I find visual models to be a useful way to organize thoughts and explain concepts. I developed the following model as a way to understand the needs that my company addresses for our clients as well as the services we offer to address those needs. This also helps me to educate clients on the various ways that we can help them. For now I termed it the me3 model, taken from the first two letters from each of the labeled circles. Admittedly the model is simple, but I find simple models to be the most useful for guiding discussion and thought. Here is a quick walk through of the model: 
- At the center of the model are the people our clients hope to serve with their products and services.
- The three bubbles represent the strategic marketing communication needs of our clients. These are:
- Message: What they do? What makes them unique? special? valuable? How to accomplish goals and objectives?
- Medium: How they communicate? Where? When? What? Why? With whom?
- Measurement: Who is responding? To what? Where? Why? What next? Why?
- The outer ring consists of services that would map to each of these needs. Because every client is different, we often start at different places on the model, and orient ourselves properly as to the issues we need to be considering and the services we should be providing.
- All three of the bubbles overlap, indicating the reality that none of these needs or services exists by itself. It is the areas of overlap where the interesting things tend to happen most often.
I plan to write more about this in future posts, but thought I would offer up a few points of explanation for you to consider. I will delve deeper into what makes up each bubble and how they work with one another. I will also explore the services and deliverables that surround the model. In doing so, I hope to teach you more about what I do and uncover ways to do it (and describe it) more effectively.
What about your business? What is the visual model that guides what you do? Do you have one? Does it help?
This framework WORKS. Just consider the very beginning of the description: “at the center of the model are the customers that our clients hope to serve…” This is key to responsible and strategic marketing and will dictate the Message and Medium. How can these variables be developed without a sound understanding of the ultimate customers’ needs and wants? On the other end, measement / metrics have become more critical in marketing and business than ever, as they should! I have worked with many academic models and frameworks for marketing strategy development AND with the models of marketing practitioners. The me3 Model is easy to understand, yet would be highly productive in generating substantive and viable strategic recommendations for any organization. I can see it in college textbooks, as well!