Why Your Competitive Position Determines Which Revenue Lever to Pull

Your M8/M9 position is not just context — it is a hard constraint on what your revenue strategy can actually do.

About the Marketing Canvas Method

This article compares the Marketing Canvas Method against the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, 4Ps, STP, SOSTAC, and brand positioning frameworks. The MCM structures marketing strategy across 6 meta-categories, 24 dimensions, and 9 strategic archetypes in a 6-step executable process.
Full framework reference at marketingcanvas.net →  ·  Get the book →

The Campaign That Made Everything Worse

The subscription software company had a problem. Revenue was flat. The executive team looked at their existing customer base — 2,400 accounts, an ATV sitting €20 below the category ceiling — and decided the answer was stimulation. They launched a campaign to grow average contract value: upgrade offers, bundled add-ons, a premium tier they'd been sitting on for six months. The campaign ran for a quarter. Satisfaction scores dropped four points. Churn climbed from 12% to 17%. Net revenue fell.

The campaign wasn't badly executed. The offers were real. The messaging was clear. The problem was that the company's position on the perceptual map made Stimulation structurally impossible. Their customers already felt overcharged relative to the benefits they were receiving. Asking them to spend more was not a growth move. It was an exit trigger.

The revenue lever was wrong. And the Perceptual Map — already built during Step 1 — would have told them exactly that, if anyone had read it as a strategic brief instead of a snapshot.

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The Map You're Probably Misreading

Step 1 of the Marketing Canvas Method produces a Perceptual Map built from two calculated scores. M8 (Perceived Price) captures how the cost feels to your Lead Segment relative to the competitive set, normalized to a −12 (feels very cheap) to +12 (feels very expensive) scale. M9 (Perceived Benefits) captures how your delivery on the category's key benefits is perceived, normalized to the same −12 to +12 scale. Plot both for every competitor and you get a positioning landscape for your category.

Most practitioners treat this map as a diagnostic. They look at where they sit, register whether they're above or below the diagonal, and move on to Step 2. That's the mistake. The Perceptual Map is not a historical record. It is an operating constraint. Where you sit on that map determines which revenue strategies your market position can sustain — and which ones it will punish.

The diagonal matters more than the dots. A position above the diagonal means your perceived benefits exceed your perceived price: customers feel they're getting a fair deal or better. A position below the diagonal means your price outweighs your benefits in the customer's mind. That gap — not your absolute scores — is what limits your options at Step 2.

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Each Quadrant Has a Natural Lever — and a Danger Zone

The Perceptual Map produces four meaningful positions. Each one loads a different default strategy at Step 2 (Revenue Lever Selection), and each has a lever that destroys value if chosen from the wrong position.

Premium (high M8, high M9, above the diagonal). Your price feels heavy and your benefits justify the weight. Stimulation is structurally available here — customers who already believe they're getting strong value are open to getting more. Retention is also reliable: satisfaction sustains the relationship. Acquisition is possible but expensive, because convincing new buyers to pay a premium requires proof your current customers have already experienced. The danger zone: trying to out-compete on price. A price cut from a Premium position signals that the premium was not real. You don't win on price from here. You erode the foundation that makes the whole position viable.

Value Leader (low M8, high M9, above the diagonal). Your price is accessible and your benefits are strong. This is the classic Acquisition position. The market opens to you because the barrier to try is low and the value is visible. The lever that destroys value here is over-investing in Stimulation before the base is large enough to make upsell economics work. With low M8, your ATV ceiling is visible — and you'll hit it faster than you expect. Grow the base first.

Commodity (low M8, low M9, on or near the diagonal). You are undifferentiated in both price and benefits. The only sustainable lever is cost-efficient Acquisition — the A2 (Efficiency Machine) archetype — or a deliberate move to reposition. Retention is defensive but fragile: customers have no strong reason to stay. Stimulation is close to impossible — what do you ask them to spend more on? The danger zone is any investment that increases costs without improving the M9 score. You cannot stimulate your way out of a commodity position.

Overpriced (high M8, low M9, below the diagonal). Your customers feel they are paying more than the benefits are worth. This is the position the software company above occupied. Stimulation is the most destructive lever you can pull here. You are asking customers who already feel underserved to spend more. Every upgrade offer reinforces the perception that you are extracting rather than delivering value. Churn accelerates.

The counterintuitive insight: Overpriced does not automatically mean "cut your price." Reducing M8 is one path, but it compresses margin and may not fix the underlying perception. The smarter move is often what the method calls ATV restructuring — not lowering the price, but including more at the existing price point to close the gap between M8 and M9. You reduce the perceived imbalance by shifting the value equation, not the price tag. Think of a SaaS company bundling previously paid features into the base tier. M8 stays constant. M9 rises. The diagonal moves in your favour. Stimulation becomes available in the next cycle, not this one.

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What Type of Benefit You Deliver Changes What You Can Ask For

Position on the map is not just a function of how many benefits you deliver — it's a function of what kind. This is where the dependency between Dimension 310 (Features) and Dimension 320 (Emotions) becomes revenue-critical.

Research by Almquist, Cleghorn, and Sherer (2018) on the B2B elements of value found that ease of doing business and productivity matter, but the elements most correlated with customer loyalty were higher up the hierarchy: growth enablement and social responsibility. In B2B categories, buyers consistently say they value price and functionality, then make renewal decisions based on whether the vendor relationship feels dependable, low-friction, and aligned with who they want to be. The functional claim gets you the meeting. The emotional experience keeps the contract.

The Marketing Canvas method structures this as a dependency chain: 310 (Features) must reach a viable threshold before 320 (Emotions) can do strategic work. You cannot sustain emotional loyalty on a product that doesn't deliver its functional promise. An M9 built entirely on functional performance is vulnerable to any competitor who matches those features — and they will. An M9 that includes emotional advantages (dimension 320 scoring at +2 or better) creates a premium that is genuinely hard to replicate, because the emotional benefit is embedded in the relationship and the experience, not the product specification.

The practical implication for lever selection: if your M9 advantage is predominantly functional, your Stimulation and Retention potential is fragile. A competitor with equivalent features and a lower M8 will pull your customers the moment they see the comparison. If your M9 advantage includes emotional dimensions — particularly the A3 (Brand Evangelist) and A8 (Niche Expert) archetypes, where identity and community matter — your Retention and Stimulation levers are far more durable. Customers with emotional skin in the game do not leave for a €10 saving.

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The Line That Actually Determines Momentum

Here is the assumption that costs the most: that your absolute M8 and M9 scores determine your strategic room to move. They don't. What determines momentum is your position relative to the competitive line — the Value Equivalence Line (VEL) that Leszinski and Marn identified in their 1997 work on dynamic value management.

The VEL is not the neutral diagonal. It is the line of actual market equilibrium in your specific category — the positions where customers judge price and benefits to be roughly equal given competitive alternatives. Companies above this line are gaining share momentum. Companies below it are losing it, even if their absolute M9 looks acceptable.

Your M8 of +4 and M9 of +5 might look like a Premium position until you plot your two main competitors and discover that both sit at M9 +7. The VEL in your category runs higher than you assumed. You are not above it. You are below it. And Stimulation from that position will accelerate the exit of your most informed customers — the ones who do the comparison before renewal.

Before you choose a revenue lever, locate yourself relative to where the market actually sets its line. Not relative to the diagonal. Relative to your competitors.

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The Competitive Map Feasibility Check

Before committing to a revenue lever at Step 2, run three questions against your Step 1 outputs:

• Am I above or below the Value Equivalence Line in my competitive set? Plot your M8/M9 alongside every competitor identified in M6. If you sit below the competitive cluster, Stimulation is not yet available. Fix M9 first — through Step 3 (Vital Audit) gap analysis on Dimensions 310 and 320 — before pulling the growth lever.

• Is my M9 advantage functional, emotional, or both? If your benefit lead is purely functional (features, price, speed), your Stimulation and Retention potential is limited. You can hold customers who haven't found a matching alternative yet, but you cannot reliably grow them. Emotional M9 advantages — particularly in Dimension 320 — are what make Stimulation economically durable.

