2. This worksheet is based on an office hour led by Fatene Ben Hamza, a strategic
planner.
3. TOPICS
1- WHAT IS THE ROLE OF A STRATEGIC PLANNER?
2- BRANDING BASICS FOR ENTREPRENEURS
3- MARKETING BASICS FOR ENTREPRENEURS
4. 1- WHAT IS THE ROLE OF A STRATEGIC
PLANNER?
• Building brands, developing communication strategies relevant to the
business model and a company’s vision
• Building a brand promise that’s relevant to consumers’ needs and lives.
• Ensuring brand preference on the markets.
5. 1- WHAT IS THE ROLE OF A STRATEGIC
PLANNER?
• A strategic planner creates and helps connect the mission, values, and
identity to support a growing business, supporting greater communication
strategies.
• A strategic planner helps create value in a company’s sales and image,
focusing on elements of both marketing, advertising, and communication.
6. • Branding and developing a strong marketing and communication strategy are
essential to any entrepreneur at any level of business development.
• Entrepreneurs need to understand that a brand IS NOT JUST A LOGO, but it is
the expression of all the company’s activities, personality and attitude and to
build their brand efficiently, entrepreneurs need to have a very clear business
vision and a good understanding of the mid-term or long-term goals.
2- BRANDING BASICS FOR
ENTREPRENEURS
7. 2- BRANDING BASICS FOR
ENTREPRENEURS
• The 1st branding element remains the product itself. Make sure the product
itself remains the best representation of the company’s branding strategy
and vision.
• Developing a brand and plan of action takes time and patience. And lots of
actions to earn people’s attention and trust.
• The four elements of developing a strong brand are: time, consistency,
actions, and business vision. And again, consistency.
8. 3- MARKETING BASICS FOR
ENTREPRENEURS
• Marketing is identifying user needs and developing a product to answer those
needs.
• Advertising is creating and developing a promise relevant to these needs and
that created brand and/or product preference in people’s mind.
• Do not miss the obvious: give more importance to the obvious simple things
than to the complicated theories.
9. 3- MARKETING BASICS FOR
ENTREPRENEURS
• An entrepreneur should utilize focus groups if they have enough seed
funding.
• It is critical to talk to as many potential customers as possible to collect
feedback and ask a lot of questions. An entrepreneur must be ready to listen
to all feedbacks and must prepare market research areas to get the best
answers possible.
• Make sure your target is right and think of any way to reach it. (Where does
this target spend time? What do these people love doing? What do they like to
talk about?). Talk to them, spend time with them, and put yourself in their
shoes. Do not think for them. Think if you were them for real.
10. 3- MARKETING BASICS FOR
ENTREPRENEURS
• Try a variety of marketing techniques (one to one discussions, product
testing, qualitative research, quantitative research)—testing out different
methods will help an entrepreneur find the best communication tool.
• An entrepreneur just starting out is best served by pitching the product or
concept at networking events and through social media platforms. DON ‘T BE
SHY!
11. Marketing and branding are critical elements of supporting an entrepreneur’s
strategic business vision and will support a business’ scaling up and growth
strategy in the short and long-term.
