To get a more comprehensive understanding of what EOS is and how it works, check out our previous blog post.
The Entrepreneurial Operating System, or EOS, is a simple set of tools and processes that can act as any company's guidance system to drive results. In the few years True has been operating on EOS, we've found immediate connections with other EOS-based businesses we've come across. Organizations run on EOS share a similar language and have a similar way of doing things, creating a natural synergy.
Keep reading to learn more about the benefits EOS-based businesses get from working with outside partners, such as a marketing agency, who also utilize the EOS model.
If you're an EOS-based organization, you know that a large part of the process is dedicated to having a robust and clearly defined marketing strategy that properly aligns with your business goals. At True, we take pride in fully understanding what our clients do, and most of this is achieved through the initial discovery process, where we dive in to comprehend your business, audiences, products/services, and goals. Specifically, we implement The True Way – which is our proven process for how we function as an agency and work with our clients to ensure we are consistently providing value. There first two fundamental elements of The True Way include listening and planning which helps sets up our roadmap to guide us through our journey as we aim to deliver solutions and drive value for our clients that tie back to their business goals and objectives.
If you've completed a strategic roadmap, or in EOS-terms – your Vision/Traction Organizer (V/TO), you'll already have some of the items above identified and documented. These components should then be utilized to guide your marketing strategy - ensuring the marketing strategy aligns with broader business goals and objectives.
Often, we operate on the same business schedule and structure as our EOS-based clients. This means that the way we conduct meetings is similar, and we're updating our V/TOs, including quarterly rocks and our weekly scorecard, at the same time. Because of this, our minds are often in the reassessing and goal-setting stage. We've found that this makes it easy to generate ideas, set actionable and measurable rocks, and, most importantly, helps us sync with our clients to reaffirm we're on the same page and moving forward.
Mentioned in the previous section are rocks. If you've been utilizing EOS, then this term is not new. An easy way to think of rocks is by referring to them as quarterly goals, meaning these are the most crucial items your business needs to accomplish within the next 90 days. When working with an agency that understands the value and importance of your rocks, especially ones that directly correlate with marketing, we can easily identify the roadmap and steps that need to be taken to achieve them.
However, there are instances where you may establish a rock that you feel has nothing to do with marketing – but, by sharing those with us, we can offer recommendations on how you might use a marketing tactic that could further help you achieve that goal.
For example, if you have a rock to add 30 new leads to your sales funnel by the end of quarter two – there may be ways to implement a lead-capture advertising campaign to help you reach this goal quickly and effectively.
Part of EOS is acknowledging that you have the right people in the right seats – and while that may be true of your organization, it is also a possibility that you may not have enough people to execute your plan fully. If you were to add another person to your marketing team, what would they look and act like? That's where True comes in – think of us as an extension of your team who is fully ingrained and knows the ins and outs of what you do daily. Being aligned through EOS makes it seamless.
One thing that makes EOS stand out from many other operating systems is that it holds us accountable to our goals through establishing and regularly reporting on defined KPIs/metrics. Not only are these goals measurable and achievable, but they are also ever-evolving – making it critical that we measure their success continuously.
At True, we look at these defined goals and adjust how we report accordingly so you can tie in how our marketing efforts line up with your endgame. If this quarter you have a specific goal around increasing web traffic in the Pacific-Northwest due to expanding your sales force – we'll look at that. If you're looking to boost the number of sample requests that come through on your website because of a new product launch – we'll account for that.
In addition to continuously reporting, we know that in an EOS-based environment, it's beneficial to "close out the previous quarter". During this time, we reassess what goals were (and weren't) met, how they can be addressed moving forward, and the steps it will take to get there. That's why at True, we set quarterly meetings in line with our EOS-based clients’ quarterlies to reflect and realign our efforts.
If you're an EOS-based business looking to work with a digital marketing agency that understands what you do and how you do it, be sure to contact us!