• What is my churn rate telling me about the position the map shows? A churn rate above 15% while your map shows a Premium position is a contradiction. It means the map is wrong — your M9 is likely overstated — or the map is right and a specific experience failure is accelerating exits that the aggregate score masks. Either way, Stimulation before resolving that contradiction will make the number worse.

These three questions take fifteen minutes. They do not require new data. They require reading the data you already produced in Step 1 as a constraint, not a trophy.

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The Map Is the Brief

Your Perceptual Map is not a snapshot of where you are. It is a brief for what you can and cannot do next. An M8/M9 position above the VEL with emotional depth in your M9 scores: pull Stimulation with confidence. A position below the line with a functional-only benefit advantage: you are not ready to grow revenue per customer, and trying will cost you the customers you have.

The software company that launched the upgrade campaign had the map. The numbers were in their Step 1 output. Nobody stopped to ask whether the position could support the lever. That's not a strategy failure. It's a reading failure.

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What to Do Next

Check your Step 2 lever decision against your Step 1 Perceptual Map outputs right now. Plot your M8/M9 against every M6 competitor. Identify where the VEL runs in your category. Then ask whether your chosen lever sits above or below it.

If you haven't built your Perceptual Map yet, start at marketingcanvas.net — the full 24-dimension framework is there, with worked examples for every step.

If you want the complete methodology: Marketing Strategy, Programmed — the book walks through every step with live case studies, including the archetype selection logic that turns your M3 × M4 × Revenue Lever combination into a deterministic strategic brief.

If you want to run this in a workshop setting with your team: contact Laurent.

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Sources

Leszinski, R. & Marn, M.V. (1997). "Setting Value, Not Price." McKinsey Quarterly. https://www.mckinsey.com

Almquist, E., Cleghorn, J. & Sherer, L. (2018). "The B2B Elements of Value." Harvard Business Review, March–April 2018. https://hbr.org/2018/03/the-b2b-elements-of-value

Bouty, L. (2025). Marketing Strategy, Programmed: The Marketing Canvas Method. — Step 1 (Strategic Context Mapping), Step 2 (Revenue Ambition & Goal Setting), Dimension 310 (Features), Dimension 320 (Emotions).

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Framework reference pages on marketingcanvas.net

Step 1: M8 (Perceived Price) · M9 (Perceived Benefits) · The Perceptual Map; Step 2: Revenue Lever Selection · The Archetype Unlock; Dimension 310: Features · Dimension 320: Emotions · Dimension 330: Prices; Archetypes: A2 (Efficiency Machine) · A3 (Brand Evangelist) · A6 (Value Harvester) · A8 (Niche Expert)

The Marketing Canvas Method

A Guide to Competitor Analysis

Mastering Market Definition and Key Benefits for Competitive Positioning

Where do you play, and what is your market situation? (focusing on M1 and M2)

Understanding your market is a critical first step in defining your business strategy. It involves answering two key questions:

1. What is your market? (Market Definition - M1)

2. What benefits matter most in your market? (Key Expected Benefits - M2)

This article explores these questions in detail and provides actionable insights to help you identify and leverage competitive positioning options.

What is your market? (market definition - M1)

Defining your market means understanding the boundaries of where you operate, who your customers are, and the nature of the competition. This is not just about naming an industry—it’s about identifying a specific space where your product or service plays a role.

Key Considerations:

• Who are your target customers? Define their demographics, behaviors, and preferences.

• What needs do you fulfill? Clearly articulate the problem your product or service solves.

• What is the scope of your market? Determine the geographical and category boundaries that frame your competition.

Example: Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products If you’re in the eco-friendly cleaning products market, your target customers might be environmentally conscious homeowners. The need you fulfill is effective, sustainable home cleaning. Your market scope might include regional markets with high environmental awareness and disposable income.

Example: Tesla Model S Consider the Tesla Model S. It belongs to the broad market of cars, but we can further narrow this down into sub-markets. A common mistake is to categorize the Tesla Model S under the market of electric cars. However, being electric is a feature, not a market. Although both a Toyota Prius and a Tesla Model S are electric cars (one being a hybrid), they do not belong to the same market. The Tesla Model S fits into the Luxury E automobile or Executive/Mid-size luxury market, which also includes vehicles like the Porsche Taycan or the BMW 5 series.

Watch More: Tesla Market Positioning

E-Segment Wikipedia Reference

As we delve deeper, we'll discover that once we have identified the market where our value proposition will compete, it's crucial to understand and follow a set of rules to shape our commercial strategy. After identifying your company's competitive market, we need to delve into the specifics. Just like a painter cannot create art without understanding their canvas, a marketer cannot formulate a strategy without understanding their market.

What benefits matter most in your market? (key expected benefits - M2)

Every market revolves around a set of benefits that customers prioritize. These benefits can be divided into two categories:

1. Functional Benefits: Practical and measurable advantages your product or service provides.

2. Emotional Benefits: Intangible, psychological rewards customers experience.

These benefits form the basis for competitive positioning, as each player in the market may emphasize different combinations of these elements.

Example: Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products Market

1. Effectiveness (Functional): Products that clean thoroughly without compromising on eco-friendliness.

2. Health and Safety (Functional): Non-toxic ingredients that are safe for families and pets.

3. Convenience (Functional): Easy-to-use packaging and availability in local stores or online.

4. Environmental Impact (Emotional): Customers feel good about reducing their carbon footprint and supporting sustainability.

5. Brand Trust (Emotional): A sense of confidence in the brand’s authenticity and values.

Example: Tesla Model S

1. Performance (Functional): Exceptional acceleration and range compared to competitors.

2. Innovation (Functional): Cutting-edge technology, including autonomous driving capabilities.

3. Sustainability (Emotional): Pride in contributing to reducing carbon emissions.

4. Prestige (Emotional): Association with a high-status, forward-thinking brand.

5. Ownership Experience (Emotional): Access to a seamless, premium experience from purchase to service.

Each of these benefits represents an opportunity for differentiation. For example, Tesla emphasizes performance and innovation as key functional benefits while simultaneously building strong emotional connections through sustainability and prestige.

Final thoughts

Defining your market (M1) and understanding its key benefits (M2) are foundational steps in building a competitive strategy. These insights not only clarify your market position but also inform how you can differentiate your offering in a way that resonates with your audience.

Take the time to explore these two critical dimensions of your market. Doing so will set the stage for deeper strategic decisions and ultimately, greater success in your chosen space.

Who Are Your Competitors, and How Do You Compare?

Understanding your competitive landscape is essential for positioning your product or service effectively. By evaluating your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, you gain insights into where your brand stands and how to differentiate yourself. This post explores how to analyze competitors in terms of pricing and benefits, providing examples from Tesla and GreenClean to illustrate the process.

Step 1: Identify your competitors (M6)

Competitors in any market typically fall into one of several categories based on their positioning and market strategy, particularly in how they align with key benefits identified in your market. Understanding these roles provides a framework for evaluating competitors effectively:

• Leader: Excels across multiple key benefits, often setting industry standards. Leaders tend to dominate on aspects like performance, innovation, and brand trust.

• Challenger: Focuses on select benefits to compete directly with leaders, often balancing affordability with strong perceived benefits.

• Game Changer: Disrupts the market by emphasizing new or underserved benefits, redefining customer expectations (e.g., sustainability or traceability).

• Follower: Mimics the offerings of leaders or challengers without significant differentiation, usually relying on competitive pricing.

• Niche Player: Excels in one or two highly specific benefits, targeting a distinct audience or segment.

Begin by identifying your key competitors. For each, gather the following information:

• Price per unit (M7): The actual cost of their product or service. Identify their market role (e.g., leader, challenger, game changer).

• Perceived price (M8): How customers perceive their pricing relative to competitors.

• Perceived benefits (M9): How well competitors perform across key benefits that matter to customers.

• Comments (M10): Observations on competitors’ positioning, strengths, or weaknesses.

This forms the foundation for understanding how your offering compares.

Step 2: Analyze perceived price (M8)

Price isn’t just about numbers; it’s about perceived value. Customers may pay a premium for products they see as more valuable. Use the following formula to calculate perceived price:

Formula for perceived price (M8):

M8=24(E−C)×(M7−C)−12

• E: Maximum price per unit in the market.

