Brand & Community: A Framework for Strategic Planning
Among my network, I’m well known as an event planner. For years, I ran a successful event planning agency in San Francisco (it was named MartiniBird, which I still love). At the time, my business model and clients were unique. I planned launches for successful tech companies ranging from Uber to The Information to Forward, worked with many of the “top tier” venture funds, and planned fun fashion events (you can read more of my background here).
In corporate, events are always tied to an end goal. These goals could range from fundraising, to client cultivation, to brand recognition. Collaborating on goals and strategy was always my favorite part of the process–I loved to ensure that the client not only had fun and felt creative in their experience, but also knew there were clear KPIs we were aligning on in order to have a return on the investment.
I ended up winding down MartiniBird because, despite the success and incredible clients, my drive to continue to build an events-focused company was dwindling. It was clear that I had more to offer than event planning and I wanted to grow in my career. Since then, I’ve gone on to work as an executive at two ventures (and impact) funds–as VP of Brand and Community at Slow Ventures and VP of Operations at Lowercase Capital.
I mention all of this because, while I still believe in the power and beauty of bringing people together (I always will), my experience and talents have evolved to encompass knowledge that goes beyond the scope of events.
Now when I work with clients on brand and community, events are only one piece of the puzzle. They are effective and I always recommend them as a cornerstone of a strategy; but, they are not stand-alone in how I work with clients to define their presence, act on their values, and make lasting connections.
I’ve decided to share the framework I use when approaching a new client on retainer*. I’m doing this because, in the midst of COVID-19, I have hopes that it may inspire funds and companies to think about how they will continue to stand by their brand and values, and show up for their community despite the hardships and uncertainty we are all facing.
Continuing to invest in these areas of your business not only strengthens your reputation and impact, doing so now also helps out the creative folks and small businesses that support us in these endeavors–who are not only our vendors, but also our friends and neighbors.
*When I work on retainer, I integrate with a team on an ongoing (usually annual) basis. Kind of like an outsourced exec.
My community framework and tips:
Know and align on your long-term vision and values, and plan around them:
Your values and your long-term vision are your hypothetical compass and map. They ensure that your company stands together in what you’re trying to accomplish, and how and if your actions are reflecting this foundation.
With retainer clients, the first thing I do is interview key stakeholders–separately–to gain insights on their view of the values and long term vision of the company/firm/office. From here, I record the company’s mission, vision, and values as they have described them. This is either a new exercise on which this foundation is formed, or we audit this information against what is currently communicated as being the company’s vision and values to see if adjustments need to be made in order for it to be authentic and attainable.
This type of exercise puts everyone all on the same page about what is being built and how it’s being done. It also gives us a baseline to use when making decisions about designing programs, setting and utilizing budget, defining KPIs (key performance indicators) and other bigger decisions that drive us forward.
Plan out a strategic annual program, opposed to project by project.
From there, once we have this foundation, I put together a document of goals, action items, community definition, and program recommendations. Aligning on what success means, and who the key players are, sets the stage for meaningful traction.
This document usually includes the following information. I’m giving brief examples:
Client: VC Firm
Goals: There are usually several goals of a program, but try to limit to about 4. These are the big goals that you want to accomplish by investing any money or time into brand and community. These are how you’ll measure success.
Ex: Build an engaged community that provides access and information flow that results in sourcing, cultivating and vetting new investments in the [example] sectors, while advancing equality, fair equity, and inclusion within our industry
Action Items: What are the high level action items that map to reaching these goals? There can be several action items related to each goal, for example:
Ex: Identify top 20 people with “upstream” knowledge and 20 investment partners within [this sector] to maintain and deepen relationships with. Consistently engage these individuals.
Ex: Convert the broader network inward to create an engaged and compelling community
Ex: Provide training and resources on unconscious bias and inequality, and hold Founders accountable to cultivating fair and just work places (also note here, this isn’t a marketing thing. It’s a values and integrity thing. Being an ally is defined by our actions, not by calling ourselves such)
Audiences: Who are the clients that the company would like to appeal to and invite in?
Ex: Investors (LPs), Potential Founders, Portfolio Founders and Executives, Experts in [example sectors]
Program Categories: These are the areas we want to focus on in this coming year to reach the above mentioned audience members, while mapping to goals and action items.
Ex: Brand Presence
Ex: [Sector] focused alignment
Ex: Community Engagement
Ex: Advance equity and authentic inclusion
Here’s the point, the tl;dr: Be clear on a high level about what you’re working towards, why, and how. Get everyone on board so that they’re excited and motivated about the value-add.
Ideation and Budget:
Now that the goals, action items, and categories are set, my next step is to create and provide a list of project options to tackle according to the program category. While this is the creative and fun part, it’s also a bit like throwing spaghetti at the wall.
For example, mapping to the “brand presence” category would involve a brand audit (could be quick and internal) on how to improve the client’s presence, design, and messaging. These projects could then end up involving simple copy updates or an entire website redesign. Mapping to “community engagement” might involve an event program and individual gifting. And, “advancing equity and inclusion” may involve new hires and changes in operational documents. It’s all flexible.
Once we have a list of ideas in each category, we play around with what will have the most impact, what to remove, and how to balance the budget accordingly.
And once the plan and budget is set–voila! We have a comprehensive program that maps directly to the business needs of the client.
Community Organization:
None of this is possible without the client clearly understanding their audience, each segment therein, and its key players.
To this end, aggregating community data and implementing a CRM is the first major project I take on for clients. The goals are to implement a system that supports quick and easy access to information, enables the ability to measure progress and impact, and stores detailed records of how, to whom, and when each invitation, touchpoint, or experience is presented.
This is inclusive of suggesting the best CRM system to utilize (I may write a blog on this itself!), creating the framework that we’ll use, up-keeping information, and staying on top of community information such as location, address, pertinent personal information, and curating event lists, maintaining digital and physical mailing lists, and other important elements of organization.