Building the Growth Strategy for Your Business

1. Business Strategy

a. Framework: Roger Martin's Playing To Win

The "Playing to Win" strategic framework developed by Roger Martin aligns best with the Lean Campaigner framework because it:

• Emphasizes clear, focused decisions: Concentrates efforts on activities that contribute the most value.
• Advocates simplicity: Ensures organizations are not burdened by unnecessary complexity.
• Encourages iterative approaches: Recommends regular reassessment and adjustment of strategies based on feedback and changing market conditions.
• Focuses on key strategic choices: Emphasizes choosing where to compete (Where to Play) and how to achieve success in those chosen areas (How to Win).
• Stresses cross-functional collaboration: Ensures diverse perspectives are considered in strategic decision-making.

b. Outline of the Playing to Win Strategic Process

• The Winning Aspiration

Definition: Clearly articulate the organization's long-term goal or purpose.

Key Questions:

What is the organization's ultimate objective or aspiration?

What does success look like in the long term?

• Where to Play

Definition: Identify the specific market segments, customer groups, and geographic regions where the organization will compete.

Key Questions:

In which markets should the organization operate?

Which customer segments should it target?

• How to Win

Definition: Determine the distinctive capabilities and advantages that will enable the organization to succeed in chosen markets.

Key Questions:

What unique value proposition can the organization offer?

What capabilities differentiate it from competitors?

Framework: April Dunford’s "Obviously Awesome" Exercise

Defining positioning effectively is critical to success. The Obviously Awesome framework provides a simple process to develop powerful value propositions and positioning

Step 1: Conduct an audit of your brand features.

Step 2: Focus on unique features that deliver significant benefits to your hero.

Step 3: Use evidence (numbers or customer quotes) to support these benefits.

• Core Capabilities

Definition: Develop and strengthen the key competencies required to execute the chosen strategy successfully.

Key Questions:

What resources and skills are necessary for strategy execution?

How can the organization build and enhance these capabilities?

• Management Systems

Definition: Establish the systems, processes, and measures needed to support and monitor the execution of the strategy.

Key Questions:

What organizational structures and systems will facilitate strategy implementation?

How will performance be measured and monitored?

2. Research Activities

a. Segments / Jobs to be Done / Ideal Customer Profile Definition

Understanding your audience is crucial. This involves:

• Persona Interviews: Engaging with target customers to understand their needs and behaviors.
• Empathy Maps: Creating empathy maps to understand customer motivations, pains, and gains.
• Forums / Reviews: Analyzing customer feedback and discussions for insights.

b. Brand Definition and Communication

The first step is clarifying and documenting your brand strategy if not already done. Many companies do not regularly review their branding efforts, leading to inconsistencies.

Lean Campaigner is a bottom-up strategy that ensures marketing connects with the user. Clear brand guidelines provide teams with the roadmap needed to inform their marketing programs. A lack of brand guidelines risks off-brand campaign development, leading to rework and confusion. Empowered teams with brand clarity are vital to the Lean Campaigner framework.

Framework: Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle Model

Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle model - Why (Purpose), How (Unique Value Proposition), and What (What they do) - is a good place to start.

Developing Your "Why":

Use Sinek's Apple example as a model:

"Everything we do, we believe in [longer description]. We believe in [simple phrase]. The way we [longer description] is by [top 3 benefits]."

c. Brand Story, Mantra, Mission, and Values

Ensure there is no ambiguity in your brand story, mission, and values. These elements should be fully understood and internalized by the team, making them feel less like they’re selling a product and more like they’re evangelizing a movement.

Framework: Andy Raskin’s Strategic Narrative

The core idea behind the Strategic Narrative idea is to create a story that means the customer has not choice but to change.

Elements include:

• Undeniable Big Change: Tie your brand story to a significant, obvious change (e.g., the rise of e-commerce).
• Evidence of Change: Provide evidence of the change with clear winners and losers.
• Hero: Define your target customer as the hero of the story.
• Enemy: Define your hero’s enemy.
• Promised Land: Define what your hero's better place is.
• Magic Gifts: Explain how your firm helps your hero overcome their enemy and win.

d. Brand Definition

The brand story and understanding of your unique difference allow for clear brand definition.

• Brand Themes

Successful brands connect their products to their audience through compelling themes (e.g., Nike’s “Just Do It”).

• Voice and Tone

Detailed definitions of tone and voice are crucial as expressions of a company’s point of difference, values, and way of thinking.

• Brand Assets

Ensure consistency for long-term brand equity by having all brand elements readily available to campaign teams.

• Brand-Level Jobs to Be Done and Problem Definition

Identify core problems and jobs to be done to make campaign development faster and easier.

• Getting Mission, Values, Positioning, and Campaigns Aligned

All companies have goals related to brand development, market share, sales, and finances. Areas like Brand Mission and Values (Why) and Positioning (How) are often hard to measure but crucial for alignment.

Step 1: Mission and Values (Why)

Define both qualitative and quantitative objectives. For example:

Mission: Make critical technology more accessible.

Quantitative Goal: 3x sales increase over 3 years.

Step 2: Positioning and Messaging (How)

Conduct an audit of your offering compared with a top competitor. Identify unique differences that your target audience cares about.

Messaging Framework:

Headline

Sub-header

25-word description

Top 3 value points or benefits

Supporting features for each benefit

Qualitative proof points or metrics for each benefit

Key tool: Obviously Awesome framework

Step 3: Campaigns (What)

Campaigns focus on specific use cases, reworking messaging to better connect with the target user. Here’s how this alignment looks in practice:

Identify campaign goals.

Tailor messaging to specific use cases.

Ensure resonance and relevance to target users.

Iterate based on feedback and performance data.

3. Creating Strategic Alignment

By aligning mission, values, positioning, and campaigns, your company can create cohesive, effective marketing strategies that resonate with your audience and drive success.