What is a Whiteboard Strategy Session?

Whether you're working through a big, hairy problem or planning out the next phase of your business, there's something magical that can happen in front of a whiteboard. Visualizing complex problems can help you identify patterns, come up with fresh ideas, and literally see things more clearly. And when you (and your team) are deep in the weeds, bringing in someone from the outside can give you a fresh perspective and clarify what is truly important.

A Whiteboard Strategy Session is your time to focus on the big picture. It's a time to make sure that the steps you are taking with your business are aligned with your goals. It's a time to thoroughly examine the pieces of your business that aren't working as well as you would like. It's a time to plan ahead, set goals and map out your path to get there.

What can I expect?

When you schedule a Whiteboard Strategy Session with us, you'll be asked to fill out a brief survey asking you to describe the problem or goal you would like to cover during our time together. Then, based on your answers, we will send you a couple of small tasks to complete before we meet so we can best spend our time together. The pre-work can include gathering inspiration or examples of what you would like to achieve, current work work in progress, or past results and customer feedback. Depending on the scope, and your availability, we may also schedule a 15min pre-session call to review your goals and background information.

On the day of our session, we can come to you or arrange a space with a whiteboard in Los Angeles. (Not in LA? Reach out to us to talk about options for a remote session, or to have us come to you!) Your session can be one-on-one or include key team members to facilitate a rich discussion.

During the session, we will go through a series of exercises to clarify the problem or goal, review your current strategies or inspiration, and ideate solutions. We might map out activities to meet a goal, plan marketing for a product launch, review changes to your website or app, or focus on a challenge or area of your business you would like to improve. Use this session to get outside advice and guidance, have a sounding board and thought partner, and/or facilitate discussion among team members.

After the session, we will follow up with an overview of what we discussed with photos of the whiteboard, links to pertinent resources, and (when applicable) recommended next steps. You should expect to have increased clarity on the problem or goal and a sense of direction to take you through the next steps.

Who can benefit?

Any business can benefit from an occasional Whiteboard Strategy Session -- B2B or B2C, product or service-based, single person or a larger team. We particularly love working with early stage businesses, single-person practices and small teams, and relish the challenge of finding solutions when every dollar and every resource counts. Still not sure if you could benefit? Reach out to us! We're happy to discuss.

What kinds of projects work for a Whiteboard Strategy Session?

When you're describing your project, do the words complex, long-term, big-picture, plan, or strategy come to mind? Then it's probably perfect for a Whiteboard Strategy Session!

Are you just starting to sort through a problem, or plan activities and want to make sure you are covering all the angles? Having Heroic Aspirations lead a Whiteboard Strategy Session can help you and your team map out and sort through issues and ideas.

Have you been working on your project for a while and feel stuck? A Whiteboard Strategy Session is a great way to get outside advice and move past mental blocks.

Our core competencies include Marketing, Digital Product Management, and Customer Experience. We have worked in companies ranging from startup to Fortune 100, non-profits and family owned businesses. Are you working on marketing, customer service, and getting the word out about your business? Are you creating or making improvements to your website or app? 

What kinds of projects DO work well for a Whiteboard Strategy session?

• Reviewing goals for your business in the next year and prioritizing activities to get there.

• Planning and mapping marketing activities to engage a target audience.

• Reviewing customer feedback and developing strategies to improve their experience.

• Planning and coordinating activities across your team for a product launch.

• Analyzing how well your website is meeting the needs of a particular audience.

• Reviewing performance of activities in your marketing funnel and discussing ways to improve.

• Discussing ways to use social media (and other channels!) to acquire customers in a new market.

• Prioritizing features in your app to lead users towards specific actions.

What kinds of projects do NOT work well for a Whiteboard Strategy session?

• Discussing whether visual design and branding elements are "good".

• Reviewing the usability of an entire website or app experience.

• Dissecting and interpreting business metrics in detail.

• Figuring out how to "get better at" social media.

Still not sure whether your project would work for a Whiteboard Strategy Session. Just reach out! We'd be happy to help.