“The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.”
My desktop was a dumpster fire of swipe files — to the point that I was horrified when I accidentally clicked “desktop” instead of “window” during a recent Zoom call.
On the short-list:
Mining Questions strategy from Justin Welsh
Beehiiv referrals ebook
Gallup stats on AI pushback
Rebel POV exercise from Katelyn Bourgoin
The AEO / GEO course I bought in April
SOP for past client outreach
A random screenshot of an email that starts with “Yo!”
[ still unsure about the meaning of that one ]
Each swipe has its own merit. Together, it’s entrepreneur mania disguised as productivity.
And I know I’m not alone.
Every day there’s a new “marketing” shiny object demanding your attention: LinkedIn posts, Reddit communities (#RIP), SEO, paid ads, referral partners, newsletters, lead magnets, AI workflows, productized offers, courses, communities … the list is endless.
Before you know it, you’ve wasted an entire week, your desktop is a mess, and you haven’t actually accomplished anything meaningful for your business.
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Because every item on that list is a tactic. Not a strategy.
If your business positioning is fuzzy, every tactic generates fuzzy results. You post on LinkedIn and get “likes,” but no calls. Networking gets you compliments, but not clients. The AI website redesign looks better, but converts the same.
Nothing outright fails … and nothing clearly works either. Everything just hums along in the mediocre middle.
And your expertise makes the situation even worse. The thinker in you can see six different paths to success. A well-executed LinkedIn strategy could deliver; strategic SEO could deliver; paid ads could deliver; etc. etc.
That awareness is exactly what keeps everything ON the list.
If you didn’t have every single option screaming in your face, you’d pick one out of blissful ignorance and go all-in.
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Sorry to say, branding is not a tactical problem. You can’t out-task your way to what makes your business different.
It’s is a strategic judgment call. And judgment calls about your business, made from inside your own brain, are the most misleading.
You really need someone on the outside to look at the same information you have (work, history, clients, instincts, testimonials, offers) and make the calls you’re just too close to see clearly.
Like our client, Terese:
“They saw things I hadn’t seen in 12 years, critical to positioning who I am in the franchising space.”
She knew her business exceptionally well … to her own branding detriment. She was so used to talking about it in a certain way, it was impossible for her to see what makes her own approach different.
That’s where we stepped in. Seeing the business from every angle — except hers. 😉
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If your tactical to-do list has been growing (with nothing to show for it but lackluster results and a tragic desktop), that’s a brand clarity problem. And it will never get solved from inside your own head.
Brand Signal is an ultra-focused session, with someone whose entire job is to see what you can’t.
Book a free visibility call to find out what’s possible.
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Make it a great week! 🙌
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