• C: Lowest price per unit in the market.

• M7: Your product's price per unit.

This formula provides a score between -12 and +12, helping you understand how your pricing is perceived.

Example: Tesla model S (M7: Leader)

• Maximum price (E): €120,000

• Lowest price (C): €50,000

• Tesla model S price (M7): €100,000

M8 = (24)/{120,000 - 50,000} x (100,000 - 50,000) - 12 = +4.8

Tesla’s perceived price is higher than average, reflecting its luxury positioning.

Example: GreenClean (M7: Challenger)

• Maximum price (E): €15

• Lowest price (C): €6

• GreenClean price (M7): €10

M8 = (24)/{15 - 6} x (10 - 6) - 12 = -1.33

GreenClean’s perceived price is lower, appealing to price-sensitive customers.

Step 3: Evaluate perceived benefits (M9)

To calculate perceived benefits, assess competitors across key benefits (identified earlier in your analysis). For each benefit, score competitors on a scale of -3 (completely disagree) to +3 (completely agree).

Competitor comments (M10) should play a critical role in interpreting perceived benefits. For example, understanding why a competitor excels in specific areas can highlight strategic opportunities or challenges for your brand. Comments might also identify potential collaboration opportunities or gaps to address in your own offering.

Example : Tesla vs. competitors (M9)

1. Performance

2. Innovation

3. Sustainability

4. Customer Trust

Example Table: GreenClean vs. Competitors (M9)

1. Effectiveness

2. Convenience

3. Sustainability

4. Customer Trust

Step 4: Compare and interpret results

With perceived price and perceived benefits calculated, create a summary table to identify where you excel or need improvement.

Example : Tesla vs. competitors (M10)

1. Tesla: Leader in EV innovation, leveraging superior battery performance and software integration.

2. Porsche: Luxury competitor, lacks EV focus.

3. BMW: Established brand, but less innovative.

Example: GreenClean vs. Competitors (M10)

1. Greenclean: Challenger with a sustainability focus, offering affordable alternatives to premium eco brands.

2. EcoPure: Leader in premium eco-friendly solutions.

3. NatureFresh: Budget competitor, lacks differentiation.

Final thoughts

Understanding your competitors goes beyond pricing and benefits. This process helps identify gaps in the market, refine your positioning, and strengthen your value proposition. By analyzing perceived price and benefits, you can develop strategies that resonate with your target audience while staying ahead of competitors.

As seen with Tesla, a high perceived price can align with high perceived benefits to justify a premium position. Similarly, GreenClean shows how affordability and sustainability can differentiate a product in a price-sensitive market. Use these methods to assess your landscape and uncover opportunities to lead.

What strategies have worked for you in understanding competitors? Share your experiences and insights in the comments!

What are the trends influencing your market?

This step focuses on identifying and evaluating the key trends shaping your market. By understanding these trends, you can determine their potential impact on your goals and define whether they act as accelerators or brakes.

Step 1: Identify five key trends

Trends can emerge from various domains, such as technology, society, the environment, economics, or politics. Begin by identifying the five most impactful trends relevant to your market.

Example categories of trends:

1. Technological Trends: Advancements in AI, automation, or digital transformation.

2. Social Trends: Changing consumer behaviors or demographic shifts.

3. Environmental Trends: Increasing focus on sustainability and green practices.

4. Economic Trends: Inflation, interest rates, or shifts in global trade.

5. Political/Regulatory Trends: New regulations or geopolitical events.

Step 2: Assess trend impact

For each trend, evaluate its influence on your market and goals. Trends can either:

• Accelerate Ambitions (Accelerators): Trends that create opportunities and align with your goals.

• Block Ambitions (Brakes): Trends that present challenges or barriers to achieving your objectives.

Example table: trends and their Impact

Step 3: connect trends to context and goals

Integrate the identified trends with the insights from Question 1 (Market Definition) and Question 2 (Competitor Analysis) to form a comprehensive market context.

1. Align Trends with Key Benefits:

   • Map trends to the benefits you identified earlier (e.g., performance, sustainability, trust) to see how trends influence your competitive positioning.

   • Example: Consumer Sustainability Focus supports brands with strong sustainability credentials like GreenClean but may hinder competitors with less sustainable practices.

2. Trend Impact on Goal Setting:

   • Accelerators: Set ambitious goals leveraging these trends (e.g., digital transformation to enhance efficiency).

   • Brakes: Adjust goals or create mitigation strategies to overcome barriers (e.g., adapting pricing strategies to inflation).

Step 4: visualize trends and their Influence

Create a summary visualization to help decision-makers clearly see the trend dynamics.

Example application: Tesla

Trends Influencing Tesla:

1. Electric Vehicle Adoption (Accelerator): Rapid adoption globally, driving demand for Tesla's products.

2. Raw Material Costs (Brake): Rising lithium costs impacting battery production expenses.

3. Autonomous Driving Innovation (Accelerator): Advances in AI bolster Tesla’s self-driving features.

4. Sustainability Regulations (Accelerator): Policies favoring EV adoption enhance Tesla’s market opportunities.

5. Geopolitical Tensions (Brake): Supply chain disruptions due to global conflicts.

Impact on Tesla's Goals:

• Leverage accelerators like EV adoption to set ambitious revenue growth targets.

• Address brakes like raw material costs through cost optimization or partnerships.

Final Thoughts

Identifying and assessing trends helps businesses future-proof their strategies. By understanding whether trends act as accelerators or brakes, you can:

• Align your goals with external opportunities.

• Mitigate risks to ensure sustainability.

• Create a clear, actionable path toward achieving your objectives.

What trends are shaping your market? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments!

Defining Your Goals: Turning Insights into Actionable Revenue Targets

With insights from Question 1 (Market Definition), Question 2 (Competitor Analysis), and Question 3 (Trend Analysis), you now have a clear understanding of your market, competitors, and trends shaping your industry. The next step in the Marketing Canvas process is to translate this knowledge into financial hypotheses and set quantitative goalsthat serve as benchmarks for success.

Your goals will be rooted in the revenue equation:

Revenue = Customers × Transactions × Average Price per Transaction

Step 1: Define your financial hypotheses

Start by linking the insights from the three market questions to each growth lever in the revenue equation.

1. Customers

• Question 1: How large is your addressable market (TAM/SAM/SOM)?

  • Example: If your SAM is growing, focus on acquisition (GET strategy).

• Question 2: How does your offering compare to competitors in perceived benefits (M9)?

  • Example: If you’re a challenger, leverage your unique strengths to attract new customers.

• Question 3: What trends influence customer behavior?

  • Example: Social trends like sustainability might help you acquire eco-conscious consumers.

2. Transactions

• Question 1: How frequently do customers interact with your product/service?

  • Example: Subscription models or habitual usage patterns could encourage consistent purchases.

• Question 2: Are competitors driving repeat transactions through cross-selling or upselling?

  • Example: Competitors may use targeted promotions to increase purchase frequency.

• Question 3: What trends drive increased engagement?

  • Example: Digital transformation enables seamless reordering or auto-renewal subscriptions.

3. Average Price per Transaction

• Question 1: What is the price sensitivity in your market?

  • Example: Luxury segments might allow for premium pricing, while mass-market segments may not.

• Question 2: How does your perceived price (M8) compare to competitors?

  • Example: If you have a strong perceived benefits score (M9), you may justify a higher price point.

• Question 3: What trends impact pricing?

  • Example: Economic trends like inflation or demand for premiumization could shape your pricing strategy.

Example Financial Hypothesis:

Based on these insights, a business might define the following hypothesis:

• Increase the customer base by 15% using sustainability-driven acquisition campaigns.

• Boost transaction frequency by 10% with loyalty incentives.

• Raise average price by 8% through premium features and bundles.

Step 2: Set quantitative goals for revenue

Translate your financial hypotheses into measurable revenue targets, broken down into the components of the revenue equation.

Example: Revenue goal breakdown

• Current revenue: €1,000,000

• Target revenue: €1,300,000 (+30%)

Revenue Breakdown:

1. Customers: Increase from 10,000 to 11,500 (+15%)

   • Linked Insight: Your SAM indicates a potential for 20% growth.

