Growth & Strategy

There's more in the business. Let's find it.

Growth doesn't always mean more marketing, more leads or more spend.

Sometimes the opportunity is already there — in the customers you attract, what you sell, how you sell it, the experience you create or the systems behind it.

Growth & Strategy looks across the business to find where the real opportunities are, what's getting in the way and where to focus next.

Let's talk strategy

Growth isn't always a marketing problem.

When a business wants to grow, the instinct is often to generate more leads. But more leads won't solve everything.

If the wrong customers are enquiring, conversion is poor, your website creates friction, the offer isn't quite right or your sales process can't keep up, putting more people into the top of the funnel can simply create more of the same problem.

Before asking, How do we get more leads?

I'd rather ask, Where is the best growth opportunity in this business?

Where can growth actually come from?

There's rarely only one answer. Depending on the business, the opportunity might be:

Acquisition

Reaching more of the right customers and creating new demand.

Conversion

Making better use of the opportunities you're already generating.

Value

Improving product or service mix, pricing, upsell or the commercial value of each customer.

Retention

Creating more repeat business, loyalty and referrals.

Experience

Making the business easier to understand, choose, buy from and deal with.

Capability

Building the people, processes, technology and systems needed to support the next stage of growth.

The goal isn't to chase every possible opportunity. It's to work out which ones matter most.

What's getting in the way?

Sometimes the opportunity is obvious. The constraint isn't.

A business might have plenty of demand but a poor sales process. A strong reputation but an outdated digital presence. Good customers but no strategy for repeat business. A great product but unclear positioning. Plenty of marketing activity but no useful data. Or an owner who still sits in the middle of too many decisions, relationships and processes.

Growth strategy means looking at both sides of the equation: Where could we grow? and What would stop us?

From opportunity to direction.

Strategy isn't a list of everything the business could possibly do. It's deciding what not to do as much as what to do.

Together, we can look at where the business is now, where you want it to go and the strongest opportunities for getting there. Then turn that into priorities:

Now.

The things worth addressing first.

Next.

The opportunities to build once the foundations are right.

Later.

Good ideas that don't need to distract the business today.

The result is a clearer path forward — not another overwhelming list of marketing ideas.

What you'll walk away with.

The work will depend on the business and the challenge, but a Growth & Strategy engagement can include:

Growth priorities

The opportunities most worth pursuing.

Strategic direction

Where to focus — and what not to chase.

Customer & market priorities

Where the strongest opportunities exist and who matters most.

Commercial opportunities

Potential improvements across offer, positioning, conversion, customer value and retention.

Marketing & sales direction

How marketing and sales should support the growth strategy.

Digital & customer experience priorities

Where technology, website or customer journey improvements could unlock growth.

A practical roadmap

What happens now, next and later.

Measurement

What we need to watch to know whether the strategy is working.

Growth strategy or marketing strategy?

They're related, but they're not quite the same thing.

A marketing strategy focuses on how the business reaches, attracts and communicates with customers. A growth strategy starts with a broader question: Where can this business create more value, and what is preventing that growth?

Marketing might be part of the answer. So might sales, pricing, positioning, products, customer experience, digital, systems, retention or how easy the business is to buy from.

Sometimes you need a marketing strategy. Sometimes you need to work out the growth strategy first.

When does external strategy help?

It can be useful when:

  • —the business has plateaued or growth has slowed
  • —you're growing but aren't sure where to focus next
  • —there are too many opportunities competing for attention
  • —you want to grow without simply spending more on advertising
  • —marketing, sales and customer experience aren't working together
  • —the business has outgrown some of its existing systems or processes
  • —you're considering a significant change or investment
  • —the owner or leadership team needs an independent perspective
  • —you need senior strategic thinking without necessarily hiring another full-time senior role

And sometimes, the business is already doing well. You just know there is more in it.

Let's work out what's next.

If you have growth ambitions, a challenge to solve or simply a sense that the business could be working harder, tell me what's going on.

I need a strategy