The European Capital of Culture project is an opportunity for organizations, institutions, and individuals to elevate themselves to an international level. The third semester of the Runway | Culture Professionals course, focused on cultural management, has already had two meetings.
The workshop on strategic planning was led by Vishalakshi Roy, an assistant professor at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom. Czech marketing expert Roman Zámečník delved into the topic of brand building with the participants. Here’s a brief preview of some tips.
5x about strategic planning
- A good strategy doesn’t have 50 pages, but 5 slides – it includes the mission and vision, external analysis (what’s happening outside), internal analysis (what’s happening inside), our goals and how to evaluate them, and a timeline.
- Should project goals be realistic or ambitious? Vision and mission are ambitious; goals are realistic.
- What if we just follow established operating patterns within our organization? That’s not enough because the world is changing and to respond to changes, we need a strategy, not just established procedures.
- Different things work for different people – for many projects and organizations, the strategy might simply be to survive, especially in the early stages.
- Create analyses and strategy as a team. Share ideas and responsibility when things don’t go as planned.
7x about brand building
- Brand is what others think of us.
- Building a brand is primarily a matter of leadership. The challenge is how to get it throughout the entire organization. The solution is to involve key stakeholders within the organization in the creation process. The organization’s leadership must stand behind brand building, communicate it, and be unified.
- Make a communication plan in advance, and if there’s no money for marketing, look for ideas.
- Each communication channel should have its goal – either acquisition (e.g., attract people to an event, gain support) or branding (brand support).
- Goals and tools change in different communication phases. It’s different when we want people to learn about us and when we want them to attend our event. It’s essential to identify where things get stuck, address problematic areas, and be able to evaluate activities.
- Don’t despair if you can’t convince people who would never come to you, but spend more time with those considering participation in your project.
- Don’t forget to ask for the opinions of visitors and partners.