2. Transactions per customer: Increase from 2.0 to 2.2 (+10%)

   • Linked Insight: Competitor analysis shows a successful subscription model driving higher frequency.

3. Average price per transaction: Increase from €50 to €54 (+8%)

   • Linked Insight: Trends highlight premiumization as an opportunity to increase price mix.

How Market Insights Drive Goal-Setting

Here’s how the three market questions guide your financial goals:

• Market definition (Question 1):

  • Use TAM/SAM/SOM to understand potential customer acquisition targets.

  • Identify where your offering fits within the growth and experience curves (M3, M4).

• Competitor analysis (Question 2):

  • Leverage perceived price (M8) and benefits (M9) to define customer acquisition and pricing strategies.

  • Use competitor insights to identify gaps and opportunities in transaction frequency or price mix.

• Trend analysis (Question 3):

  • Align goals with accelerators and brakes.

  • Example: Sustainability trends might drive both customer acquisition and higher pricing.

Final Thoughts

Defining financial hypotheses and setting quantitative goals creates a solid foundation for aligning your strategy with market realities. By using insights from Questions 1–3, you ensure that your goals are not only ambitious but also achievable.

The next step will assess each dimension of your strategy to determine whether it helps or hinders your ability to achieve these goals.

What financial hypotheses are you setting for your business? Share your approach in the comments!

The Intersection of Growth Curve and Experience Curve: A Strategic Framework for Market Positioning

In today’s fast-evolving business landscape, understanding where your market stands and how your offerings align with customer expectations is critical to success. Two powerful tools to guide this understanding are the Growth Curve and the Experience Curve. By combining these frameworks, businesses can better navigate their market’s lifecycle and create value in ways that resonate with their audience.

This blog post introduces a strategic table that merges the four stages of the Growth Curve (Introduction, Growth, Maturity, Decline) with the four stages of the Experience Curve (Commodity, Product, Service, Experience). Together, they offer a comprehensive map for positioning your product or service.

Understanding the growth curve

The Growth curve outlines the lifecycle of a market, illustrating how industries evolve over time. The four stages are:

1. Introduction: A new market emerges, requiring education and awareness.

2. Growth: Demand increases rapidly, and competition intensifies.

3. Maturity: The market stabilizes, with slower growth and higher saturation.

4. Decline: Demand decreases, and alternatives or innovations replace traditional offerings.

Understanding the experience curve

The Experience curve highlights how businesses evolve their value creation to meet customer needs. The four stages are:

1. Commodity: The market focuses on raw, undifferentiated materials.

2. Product: Goods are standardized and packaged to meet basic needs.

3. Service: Offerings expand to include convenience and personalized solutions.

4. Experience: Businesses create memorable, immersive experiences that go beyond the functional.

The combined framework: Growth Curve meets Experience curve

The table below demonstrates how the Growth Curve and Experience Curve intersect, offering insights into how businesses can position their offerings at each stage of market evolution.

Applying the framework to your business

This combined framework provides actionable insights depending on where your market stands on the Growth Curve and how your offering aligns with the Experience Curve. Here’s how you can use it:

Identify Your Market Stage on the Growth Curve

Determine whether your market is in Introduction, Growth, Maturity, or Decline. For example:

• If you’re in the Growth stage, demand is expanding rapidly, and competition is heating up. This calls for scaling your offerings and differentiating yourself from competitors.

• If you’re in the Maturity stage, focus shifts to efficiency, retention, and maintaining a loyal customer base.

Map Your Offering on the Experience Curve

Assess whether your current offering is at the Commodity, Product, Service, or Experience level. For example:

• If you’re offering a Commodity, such as unbranded raw materials, you may face price pressure and need to move up the curve by creating a Product or Service.

• If you’re already delivering a Service, explore how to elevate your offering to an Experience to drive emotional engagement and loyalty.

Align Your Strategy with Market Dynamics

Use the table to find the intersection of your Growth Curve stage and Experience Curve position, and shape your strategy accordingly:

• Introduction + Product: Focus on education and awareness to establish your product’s value.

• Growth + Service: Scale your service to meet rising demand while maintaining quality and consistency.

• Maturity + Experience: Differentiate your brand through unique, immersive experiences that add emotional value.

• Decline + Commodity: Consider diversifying or innovating to stay relevant in a shrinking market.

Example: the coffee industry

Let’s apply this framework to the coffee industry:

1. Introduction Stage + Commodity: Coffee beans are introduced as raw commodities in emerging markets, where price is the key driver.

2. Growth Stage + Product: Packaged ground coffee differentiates by quality (e.g., organic certification).

3. Maturity Stage + Service: Café chains offer convenience and standardized experiences, like Starbucks’ loyalty programs.

4. Maturity Stage + Experience: Specialty coffee shops create immersive events, such as coffee tasting sessions or farm-to-cup storytelling.

5. Decline Stage + Commodity: Traditional coffee markets face competition from substitutes (e.g., tea or energy drinks), requiring innovation or diversification.

Final thoughts

The combination of the Growth Curve and Experience Curve offers a powerful lens to evaluate your market and craft strategies that resonate with customers. Whether you’re navigating the early stages of a market or trying to differentiate in a mature industry, this framework helps you align your offerings with both market dynamics and customer expectations.

Take the time to map your business using this table. It will not only clarify where you stand but also illuminate the path forward, helping you stay competitive and relevant in a rapidly changing world.

What stage is your business in, and how are you creating value? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Why Sustainability should be at the heart of every Marketing Strategy?

In today’s business landscape, sustainability is no longer optional—it’s essential. Companies like Patagonia and Unilever have embedded sustainability into their core strategies, responding to consumer demand for ethical practices and building lasting loyalty. By using frameworks like the Marketing Canvas, brands can seamlessly integrate sustainability into every aspect of their marketing strategies, balancing profit with environmental stewardship.

1. The Rise of conscious consumers

Today’s consumers are more informed about sustainability and expect brands to align with ethical and environmental values. Patagonia’s “Don’t Buy This Jacket” campaign exemplifies how a brand can promote conscious consumption while strengthening its relationship with consumers. The Marketing Canvas helps examine customer bases to identify how sustainability can drive brand loyalty. Through its structured approach, the Marketing Canvas refines customer segmentation, better targeting sustainability-conscious audiences.

2. Sustainability as a differentiator

Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan shows that sustainability can be a competitive advantage. Brands that integrate sustainability differentiate themselves in markets where competitors often focus on price or short-term gains. The Marketing Canvas allows brands to assess their Value Proposition, highlighting sustainability as a unique selling point. With its 24 dimensions, the Canvas explores how sustainability impacts not only products but also the brand journey and customer experience.

3. Long-Term business resilience

Companies focused on sustainability are more resilient in the long term. For example, Unilever’s sustainable brands grew 69% faster than the rest of its business, demonstrating how sustainable practices protect both profitability and future growth. The Marketing Canvas helps businesses integrate sustainability into key success metrics. By evaluating sustainability’s long-term impact on revenue, customer retention, and brand perception, companies can future-proof their strategies.

4. Building authentic brand stories

Brands like Tesla, which authentically communicate their sustainability efforts, build deeper connections with their customers. The Marketing Canvas highlights the importance of storytelling through the Conversation dimension, helping brands craft compelling narratives around sustainability. By aligning brand purpose with sustainability goals, businesses create consistent, credible messages that foster consumer trust and loyalty. The Marketing Canvas ensures sustainability is embedded in every touchpoint, from media strategy to influencer partnerships.

5. Future-proofing your business

Sustainability isn’t just a trend; it’s the future of business. Brands like IKEA, with their circular economy model, are setting new standards for future readiness. Using the Marketing Canvas, brands can map long-term sustainability goals alongside financial objectives and measure progress with tools like the Total Sustainability Score. This score, as highlighted in recent research, provides a clear metric to track how effectively sustainability is embedded in a marketing strategy, helping brands stay ahead of trends and regulatory requirements.

6. Complementing the Marketing Canvas with sustainability-focused evaluation statements

To fully integrate sustainability, we will complement existing Marketing Canvas evaluation questions with new sustainability-focused statements. These new questions will address product lifecycle, sustainable customer engagement, and environmental impact. In some dimensions, such as Environmental Trends and Social Factors, the existing questions already cover sustainability, so further additions may not be necessary.

