Strategic planning for creative agencies

A new Wadds Inc. tool supports business planning for creative agencies.

The UK is heading into one of its most testing times in recent history.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, war in Ukraine, rising energy prices, climate crisis, an overheated talent market, and cost of living crisis are just some of the big issues facing business.

The situation has been exacerbated by a change of political leadership and monarchy, global trade wars, and an impending recession.

We are living in a period of radical uncertainty in which political, cultural, and economic norms are being challenged.

It means that business resilience is more critical than ever. Strategic planning can be time consuming and complex but it can provide important insight into the marketplace now and future direction.

As professional advisers to creative agencies and comms teams, we have done some of the work here at Wadds Inc. so you don’t have to.

Strategic planning and crisis preparedness: A guide for creative agencies

Strategic planning and crisis preparedness: A guide for creative agencies

We’ve published a strategic planning tool for creative agencies (opens as a PDF). The 35-page report covers more than 50 issues that you should be thinking about as you plan for the next 18-months and beyond.

In the Wadds Inc. Strategic Planning and Crisis Preparedness report you’ll find a strategic planning exercise that we have undertaken for an independent creative or professional services agency based in the UK.

We have focussed on the Wadds Inc. customer persona of a small and medium sized enterprise (SME).

We've used a PESTLE framework - a review of the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental situation - and impact/certainty analysis to identify what we believe are issues and scenarios agency bosses and communication teams should be aware of.

We've also mapped the life cycle of organisations against an S-curve and proposed a series of strategic outcomes.

Our work considered capabilities and market forces before listing a variety of actions agencies could potentially take to navigate the current economic downturn and political turbulence.

The list isn’t exhaustive but for consideration to help build resilience and prevent management paralysis.

The issues and scenarios provided are ones we felt were pertinent right now. You can pinpoint those that may be appropriate to your organisation. You may feel the likelihood and impact will be different.

Equally, you may have more issues, scenarios and actions to add and we’d urge you to create your own personalised PESTLE framework as you review your own strategy planning.

We hope that you find it useful.

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