Insights
Out of scope is not out of mind. 这是我们hga皇冠牢记在心的咒语，也是我们核心价值观之一的标志性组成部分:持续改进.
Even before beginning an official engagement, 战略营销合作伙伴花费大量的时间去了解他们的新hga皇冠是谁, what pain points they have, and how they plan to measure success of projects.
Rather than taking projects at face-value, 这种基础合作超越了最初的发现，其目标是了解根据公司的独特需求，短期和长期路线图如何发挥作用.
这些深入研究的结果通常是指导最初提议的策略, as well as the future efforts that will add value to the organization. 坦率地说，这与其他提供全方位hga皇冠的营销机构并没有什么不同. But many agencies stop there. For us, it’s just the beginning.
Whether you follow your roadmap to a tee, or go with the wind when it comes to planning, this article shows the importance of quickly pivoting when it’s needed, 并提供了三种策略来确定是否该制定新的成功策略了.
The Map Is Not the Territory
Alfred Korzybski, the famed scholar of semantics, 在20世纪30年代创造了“地图不是领土”这句话，用来解释我们如何经常将事物视为现实的代表(通过地图), pictures in our head, etc.) versus reality itself.
While the semantic argument itself is heady and complex, 它在我们日常生活中的表现方式很清楚:我们让地图塑造我们的现实，而不是让现实塑造地图.
If you owned a GPS before a smartphone, 然后你就知道，那些地图往往不能很好地说明你所走的实际路线. If you failed to update your GPS routinely, 你很容易在地图上没有描绘的道路上开车, and even more easily, getting lost.
同样的情况也发生在营销合作伙伴为hga皇冠约定制定战略并试图从头到尾严格执行时.
Pain points change. New information is uncovered. Additional areas of focus emerge. Stakeholders shift. Timelines bend. And so on.
So what happens when you use the roadmap, as written, as your reality? Let’s look at an agency/client scenario and compare the two approaches.
The Scenario: A Roadmap in Action
Early on at hga皇冠, 我们有一个hga皇冠带着一个单一的项目/问题来找我们:他们想要一个微型网站来驱动产品样本请求. 很明显，对我们来说，一个微型网站本身并不能改善产品样品的需求, and as a result of our initial discovery, we mapped out an 18-month strategy for not only building a microsite, but also driving leads via paid media, improving organic traffic through SEO efforts, and capitalizing on in-person events.
hga皇冠看到了我们的愿景，同意解决了他们的痛点，并批准了我们的战略. We rolled up our sleeves and got to work.
Six months later, things were rolling along, efforts outlined in the roadmap were being implemented on schedule, hga皇冠对我们所取得的成果感到满意，但也渴望进入更成熟的营销策略阶段. At that time, 他们突然被要求计划和执行一个大型活动，向hga皇冠介绍新技术.
现在我们需要决定如何最好地支持这个hga皇冠作为他们的数字营销合作伙伴, given they’ve been thrown a curveball in their own role.
The Approaches: Choose Your Own Adventure
Approach #1: Let the Map Be the Guide
In this scenario, we stay the course and let the map guide us. Rather than adjust our strategy, 我们认为，我们启动的最初策略仍然能够以最快、最有效的方式让我们的hga皇冠达到他们想要的结果.
我们鼓励我们的hga皇冠承担新的角色，让我们处理与路线图直接相关的日常任务. 在活动策划和执行期间，我们在不同的方向工作，希望我们能在同一时间在地图上的同一地点见面.
Approach #2: Leverage the New Reality
Here, 我们将活动策划和执行视为深入开展现场活动的机会，并通过一对一的讨论加倍增加样本，提供难忘的活动体验.
The roadmap gets a revision to accommodate the new path ahead and we use the insights we’ve gained to this point to drive our approach moving forward.
In the first scenario, 我们可能会完成我们最初的目标，并为hga皇冠提供满意的支持. 他们会相信，当他们的注意力在其他地方时，我们仍然在追求我们的营销努力.
如果路线图仍然使营销合作伙伴能够实现已定义的目标, then what’s the problem with following it? If the only goal is to get deliverables finished on time and on budget, then there’s nothing wrong with sticking to the map. But if you want to create a lasting, continuously improving and evolving relationship, then rewriting the map along the way is a must.
对路线图进行修订，为随着时间的推移而发生的自然变化留出空间 enables client collaboration, 如果他们的hga皇冠和代理合作伙伴在孤岛上工作，团队成员就不会有成就感和参与感.
Moreover, 当代理合作伙伴努力寻找新的道路和机会时, 他们会发现从A点到B点更快、更少转弯的更好方法, which ultimately is the real goal of a map.
Get Comfortable With Updating the Map
Reality should inform your map updates. As the reality of a situation changes, so too should the map. How does this look in practice? 这里有一些策略可以帮助你理解地图，以及何时寻找新的路线.
Consider the Creator of the Map
Who led the creation of the roadmap? What were their interests and goals? 有时候，那些创建路线图的人对项目轨迹有特殊的兴趣, sometimes stakeholders change, and sometimes we inherit roadmaps from those who came before us. 批判性地审视路线图创建过程中涉及的人员及其背后的意图，可以更深入地理解可以更改的部分和基础部分.
Acknowledge How the Map Is Influencing the Work Effort
How you use the map influences the work effort executed. 工作本身就是在为下一步奠定基础，推动团队前进. Is it forced or does it make logical sense? 你是否一直在质疑你的团队所走的道路，或者你是否觉得工作赋予了你力量和效率? 这些问题可以帮助你更好地理解地图是对你有利还是对你不利.
Understand That Maps Can’t Show Everything (By Design)
按照设计，地图应该是领土的代表，而不是领土本身. 当您的团队承认您创建的路线图不可能包含所有考虑因素时, requirements and extraneous efforts, you gain flexibility in changing the map, 你也不会那么依赖地图作为工作的终极指南.
The Takeaway
Dig deep, create a roadmap, and execute on your set strategy. Those activities should be a given. But now, go further.
将地图作为起点，并根据需求、环境和趋势的变化进行调整. 给你自己和你的团队自由去改变你对什么是有效的想法, what’s not, and where to double-down on efforts.
By having these conversations with a strategic marketing partner, you’re owning your role as a co-creator of the strategy. You know your business best, 这是在成功的代理/合作伙伴关系中建立信心的必要投入.