By placing sustainability at the heart of your marketing strategy and using comprehensive frameworks like the Marketing Canvas, your brand can meet the demands of today’s conscious consumers while creating a resilient, future-proof business model that benefits both your bottom line and the planet.

Sources:

• IKEA Circular Agenda: https://www.ikea.com/global/en/our-business/sustainability/our-circular-agenda/

• Eccles, Robert G., Ioannis Ioannou, and George Serafeim. "The Impact of Corporate Sustainability on Organizational Processes and Performance." Management Science 60, no. 11 (November 2014): 2835–2857.

• The sustainability imperative, https://nielseniq.com/global/en/insights/analysis/2015/the-sustainability-imperative-2/

Podcast on the Marketing Canvas Method (generated by NotebookLM)

Above, you’ll find a podcast generated by NotebookLM on the Marketing Canvas Method, based on the content of this website. I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the result. It closely aligns with what I aim to propose with this method.

Beyond the 4Ps: The Marketing Canvas Approach and the Power of Understanding Customer Aspirations

The classic 4Ps marketing approach (Product, Price, Place, Promotion), commonly associated with E. Jerome McCarthy rather than Michael Porter, offers a valuable framework for understanding the tactical side of marketing. It focuses on the product and its related aspects to satisfy customer needs and maximize profits.

However, the Marketing Canvas approach, with its emphasis on ASPIRATIONS and other dimensions, provides a more holistic and strategic perspective. It delves deeper into understanding customers’ motivations, dreams, and ideals—areas that the traditional 4Ps might not fully capture. Here are a few key differences:

Customer-Centricity

The Marketing Canvas places the customer at the center, focusing on their aspirations and the value they seek. In contrast, the 4Ps approach is more product-centric, concentrating on how the product meets the customer's needs.

Brand and Value Proposition

The Marketing Canvas also highlights the importance of the brand and its value proposition. It acknowledges that today’s customers don’t just buy products or services; they invest in a brand's values and mission.

Journey and Conversation

The Marketing Canvas takes into account the entire customer journey and ongoing conversations. It recognizes the significance of engagement, interaction, and relationship-building—elements the 4Ps framework may not explicitly address.

Metrics

Finally, the Marketing Canvas places a strong emphasis on metrics, allowing businesses to measure and track the effectiveness of their marketing strategies. This creates a more data-driven approach to decision-making.

In summary, while the 4Ps approach provides a solid foundation for marketing tactics, the Marketing Canvas offers a broader, more strategic view. It delivers a more comprehensive understanding of the customer and their aspirations, which can lead to more effective marketing strategies and stronger customer relationships.

Quick Assessment Guide

Happy to announce that a one-pager quick assessment guide is now available for download. Sometimes before doing a full assessment which is really what the method is all about, some persons or companies might appreciate a first quick assessment for opening the discussion. Even though we are missing the nuances provided by the full version, it can be a nice conversation starter.

Quick Assessment Guide

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Thank you - Marketing Canvas Method

These last months, Marketing Canvas Method has seen an increase of traffic and downloaded of the method. This initiative I started few years ago has grown up and is now more and more appreciated by startups and marketing enthusiasts.

The community is growing months after months! I see also some citations or references in books. I was not thinking it could go so far.

A new milestone has been reached today with the delivery of a new production batch of the Marketing Canvas Cards.

I am currently working on improving the templates and also working on an online training offer.

All the material (except the cards) can be freely downloaded on the website under creative common licence.

Thank you!!!!

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Marketing Canvas - Step 1 - Market Assessment

Last update: 12/05/2023

Introduction

Understanding the concept of a 'market' is fundamental to crafting a successful marketing plan. But what does 'market' truly mean in a marketing context?

When you introduce products or services to fulfill specific needs, there's a high probability that alternatives already exist. These alternatives set a frame of reference for customers, leading them to compare your offerings against what they know:

• Is it more expensive or cheaper?

• Does it offer more or less perceived benefits?

• Why should they switch to your product?

Three Crucial Questions for Your Market

Question 1: What is your playing field, and how would you describe your market dynamics?

In marketing, we often segment territories into groups exhibiting similar characteristics, referred to as 'market segments' or 'markets'. This segmentation streamlines sales efforts, as your primary goal becomes convincing customers within your targeted market to choose and retain your value proposition.

I rely on Bill Aulet's definition (Excerpt From: Bill Aulet. "Disciplined Entrepreneurship") to clarify what constitutes a market:

• Customers within the market purchase similar products.

• Customers within the market exhibit similar buying behaviors and anticipate similar value from the products.

• There's "word of mouth" among customers in the market, meaning they serve as high-value references for each other in making purchases.

To illustrate, consider these examples:

• Buying a car or a computer places you in the Car market and Computer market respectively. These markets align with Aulet's definition.

• If you're a strategic consulting firm or a law firm, there likely exists a market for strategic consulting services and a market for legal services, respectively. Again, these markets align with Aulet's definition.

This concept of a market applies to both consumer and business services. Moreover, markets can be subdivided into sub-markets, providing a finer granularity to develop a marketing strategy. For instance, the Car market can be split into SUV and Sedan sub-markets, and the Computer market into Laptop and Desktop markets.

This subdivision forms a crucial step in devising a marketing strategy as it allows for an improved understanding of the context. The silver lining is that this work is often already accomplished, and markets are defined by the existing players. A wealth of data and statistics on different markets can be found on the internet, available free or for purchase.

Remark: you can compete in different markets, however the marketing canvas method has been designed for one market as competitors and conditions might change between markets. In case you would like to analyse multiple markets, you should do it one by one and then consolidate all the assessments in one strategy.

Case Study: Green Clean

Consider the eco-friendly cleaning products market. Companies like Method, Ecover, Seventh Generation, Mrs. Meyer's, and Green Clean offer alternatives to traditional cleaning products. They all compete within the eco-friendly cleaning products market, defined by customers' preference for environmentally conscious choices, similar buying behaviors, and the potential for word-of-mouth recommendations. These companies have different pricing strategies and perceived benefits, which customers will compare before making a decision.

CASE STUDY: Tesla Model S

Consider the Tesla Model S. It belongs to the broad market of cars, but we can further narrow this down into sub-markets. A common mistake is to categorize the Tesla Model S under the market of electric cars. However, being electric is a feature, not a market. Although both a Toyota Prius and a Tesla Model S are electric cars (one being a hybrid), they do not belong to the same market. The Tesla Model S fits into the Luxury E automobile or Executive/Mid-size luxury market, which also includes vehicles like the Porsche Taycan or the BMW 5 series.

https://youtu.be/2QrUkjKcIAg

E-segment Wikipedia

As we delve deeper, we'll discover that once we have identified the market where our value proposition will compete, it's crucial to understand and follow a set of rules to shape our commercial strategy.

After identifying your company's competitive market, we need to delve into the specifics. Just like a painter cannot create art without understanding their canvas, a marketer cannot formulate a strategy without understanding their market.

1.1 Market Definition (M1)

To define your market, you must understand what product or service you are selling and who will likely buy it. For example, if you're selling eco-friendly cleaning products, your market might be environmentally conscious homeowners.

1.2 Key Expected Benefits (M2)

This involves identifying what the players in the market hope to gain. This includes both functional benefits (e.g., eco-friendly cleaning products that effectively clean the house) and emotional benefits (e.g., feeling good about contributing to environmental conservation).

1.3 Market's Position on Growth Curve (M3)

Every market undergoes stages: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. Understanding where your market is on this curve helps you strategize accordingly. For instance, an emerging market might require more education and awareness efforts.

1.4 Experience Economy Curve of the Market (M4)

This refers to how the market evolves from selling simple commodities to providing sophisticated experiences. For instance, coffee can be sold as a commodity (beans), a product (packaged coffee), a service (brewed coffee in a cafe), or an experience (gourmet coffee tasting).

1.5 Total Available Market (TAM) and Serviceable Available Market (SAM) (M5)

TAM is the total market demand for a product or service, while SAM is the segment of TAM targeted by your company's products and services within your geographical reach. These metrics help assess the market size and opportunity.

