Megan Sheerin

11/30/2021

A bundled, recurring revenue stream isn’t just for smaller, DTC brands.

If you’re an established B2B player, packaging up some of your services into a subscription-based or retainer model can give existing and potential clients an ongoing reason to keep working with you.

You can keep offering a discrete, high-touch, customized service to premier clients on a project basis, while offering a more standardized, DIY, lower price point version to your tier 2 and 3 clients.

Value AND volume. Margins AND growth.

11/29/2021

Allies and Obstacles.

They’re like a “pros and cons” list for your brand.

As in, what’s working for you (your allies) versus what’s standing in the way of your success (obstacles). This is a great way to hone in on what distinguishes you in the zeitgeist—and what to lean into when developing your brand POV and positioning.

But your allies and obstacles aren’t random attributes, opportunities or weaknesses drawn up in isolation.

Because even if it’s something you can legitimately trade on (like your quality creds or heritage legacy) it’s only an ally if it’s something people care about, can’t get anywhere else and are willing to pay for.

So, it’s important to consider context.

What’s happening in culture, with consumers, in the category that’s most relevant to you? Given that, what are the allies you can leverage? And what are the obstacles you need to tackle? (Knowing an obstacle might be tangible and functional—like your poor operating processes—as much as social—like changing consumer mindsets.)

Also…both allies and obstacles don’t last forever. They’re fluid, like the context influencing them. So speed and experimentation will get you further, faster.

11/28/2021

How to build a purpose-led business and brand?

Start by defining what you’re fighting for.

These questions from Dick Brunton’s ‘Passion and Purpose in Business’ are a useful jumping-off point:

What do I see in the world that grieves me?
What do I want to change or put right?
Where can my organization make a difference?
What do I want to create?

10/01/2021

folks this one’s for you.

Strategy starts pre-proposal. Not when you’ve cracked the insights.

Please don’t pitch your prospect a menu of services in the hope they’ll tell you what they need. They’re looking to you for that. Go in with a recommendation.

Doing that takes research. Asking the right questions. Some of these you won’t ask your potential client, but you should ask them of yourselves, Google and others and work up an initial hypothesis of what the real problem is that need solving. Some of my favourites:

- What do they want to be in the business of? What business are they in today?
- What do the business and brand need to become to close the gap?
- Are we talking to the actual decision-maker?

Also: Do go beyond the obvious in what you present, because that demonstrates the value you add and shows you’re a strategic problem-solver and partner, not a tactical order-taker.

But don’t give away the farm.

A proposal shouldn’t be the strategy. It should be enough to give the client confidence you have the chops to deliver and the motivation and urgency to hire you. The thinking is part of the work and what you get paid for. (Clients, that bit is for you….:)

09/07/2021

The Great Resignation x Recurring Revenue.

My sense is there’s a growing opportunity here.

We’re going to see a lot more people starting businesses, WFH. (We know it’s been bubbling for a while already.) They’ll need all sorts of support—think accounting, branding, legal advice, as well as hardware to run their operations.

Some B2B brands have been slower to adopt recurring revenue streams like subscription services. But it’s not all ready-made meal delivery and Netflix.

If you can break down your existing B2B offerings, make them standard vs. custom (and therefore cheaper to scale) then go direct-to-consumer—you can tap a totally new customer base without cannibalizing your existing one. I mean, IKEA’s set to rent whole kitchens! The world is literally your lobster.

Keep your high margins for big B2B sales—while getting ongoing revenue growth from new consumer users.

Thoughts? Is this something you’re exploring or are keen to?

04/07/2021

Who’s on the brains trust for your brand?

Lots of successful people and companies have a group of advisors they turn to, to weigh in on what they’re doing, how to make it better and ways to avoid potholes (or climb out of them).

Here’s what a brains trust will do for your business or brand, and who to consider.

https://bit.ly/3wKzteT

Lots of successful people and companies have a group of advisors they turn to, to weigh in on what they’re doing, how to make it better and ways to avoid potholes (or climb out of them). Here’s what a brains trust will do for your business or brand.

03/31/2021

I was recently invited to talk to some media and comms undergrads in the US about “how to become a strategist” and what working in the real world is really like.

It got me thinking about the fires I’ve started, the problems I’ve caused (not solved!) and all the things I would have done differently over the years, looking back.

Some of what I shared can be summed up in these musings. Some of them are principles for “life” as much as or strategy! To be clear, I’m still figuring all this out as much as we all are and don’t profess to have the answers, and I share these in the spirit of that.

I also think it’s worth mentioning that while the internet likes pithy, because it’s easier to digest and remember, there’s a danger in reducing our experiences, mistakes, philosophies—the sum of our personal and professional journeys so far—to one-liners. We all know getting to these takes time, pain, hard work, reflection—and plenty of other people helping us. So consider these the tip of an iceberg, and remember that we all have icebergs.

