Strategist Overview and Tips for Success

A few tips to be a successful Strategist

Your Role

As a strategist, you are responsible for the creation of the project’s strategic deliverables (e.g. non-product and design). This work requires a lot of big thinking as well as great communication with the rest of the project team (e.g. your fellow strategists, the account manager, project managers, and Michael, Taylor, and Mike). It is on you to deliver on the strategy work as defined by VV exec strategists, the client and the SOW.

Ten Tips to Being a Great Strategist

1. Know the scope. You can’t begin the work until you understand the project and what you’re delivering. The account person will break this down for you, but you need to be sure that you understand the deliverables. Ask questions early as it’s harder to do that mid-stream.

2. Do your research. Know the client, the industry, the competitive landscape. Being informed will make your ideas better and more relevant to the project. We have amazing interns that are great at putting landscapes together for us. Don’t be afraid to ask them for help!

3. Over communicate. Most strategists work on multiple projects so it’s critical that you over-communicate with your colleagues. Make sure that any deliverable updates, work from home or out of office statuses and anything else you think could be relevant is in Slack and communicated to the senior strategist and account manager.

4. Be ready to roll with change. You can’t control everything, just how you react to it. There will be a lot of change in your work- clients, industries, projects, etc. There will be a time where you will be 90% done with a deliverable and something will blow it up. It’s ok- we’ve all been there. Stay calm and be professional. Ask for help when you need it.

5. Keep it fun. We work hard and it’s important to prop each other up. Strive to always be a positive person in the room- it really makes a difference.

6. Double check the work. Always do a second (or third) pass through all deliverables. Are they in proper templates? Are there grammar or spelling mistakes? Is the data correct? Are the formatting and spacing right? The little things matter, especially when that brief may get forwarded to a senior client to reference in a board meeting.

7. Know your client’s limits. What a client should do and what they can execute are rarely the same. Don’t be afraid to start with the right solution to show the strategic thinking, but be ready to create an approach that can scale up or down based on their team and needs.

8. Steal from what’s already been done. Making a marketing strategy, building a content discipline, or putting together a booth for a conference? There’s probably a template for that deliverable or something to reference / steal from in Google Drive. Before you start from scratch, ask around and take a peek through Drive to see if you can borrow from other projects.

9. Defend your work time. The calendar is tricky. While the account managers will handle getting working sessions officially on the calendar, you need to find a way to balance your projects and make progress on deliverables between those meetings. Everyone works differently, but as a starting point try blocking out work time on your calendar and dedicate that time to the specific client.

10. Be ready to wear multiple hats. Sometimes strategists are more than strategists. Sometimes account people are more than account people. Know your core role, but be ready to extend as needed to get things done.