Question 2: who is your main important competitors?

Identifying and analyzing your competitors is just as crucial as understanding your market.

2.1 Competitors' Identification (M6-M10)

Identify up to five main competitors in your market. For each, identify the product price per unit (M7), perceived price (M8), perceived benefits (M9), and any additional remarks (M10).

2.2 Perceived Price (M8)

Perceived price is a metric that reflects how customers perceive your price relative to the competition. It is not always about the actual cost but rather the perceived value for money. The perceived price is calculated using a formula: M8 = 24/(E-C) * (M7-C) - 12.

Here, E is the maximum price per unit in the market, C is the lowest price per unit, and M7 is your product's price per unit. The calculation generates a score on a scale of -12 to +12, helping you understand your product's perceived price positioning in comparison to competitors.

Let's consider an example in the eco-friendly cleaning products market. We'll analyze five companies: GreenClean (our company), EcoPure, NatureFresh, Clean&Green, and BioWash.

Here's the calculation for GreenClean's perceived price:

M8 = 24/($15-$6) * ($10-$6) - 12 = 24/9 * 4 - 12 = 10.67 - 12 = -1.33

The same calculation is applied to find the perceived prices for the rest of the companies. This table helps you understand how your product's price is perceived relative to the competitors in the market.  

In this case, GreenClean's price is perceived to be lower than most of its competitors, which can be an advantage if customers are price sensitive. However, you also need to ensure that the lower price doesn't lead customers to perceive it as lower quality.

2.3 Perceived Benefits (M9)

This is a measure of the benefits a customer perceives when interacting with a company. The perceived benefit score is calculated by summing up the scores of four questions related to the Brand, Value Proposition, Customer Journey, and Conversations offered by the company in the chosen market.

Here's how to handle each question:

1. Brand Perception: Ask yourself, "Is the company's brand the highest perceived amongst all the alternatives in the market?" This isn't just about brand recognition; it's about the positive associations customers make with your brand. It could be related to quality, trust, innovation, or social responsibility.

2. Value Proposition: Consider, "Is the company's value proposition the highest perceived amongst all the alternatives in the market?" The value proposition is the unique mix of product, price, placement, and promotion that the company offers. It answers why a customer should buy from you rather than your competitors.

3. Customer Journey: Query, "Is the company's customer journey the highest perceived amongst all the alternatives in the market?" The customer journey comprises all interactions between the customer and the company. It can include the ease of navigating your website, the clarity of product information, the efficiency of the checkout process, after-sales service, and more.

4. Conversation: Reflect on, "Is the company's conversation the highest perceived amongst all the alternatives in the market?" Conversations refer to the communication between the company and its customers. This could include advertising messages, social media interactions, customer service interactions, and more.

For each of the four questions, rate your agreement on a scale of -3 (completely disagree) to +3 (completely agree). Sum up these ratings to derive the Perceived Benefits score (M9).

This score gives you an understanding of your company's strengths and areas of improvement from the customer's perspective. It provides insights into how you can enhance your customers' experience, strengthen your value proposition, and ultimately, increase your market share.

These perceived benefits scores indicate how each company's offerings are viewed in the market. GreenClean, for instance, scores fairly well, suggesting its customers appreciate its brand, value proposition, customer journey, and conversations. However, there's room for improvement, especially when compared to competitors like EcoPure and BioWash. This analysis can help guide strategic decisions to improve these areas and enhance customer perception.

question 3: what are the trends influencing your market?

This stage involves compiling all the information gathered above and creating a comprehensive view of your market.

1. Describe your chosen market, ensuring it aligns with the market definition of Bill Aulet.

2. Fill in a template (template #2) with information on your company and a maximum of 4 other companies.

3. Identify the average unit price for the company value proposition in the market (M7).

4. Map this average price for all companies using the formula: M8= 24/(E-C)*(M7-C)-12.

5. Calculate for each company the Perceived Benefits M9 by summing up the results of the 4 questions.

6. Map these results on a graph with perceived benefits (M9) on the horizontal axis (scale -12 to + 12) and perceived prices (M8) on the vertical axis (scale -12 to +12). This visualization (template #4) gives a clear picture of where each competitor stands in terms of value for money in the eyes of customers.

In conclusion, the market you're operating in, or planning to penetrate, defines the rules of the game. Understanding these rules, and how to play within them, will significantly influence your chances of success.

Whether it's the luxury electric car market or the eco-friendly cleaning products market, your marketing strategy should be rooted in a deep understanding of the market dynamics. This includes not only identifying your competitors but also comprehending the perceived price and benefits that your product or service brings to the table.

Marketing Canvas Method - Market Assesment Process

Tips for non-marketers and entrepreneurs

1.     Stay Curious: Regularly research and keep up with trends in your market. It's not a one-time activity but a continuous process.

2.     Talk to Customers: They can provide valuable insights that even the most sophisticated analysis might miss. Regular feedback from customers is a goldmine of information.

3.     Keep an Eye on Competitors: Competitors can provide valuable lessons. Their successes and failures can provide insights for your own strategy.

4.     Iterate: A marketing strategy is not set in stone. It evolves with your business, market trends, and customer preferences. Regularly revisit and update your strategy based on new data and insights.

Remember, understanding the context is just the first step in the marketing canvas method. It sets the foundation for the other steps in the process, guiding the direction of your marketing strategy.

Marketing Canvas Master Class Introduction

Please find below the slide ware I use when starting my Marketing Master Class.

Download the pdf here

Marketing Canvas - Define your financial hypothesis

In a nutshell

When working with the Marketing Canvas, It is important to formulate your financial goal(s) as an hypothesis (Step 2). The assessment that will be done afterwards (Step 3) is measuring your ability to reach this goal without changing your current strategy. It is therefore highly important that you clarify your hypotheses

Financial hypotheses statement

FOR ACHIEVING NEXT YEAR REVENUE (……………) WHICH IS A …………… OF …………… COMPARE TO LAST YEAR, WE WILL:

• ACQUIRE …………… NEW CUSTOMERS

• LOSE ONLY …………… EXISTING CUSTOMERS

• HAVE AN AVERAGE MONTHLY TRANSACTION PER CUSTOMER OF ……………

• HAVE AN AVERAGE PRICE PER TRANSACTION OF ……………

Be clear

It is an hypotheses thus if it is not working you can revisit it. What is important is to understand how you will generate your revenues and more specifically what is different versus last year. Remember the magic revenue equation is YOUR REVENUE = THE CUSTOMERS YOU HAVE (NEW-LOST+EXISTING) x NUMBER OF TRANSACTION THEY DO PER MONTH x 12 x AVERAGE PRICE THEY PAY PER TRANSACTION.

• Will you acquire more new customers compare to last year? How much?

• Will you lose less customers than last year or more? How much?

• Will you stimulate your customers to buy more frequently? How much?

• Will you increase your average price they pay per transaction? How much?

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Each of these elements contribute positively or negatively to your revenue goal. How prepare are you to achieve this? Do you have the right elements in place? Do you have some brakes (elements against you)?

Let me give you an example: If you want to increase by 10% your average price, it probably means that you need to justify a premium versus the competition or correct a wrong pricing (too much discount or promotions). In both case, your brand might be a brake because it is perceived cheap by your customers.

PRICE INCREASE -> ASSESSMENT: BRAND IS A BRAKE BECAUSE PERCEIVED AS CHEAP -> IDEATION: HOW CAN I CHANGE THE VALUE PERCEPTION OF MY BRAND?

Infographic

Financial hypothesis for your Marketing Canvas

Attention Economy

While working on your Marketing Strategy, you should be aware of the attention economy concept. Why? Let’s first have a look at the definition proposed by Wikipedia [1] before answering this question:

Attention economics is an approach to the management of information that treats human attention as a scarce commodity, and applies economic theory to solve various information management problems. Put simply by Matthew Crawford, "Attention is a resource—a person has only so much of it.

Why should you care about this? because we are currently living in a society where buyers (B2B) or consumers (B2C) are overwhelmed by content and information about products, services, or experiences. What I call the snake dance (for capturing the attention) is applied by all brands but these days (unfortunately for brands), there are so many noises from all these songs that people are becoming deaf (don’t we say that people living close by train station are not hearing them anymore).

