�It�s great to have a strategy until you get hit in the head.� � Mike Tyson

The problem with a strategy lies in the fact that we can get bogged down by preconceived ideas of what will work. We often spend more time on the strategy than we do on implementing it and if it doesn�t work according to our well honed research we loose faith.

Author of Brand Slam, Frank Delano sums it up, �Ball games are won when a player steps up to the plate and smacks one out of the ball park. There�s no strategy for that�.�

So if strategies suck then how do would-be marketers forge ahead?

Mark Hughes, author of Buzzmarketing explains that defining the problem is the key to your success.

Knowing what you are aiming for will stop you from getting off track.

Why do you think you need a strategy in the first place? Is it to increase sales? Brand awareness?

�Defining a problem accurately gives you direction,� Hughes reiterates.

And I couldn�t agree more. If your aim is to increase brand awareness and you conjure up, what you believe is the greatest marketing coup, and it doesn�t work then, with your aim still the priority you can pick yourself up and immediately carry on.

If all of your time has been invested in that �strategy� then, you would feel extremely deflated if it doesn’t work. Yet, your aim isn�t to have strategy success it�s to increase brand awareness. So if your first plan of action doesn�t work, then throw it and start again.

The emphasis shouldn�t be on strategic plans devised on �how consumers are supposed to react according to research�. The emphasis should be on achieving your goal of greater brand awareness, increased sales or more consistent staffing.

Whatever it is you seek to achieve, think goal first.