors how it is done. I want them to know how to do it, not by telling them what they are doing wrong, but by showing them how to do it right.
This is my strategy, now if I could just find that light switch…
Image courtesy of Anton Fomkin on Flickr