As attention economy becomes a very important concept for you when you are designing your marketing strategy, you should take care of it. Obviously, you could apply the good old concept of hitting them as much as needed until they understand it (Push Model). Or a more elegant approach would be to differentiate yourself (using the right Segmenting-Targeting-Positioning) and apply a pull approach (based on empathy and customer needs).

As rightly said by Nielsen Norman Group [2] “designers have a choice in this economy of attention: they can balance business needs — such as the need for new subscribers, advertising revenue, and profit — with respect for the best interests of their users.”

So! Do you integrate the attention economy in your strategy? Are you pushing or pulling?

Video

Source

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_economy#In_advertising

2. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/attention-economy/

Marketing Canvas and Customers

In a nutshell

When working on the Customers part of the Marketing Canvas, you are trying to identify relevant and actionable triggers (you can also call it insights) that you will try to leverage through the other dimensions of the canvas. We have 4 dimensions you can play with for identifying these triggers (JTBD, ASPIRATIONS, PAINS & GAINS, ENGAGEMENT). What matters at the end of this exercise is that you avoid fluffy (triggers), you have built a list of triggers, you have qualified them (functional or emotional), you have identified supporting evidence and you have rated the strength of each trigger.

In the Marketing Canvas

In the Marketing Canvas, we have identified 6 main categories for building your Marketing Strategy: Customers, Brand, Value Proposition, Journey, Conversation and Metrics. Each of these categories have 4 dimensions which means that a total of 24 dimensions (6 by 4) are defining your Marketing Strategy.

Customers is one of the 4 dimensions of the Metrics category. That category is composed of 4 dimensions.

How to use it?

What I have noticed during workshops is that people have difficulties to identify strong insights that could be used for building value propositions that rocks. They usually list insights that are very broad (even fluffy) like customers want quality (who doesn’t?) but could not describe what sort of quality customers are looking for. One example that could help you understand my point is the following:

When designing mobile phones, we know that these phones should be robust but what does it really mean. Glass manufacturer designed glass that could resist a drop from 10 meters but customers were looking for a phone that could resist multiple drops from 1 meter because it is what they are experiencing in real life. You see robustness could be very different!

When working on the 4 dimensions of CUSTOMERS, you can identify a list of triggers that could be functional (What the customer is expecting to get?) and emotional (What the customer is expecting to feel?). An interesting read on benefits/triggers is the article from the beloved brand web site (here).

I have not found a global list with all potential triggers (functional and emotional) that you could choose when working on a specific case. The most elaborated list I have found so far is the one developed by Bain Consulting for B2C and B2B. They have identified elements of value (30 for B2C and 40 for B2B) classified as functional, emotional, life-changing, and social impact.

In the Marketing Canvas, I have only considered 2 categories (functional and emotional), therefore if you are using Bain B2C triggers, you should consider emotional, life-changing and social impact as Emotional triggers.

What I also like in the Bain proposal is their B2B mapping which is something you don’t easily find. In the case of the B2B mapping, you should consider Table Stakes and Functional Values as Functional and Ease of doing business value, Individual value and inspirational value as Emotional for the Marketing Canvas method.

More on Bain can be found here: B2C elements of value and B2B elements of value.

Some Videos

Potential ideas

How to add intangible values to product?

1. Immediacy - priority access, immediate delivery

2. Personalization - tailored just for you

3. Interpretation - support and guidance

4. Authenticity - how can you be sure it is the real thing?

5. Accessibility - wherever, whenever

6. Embodiment - books, live music

7. Patronage - "paying simply because it feels good",

8. Findability - "When there are millions of books, millions of songs, millions of films, millions of applications, millions of everything requesting our attention — and most of it free — being found is valuable."

source: Wikipedia Attention Economy

Method

What you should do is the following:

• Take each dimension and identify triggers that are either functional or emotional;

• List evidence supporting each trigger;

• Rate each trigger from weak to strong in the function of the importance of the customer (the more the customer is demonstrating that s.he is effectively in needs of this trigger through past behavior (doing more than saying), the stronger the trigger).

• Take the top 10 triggers at the end of this exercise and complete the template below.

Template

Marketing Canvas Method - Customer Triggers Template

4 dimensions of Customers

• Marketing Canvas and Job To Be Done

• Marketing Canvas and Aspirations

• Marketing Canvas and Pains/Gains

• Marketing Canvas and Engagement

Marketing Canvas - Step 2 - Set Your Goals

The Marketing Canvas, developed by Laurent Bouty, is a powerful tool that provides a structured approach to crafting a robust marketing strategy. It's a co-creation method that intersects your environment (where you will play), your goals (what you would like to achieve), and your actions (what you will do). This article focuses on the second step of the Marketing Canvas Process - setting your goals. This step is vital as it serves as the reference point for the assessment phase.

Three Strategies for Growing Your Revenue:

In the Marketing Canvas Process, three strategies are highlighted for growing your revenue: GET, KEEP, and STIMULATE/MORE. These strategies focus on different aspects of customer interaction and are designed to help businesses increase their revenue.

1. GET: This strategy is all about customer acquisition. The primary idea is that your business can grow by attracting new customers. Tactics that can be employed include acquisition campaigns (welcome offers), channel incentives for new customers, "bring a friend" campaigns, and freemium models. For instance, a new restaurant might offer a "buy one get one free" deal to attract new customers.

2. KEEP: The second strategy emphasizes customer retention. The main idea here is that your business can grow by retaining existing customers. This strategy might seem defensive, but it is the cornerstone of customer experience and is essential for all businesses, including startups. Tactics include churn management, loyalty programs, brand and customer experience reinforcement, Net Promoter Score (NPS) programs for detractors, and below-the-line retention campaigns. For example, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company might implement a loyalty program that offers exclusive features or discounts to long-term subscribers.

3. STIMULATE/MORE: The third strategy focuses on customer stimulation. The primary idea is that your business can grow by encouraging your customers to spend more and/or more often. Tactics include cross-selling, upselling, promotion campaigns for usage stimulation, bundling, upgrade programs, and premium features. For instance, a telecom company might offer a bundle that includes internet, cable, and phone services at a discounted rate, encouraging customers to spend more.

Green Clean Use Case:

To illustrate these strategies, let's consider a hypothetical company, Green Clean, a startup offering eco-friendly cleaning services.

For the GET strategy, Green Clean could offer a discounted first cleaning service to attract new customers. They could also implement a referral program where existing customers get a discount for each new customer they bring in.

For the KEEP strategy, Green Clean could develop a loyalty program where customers get a free cleaning service for every ten services purchased. They could also focus on providing excellent customer service to ensure customer satisfaction and reduce churn.

For the STIMULATE/MORE strategy, Green Clean could offer additional services like deep carpet cleaning or window cleaning, encouraging existing customers to spend more. They could also offer a premium subscription service that includes regular cleaning and maintenance services.

Conclusion

Setting your goals is a crucial step in the Marketing Canvas Process. It provides a clear direction for your marketing efforts and serves as a reference point for assessing your progress. The three strategies - GET, KEEP, and STIMULATE/MORE - offer different approaches to growing your revenue. By understanding these strategies and how to apply them, businesses can create a robust marketing strategy that drives growth and success.

Remember, the Marketing Canvas is a dynamic tool. As your business environment changes, you should revisit your goals and strategies to ensure they remain relevant and effective. Regular review and adaptation are key to maintaining a successful marketing strategy.

Whether you're a non-marketer, an entrepreneur, or a marketer looking to learn something new, the Marketing Canvas offersa structured yet flexible approach to developing a marketing strategy. It breaks down complex marketing concepts into manageable steps, making the process more accessible and less intimidating.

The Marketing Canvas is not just a tool, but a journey. It's a process of discovery, assessment, and reinforcement. It's about understanding your market, setting clear goals, and determining the actions you need to take to achieve those goals.

So, are you ready to embark on this journey? Are you ready to set your goals and grow your business? Remember, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. In the case of the Marketing Canvas, that step is setting your goals.

