A list is not a strategy

How to find the best marketing strategy for your startup or scale-up?

Most strategies start as a list of ideas, a budget and a timeline. But a list is not a strategy, it's the opposite. A strategy involves tradeoffs among multiple good ideas.

And that distinction is critical.

A list happens when you’re not sure what to do, so you try a bit of everything. People call list items “hygienes” or “best practices” but they're a distraction.

Because 90% of your growth comes from 10% of your ideas – you don’t need to do all of the things, you need to find the right things – fast.

So why do we even make lists? They make us feel safe. If we try everything, surely something will work.

Here’s the problem: The best ideas probably aren’t on your list.

I’ve helped 300 teams find 1,000 growth levers, and I’ve noticed something odd – the best ideas often sound bad at first.

Stripe’s first home page was their developer docs.

Dropbox gave everyone free storage – their most expensive resource.

Liquid Death named their canned water... Liquid Death 😂

Most big ideas are not obvious, or you’d already be doing them. They hide in your blind spots, they make you nervous, they contradict your assumptions and don’t map neatly to your org structure.

So how do you go from list to strategy?

Ask one question: Which ideas, if they work, can be huge?

That’s it. Don’t worry about cost or feasibility yet,. There’s always a good reason not to do something.

You don’t need to ignore those risks, but you can validate them.

Test big ideas quickly with scrappy experiments. For each big idea, ask yourself “What’s the riskiest assumption? And what’s the quickest way we can test that assumption?”

For example:

• Before you invest in SEO, try buying the keywords to see if they send you qualified traffic

• Before you change your positioning, test a few messages with ads to see which one your prospects respond to.

• Before you build a new feature, run a “false door test” to see if people will engage with it.

• Before you build a new product, try to sell it via a landing page test or some sales calls.

Start with my list of 20 scrappy growth experiments that require almost no traffic, budget, or tech. The PDF includes step-by-step instructions, examples and screenshots.

How do I get my team to think this way?

You're staring at that list. Listening to debates. You want predictable growth, but you're not sure what to prioritize, and everyone on your team has a different opinion.

It's not enough to know you should test bold ideas – you need your team aligned, moving fast, testing bold, and learning what works.

That's what our Growth Coaching Program does.

We're the trusted outside voice that helps your team align on what matters, adopt a disciplined growth process, and test bold ideas quickly.

If you want more out of your growth plans, book a 15-minute call with my co-founder to see if you’re a good fit. It’s way cheaper than working on the wrong stuff for a year!