Maybe you’ll find them useful. Maybe they’ll make you nod or laugh or whatever. In any case, I’d love to hear your reflections and thoughts too, if you’d like to share them.

1. Strategy is the best solution made simple.

2. Good strategists solve problems. Great strategists solve for opportunities.

3. Groupthink is the enemy.

4. A non-linear life, rich with quirky experiences, lived in different places with a variety of people and passions, is your lifeblood. Don’t let recruiters set on finding a cog for a wheel tell you different.

5. Gutsy is rare. It’s also respected. (You can be brave without being irresponsible or a jerk.)

6. The job isn’t cracking problems or projects. It’s reading people.

7. If you’re a creative, learn to speak business. If you’re a business type, get fluent in creativity. Few people do both well. It will give you an edge in creative agencies—where commercially minded creatives are scarce. Or the nous you need to run your own shop.

8. Learn to spot patterns. Poke holes in everything.

9. Anticipate questions and objections and address them early. People will breathe a sigh of relief and let go of what they’ve been planning to say—and can then actually hear you.

10. Everything’s a pitch. Not a thesis. If you can write, present and sell well, these skills will take you far.

03/26/2021

Upstream thinking unlocks downstream revenue.

Don’t get me wrong. Every creative campaign needs tight, strategic “downstream” thinking.

And that thinking, when executed well, will drive revenue.

But these “downstream” dollars are often discrete because it’s thinking at the level of activation. Totally necessary as part of an overall business and brand strategy—but you don’t want to play ONLY there.

The best stuff happens when you also take a 360-degree view, further upstream—to fuel downstream opportunities. As in, lateral thinking that looks beyond the category and conventional to define the real untapped opportunity and best solution to crack it. Which may well be a creative campaign, or several. Or could equally be a collab with a strategic partner. Or an entirely new business model or brand. Or some combo of all the above.

The idea here is thinking bigger than just “the client needs a new campaign” can result in so much more.

03/19/2021

It’s a tough time for media and communications college/uni students graduating into today’s world.

I’ve been invited by a US college to talk to some of them.

There are few tertiary courses and classes out there on “how to become a strategist.” (And no formal degrees I know of, though correct me if I’m wrong!)

Most of us stumble into strategy as a career path and find our way through trial, error and the odd great mentor or manager.

So. Strategists—both seasoned and starting out—what do you wish you knew? What would make life and work easier and more effective? What are those things you've learned the hard way that we could save others from?

And people who work with strategists—what do you wish they knew? What would help you?

01/31/2021

Strategy happens in the spaces.

Myth: Good strategy emerges fully baked from a long(ish), heads-down, linear run. As in, you take in all the research, boil it down and present “the way forward.”

Reality: Good strategy is more of a “sprint and surface” approach.

Now, more than ever, it’s important to take short runs at thinking, come up for air and see how it gels. Even if you’re sprinting solo, you need space in-between sprints for ideas to come together. Don’t underestimate how critical this is—and how much better this space makes the work.

Think about bite-sized reflections and directions that have enough meat on the bones to make them meaningful when sharing—but not so much that a 180 about-turn isn’t possible.

And seeing how it gels isn’t just an intellectual exercise. Take your thinking for a walk in the real world. Put it in front of people. (Stakeholders, consumers, partners.) Have them poke holes. Yes, it will probably be awkward but position this as “up for discussion” and not the final draft and you’ll find the feedback more useful (because you can still act on it) and buy-in more likely (because you’re asking at a stage when it’s clear the ask isn’t a token effort).

It’s easier (and cheaper) to adjust thinking than making.

12/14/2020

Companies can sometimes get stuck on the word “strategy.” Sounds so lofty. Bit of a nice-to-have. It’s just “thinking” right? Can’t we do that ourselves?

Here are some scenarios a strategist can help solve.

1. You can’t see the wood for the trees.
A strategist can tell you which choices will really help you win (and why) when you’re too close to things. Devil’s advocate, objective 3rd party—that voice should be in the room.

2. You’ve got the research—but what does it mean?
Findings are cool, but insights are what count. A strategist answers the “so what” and recommends what you should do about what the research says.

3. Your creative agency keeps dropping the ball.
A strategist speaks the language of creatives and clients. They stop things getting lost in translation—and make sure no one’s going off on tangents.

12/03/2020

Stats are sky-high on numbers working from home and starting new businesses right now.

The obvious play looks like launching a new product, service or brand—likely online—to cater to customers who are buying differently now, or need totally new things that they didn’t before.

Or you could think bigger.

- Become a marketplace vs. building a single new product.

- Create a new business model vs. just another brand.

- Enter a new market vs. selling to the same customers.

- Partner up to scale vs. flying solo and staying small.

Possibilities are endless. One quick and dirty trick to open up your thinking is to ask, ‘what would be the next step up from this idea?’ Keep asking, pushing and see what emerges.

Also: You’re not committing budget or resources in brainstorming, remember. So don’t kill what could be cool and money-making with constraints from the get-go. Due diligence can come later.