Marketing Canvas - Budget

About the Marketing Canvas Method

This article covers dimension 640 — Budget, part of the Metrics meta-category. The Marketing Canvas Method structures marketing strategy across 24 dimensions and 9 strategic archetypes.
Full framework reference at marketingcanvas.net →  ·  Get the book →

In a nutshell

Discover the importance of a well-structured marketing budget in our comprehensive guide. We delve into the critical role of budgeting within the Marketing Canvas method by Laurent Bouty. Learn how to track and manage marketing expenses, whether you're a multinational corporation or a budding startup. Understand the significance of budgeting in terms of industry benchmarks, and discover strategies to spend wisely. Our guide offers practical tools to translate your budget into action, from understanding your audience to tracking expenses effectively. Moreover, learn to evaluate and improve your budgeting practices with our score-based self-assessment. Lastly, get inspired by a real-life example of green clean use case. Whether you're a marketing novice or an entrepreneur seeking new insights, this article offers an essential exploration of the powerful tool that is your marketing budget.

In the Marketing Canvas

The Marketing Canvas is a powerful tool for entrepreneurs and non-marketers to build a robust marketing strategy. It consists of six meta-dimensions, each with four sub-dimensions, for a total of 24 sub-dimensions defining your Marketing Strategy. One of these sub-dimensions is BUDGET, which falls under the METRICS meta-category.

Defining Budget

The Marketing Canvas model proposed by Laurent Bouty offers an in-depth methodology to conceptualize and structure your marketing plan. The fundamental section Bouty underscores is "Metrics," and the sub-dimension "Budget" within it. This sub-dimension serves as a barometer to quantify and keep track of your marketing expenditure, a crucial determinant of your company's marketing efforts' overall success.

The Budget dimension's relevance is ubiquitous, regardless of your company's size. For larger conglomerates, where tracking expenses becomes a standard protocol, marketing becomes an essential cog in the wheel. Conversely, smaller entities like startups or SMEs may not implement such stringent measures, overlooking the importance of earmarking a designated marketing budget, which could potentially hinder growth.

Renowned benchmarks, Gartner and CMOsurvey, offer a broad understanding of how companies, across industries and sizes, allocate their marketing budgets. These benchmarks divulge that, on average, about 11% of the yearly budget is dedicated to marketing expenditure. An alternative way of approaching this is by calculating the ratio between your marketing budget and your revenue. The marketing budget generally represents 6% to 10% of your revenue, a number that can fluctuate depending on your revenue size.

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Marketing Canvas Method by Laurent Bouty - Marketing Budget

As per the industry suggestions, startups could consider setting aside up to 20% of the anticipated gross revenue for the marketing budget. However, the crucial takeaway here is that it is not solely about allocating funds to marketing, but ensuring that these funds are utilized judiciously. This involves associating your expenses with your actions – if you plan to perform action X to achieve objective Y, how much will Z (the budget) amount to?

Underutilizing your marketing budget can pose problems. It may create a negative impression of your leadership, indicating a lack of execution on planned strategies. Similarly, if your marketing budget falls below the market average, it may indicate under-investment compared to your competitors, acting as an impediment to your business's growth.

A survey by Sortlist conducted in 2021 revealed that the Covid19 pandemic had either positively or negatively impacted the marketing budget for SMBs. On average, the annual budget hovered around a maximum of 10,000€ for 50% of the companies surveyed. However, this figure only accounted for media and content expenses, excluding human resources and platform investments.

Tools for Budget

Having a well-planned budget is a keystone to any successful marketing strategy. However, to implement this successfully, certain tools can provide a great deal of assistance. Software platforms like QuickBooks, Zoho Books, or Sage 50cloud are excellent options for maintaining and tracking your budget. They not only help you keep your budget in check but also ensure the finances are appropriately aligned with your marketing goals.

Spreadsheets can also play a significant role in managing your budget. They provide a straightforward and uncomplicated way to input and track your budget figures. Excel or Google Sheets, with their various functions, can aid in organizing and categorizing your budget.

Moreover, platforms like HubSpot offer a dedicated Marketing Hub that includes budget management tools within their software. This feature enables companies to plan, track, and measure their marketing budgets and ROI from a single platform.

Translating Budget into Action

Translating your budget into action entails strategic decision-making. It involves a deep understanding of your audience and consistent engagement, preparedness for budget variability, consideration of the marketing lifecycle, tracking expenses, and balancing creativity with cost.

For instance, if your target audience is primarily online, then directing a significant portion of your budget to digital marketing would be a wise decision. However, for a local audience, traditional advertising methods, such as billboards or local press, may be more effective.

Maintaining consistency in your marketing approach can result in more significant outcomes than sporadic, high-cost campaigns. This strategy requires planning for sustained engagement with your audience.

Marketing budget needs can change with time. It is vital to remain flexible and adapt your budget based on business needs, market trends, and campaign results.

In marketing, some initiatives, like SEO or content marketing, may take a longer time to deliver results. It's crucial to account for these long-term strategies in your budget, alongside short-term ones.

By using accounting or budgeting software, you can keep an accurate record of your marketing expenditures. This data can provide valuable insights for future budgeting decisions.

While high-cost campaigns may appear more attractive, the most creative ideas are often the most cost-effective. Always seek to balance creativity and budget constraints.

Statements for self-assessment

Is your Marketing Budget helping you achieve your goals?

Evaluating the effectiveness of your marketing budget is a critical step towards its optimization. Here, you assess if your budget is helping you reach your goals.

For a comprehensive evaluation, rate your agreement with the following statements on a scale from -3 (completely disagree) to +3 (completely agree):

1. Your marketing budget allocation is based on several factors, including your industry sector, your business capacity, your goals, and how quickly you need to make an impact.

2. Your marketing budget is a component of your overall business plan, outlining the costs of how you are going to achieve your marketing goals within a certain timeframe.

3. You constantly monitor your marketing efforts. If something in your marketing plan is not working, you move that spending into another area.

4. You leave a portion of your budget (10%?) in exploring new ways, figuring out what works and what doesn’t, and exercising your creative muscles

Each of these statements evaluates a critical aspect of your marketing budget. Your scores would indicate which areas need improvement, and which areas are effectively managed.

Marketing Canvas Method - Question - Marketing Budget

Interpretation of the scores

• Negative scores (-1 to -3): Indicate significant gaps in your budgeting process. Resource allocation may lack strategic alignment, monitoring may be insufficient, and there may be little or no investment in innovation.

• A score of zero (0): Reflects partial effectiveness. While the budget is functional, it may not be fully aligned with goals, flexible, or innovative enough to drive optimal results.

• Positive scores (+1 to +3): Suggest a well-optimized budget strategy. Allocation is strategic, monitoring is robust, and there is a deliberate focus on testing and innovation.

Case Study: Green Clean’s Budget strategy

• Misaligned understanding (-3, -2, -1): Green Clean allocates its marketing budget without clear alignment to business goals. The budget lacks flexibility, with no resources reserved for experimentation, leading to stagnation in results.

• Surface understanding (0): Green Clean allocates a functional budget aligned with its business plan but struggles to reallocate funds from underperforming initiatives. There is minimal investment in innovation, limiting growth potential.

• Deep understanding (+1, +2, +3): Green Clean’s budget is strategically allocated across campaigns, aligned with business goals, and includes 10% for experimentation. Performance is closely monitored, with resources reallocated dynamically to maximize impact.

Conclusion

The Budget sub-dimension emphasizes the importance of strategic allocation, continuous monitoring, and innovation in marketing. A well-structured budget not only aligns with business goals but also ensures flexibility and encourages creative exploration, enabling sustainable growth and competitive differentiation.

Sources

1. Gartner CMO Spend Survey 2020-2021, Gartner, https://www.gartner.com/en/marketing/research/annual-cmo-spend-survey-research

2. CMO Survey 2020, Deloitte, pdf, https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/CMO/us-cmo-survey-highlights-and-insights-report-feb-2020.pdf

3. Sortlist, 2021 Marketing Survey: Budgets, Trends and Inspiration for SMBs, https://www.sortlist.com/blog/marketing-survey-smbs-budgets-trends-inspiration/

4. Medium, 5 Steps to Creating a Small Business Marketing Budget, https://medium.com/@the_manifest/5-steps-to-creating-a-small-business-marketing-budget-2f807065068a

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