“What’s your business model?”
In the Kick-off Phase of any copywriting or content strategy, I take the time to have an alignment meeting with my clients. These discussions are key. It helps me understand your business as it is and how you currently deliver value to your target audience.
Set Aside Old Assumptions
Discard the idea of that 50-odd page document. Unlike banks and financiers, I’m not interested in the depths and details of your organisation. Understanding your business model answers key fundamental questions about the project:
- Who are your target market?
- Who are your stakeholders and advocates?
- What are your value propositions?
- How the project fits into the overall customer experience and customer journey?
When you reduce your current model onto this one canvas, we have a clearer overview of how to proceed. We will be able to identify blind spots better.
Yes, blind spots can exist even in for a digital marketing and content strategy.
Picture this: you engage me to write your brochures, website, and mailers. At this point in time, every marketing collateral seems important. After further probing, we came to the conclusion that you won’t be having physical storefronts. What do we do about the brochures? What changes could happen in the coming weeks and months that negates at least half of the information?
Allow me to digress momentarily: some brochures are designed to be stand-alone marketing collateral. Some brochures are sales tools to aid representatives. It’s enough to pique interests but lacks specific information.
Ready to Get on the Same Page?
Let’s return to the topic at hand. Check out my video below so we are on the same page.
The Canvas’ Origins
Business Model Canvas was introduced in the book 2010 Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur. The Business Model Canvas can be applied to other uses, including to individuals. They demonstrated this in their 2012 book Business Model You (Amazon Link). If you’re free, drop by their company website – https://www.strategyzer.com/.
