Cannabis Summer School, Part 2: Clarifying Some Vital yet Misunderstood Words
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place” George Bernard Shaw
If you are a cannabis manager and don’t understand what the 5 words below mean, you are flirting with career danger.
No less a GOAT educator as Dale Carnegie claimed that 90% of all business problems boil down to the misunderstanding of some commonly used terms.
Linguistic accuracy and clarity matter when it comes to strategic planning, marketing, and project management.
If key staff are not on the same page, your firm will be challenged by knowledge gaps, internal confusion and management grandstanding which will compromise resource & capital allocation, operational effectiveness and consumer/segment targeting.
Let’s consider and define some commonly-used and important words.
I have seen managers trip over each other when they don’t have the same understanding of what these 5 terms are – and are not:
1. Strategy
A strategy is a high-level statement of how you will compete to achieve an aspiration. A strategy is not a goal or a tactic, the latter of which is a specific action which delivers the strategy.
When you have too many strategies you really don’t have a good one - unless throwing everything against the wall and hoping something sticks is what you think is a strategy.
2. Brand
Your brand is a promise of value. This simple idea is much more than a name, product feature/claim (although these are brand ingredients) or short-term notoriety.
Strong brands are not built overnight but when it happens, they will rank high in areas such as awareness, loyalty and consumer affinity.
3. Value proposition
The VP are the benefits delivered to a consumer or buyer through the product and customer experience (i.e. the brand). Value could be a functional, emotional or aspirational benefit (ideally a combination thereof) that solves a consumer need.
The power of your VP will be relative to your competition, alternative solutions or status quo state.
4. Culture
A culture are the organization’s norms and practices. Think of it as your corporate operating system. Like an OS, the culture often operates below the water line, unseen but driving how people do their jobs, come and go.
Contrary to popular belief, a corporate culture is not easily understood, codified, or changed.
5. Objective
An objective is a measurable, numerical manifestation of an aspirational goal such as market leadership. Your chosen objective(s) is the focus of your strategy (e.g., a cultivator would care a lot about market share) and is tracked at regular intervals to measure strategic performance.
Later, I will take aim at some popular but woolly terms used in every cannabis firm, and why they need to be handled with care.
#communications #strategy #culture #marketing #branding