DEFINING YOUR CORE BUCKETS

A few years ago we attended a seminar hosted by the AAF-Greater Frederick featuring Melanie Spring. We’re always learning and expanding our core practices and from this particular event, we were drawn to the concept of defining your three core “buckets.”

Oftentimes when companies market themselves or choose what type of content they want to put on social media, their website or in ads, they’re overwhelmed by what they want to say. Do we talk about services? Do we talk about trends in the industry? Should we or should we not share that company picnic photo? The amount of information that passes through our business doors every day is incredible. But what is right to promote?

The concepts of these buckets are fascinating to me. And it works!

First, make a list of all the things your business stands for. What is important to you? What do you want to be known for?

From that list, choose three overarching focuses that you want you and your business to be known for. These can be broad topics such as service or company culture or they could be as specific as a machine name or service.

Once you’ve identified your three buckets, share them with your team. We like to create branded signs that encourage company involvement. By sharing your buckets with your team, you encourage them to get on board with what your company wants to stand for and be known for.

Here’s the fun part. You get to streamline your process tremendously by filling your buckets. The magic rule with the buckets is if a topic, content or purpose doesn’t fall within your buckets, you won’t be marketing or using it.

For instance, at Worx, our core buckets are Branding, Entrepreneurship and Company Culture. When we’re considering a blog topic, Facebook post, marketing initiative or event to attend, we focus on these three topics. So if what we want to pursue doesn’t fall within these three buckets, we simply don’t do it.

Here are a few ways to get the team on board:

• Have your team be part of the process of choosing your buckets. They’ll enjoy being part of the evolution and incorporating their ideas.

• Provide each team member a branded bucket sign or flyer so they have it handy. Everyone should be able to recite the buckets with ease once incorporated.

• Use your buckets as a filter. Ask everyone to run their ideas through the buckets to see if it aligns.

• Have periodic bucket checks – what are you currently doing that could be filtered and streamlined?

What you’ll find by incorporating this system is a well-organized and unified team. You’ll cut back on brainstorming time. You’ll be focused on your core assets and what you want to be known as a leader in the industry for. And most importantly, you’ll save time.