The Marketing Canvas Method
Marketing strategy you can read like a map, and run like a program.
Most strategy work produces opinions. This produces a diagnosis. Twenty-four dimensions describe your marketing, nine archetypes name the posture your situation calls for, and six steps turn it into a plan run in cycles, with a gate at the end of each. Built for one offer in one market and one country: founders and SMEs, and corporate teams offer by offer.
The structure
One canvas, six meta-categories, twenty-four dimensions
The marketing of any offer runs on the same twenty-four dimensions; your posture picks the 8 to 10 that decide your goal. Tap a category to reveal its four dimensions, then open any dimension to read the full guide. See all six to complete the canvas.
"The problem is never a lack of ideas. It's a lack of a defined order of operations for using them."
Why the MCM starts with Step 0, not Step 1
Before Step 0: your business model on one page, and a light Operating Baseline: what you spend today, the work already in flight, and who owns the baseline.
Scope
Lead Segment Junction
"Who exactly are we building this strategy for?"
One company, one offer, one market category, one geography, one customer segment (the Lead Segment) and its Customer Type. A strategy for everyone is a strategy for no one.
Context
Strategic Context Mapping
"Where do we compete, against whom, and what forces are at play?"
10 market parameters (M1 to M10) across Market DNA, Competitive Position and External Forces, and a Value Map of perceived price against perceived benefits.
Goals
Revenue Ambition & Goal Setting
"What do we want to achieve, and which revenue lever gets us there?"
Revenue = AOP × NT × ATV × 12, ONE lever (GET, KEEP or GROW), a SMART goal, and the posture the situation calls for: M3 × M4 × lever, read in the selection matrix. High outside disruption (M10) calls for Pivot Pioneer; a contradictory combination is a Strategic Mismatch.
Audit
The Vital Audit
"Is the machine capable of achieving the goal we've just set?"
The 8 to 10 dimensions of your Vital 8 and two Growth Drivers, each scored against the goal on the Maturity Ladder (−3 Absent to +3 Champion, no zero), with the evidence behind each score.
Causes
Mechanism Analysis
"Why does each gap exist?"
For each dimension below target: the cause, in the form its rung calls for (missing, wrongly built, under-delivered), a first signal to watch, and how long the deepest Fatal Brake takes to fix.
Action
Strategic Action Engine
"What exactly do we do about the gaps, within our real capacity?"
At least one initiative per dimension below target, in three streams (FIX, ALIGN, Growth Drivers), sized to the budget and team the Operating Baseline shows. Each has a measurable target, and a short test first when its evidence is not yet strong. High-Feasibility, High-Impact executes first.
Roadmap
Strategic Cycle Roadmap
"In what order, how fast, and with what budget?"
Three cycles, FIX → ALIGN → SCALE. Cycle 1 lasts as long as the deepest Fatal Brake needs; budget 80/10/10 → 20/60/20 → 10/30/60. Gates Integrity → Relevance → Efficiency; a failed gate repeats its cycle. Closed by the Strategy on a Page.
The evidence
Nine archetypes, read through real companies
Each archetype is a posture that a situation calls for, documented against named companies. Filter by the revenue lever that selects it, then tap a card to see its proof. A posture is a configuration, not an identity: the same brand can hold two in two markets. ALDI runs A2 in the US and A8 in Belgium.
Some postures are selected by more than one lever, so they appear under each. A4 and A8 cover all three. A5 also follows any lever when outside disruption (M10) is High.
Every dimension is a statement about your goal. You agree or disagree, from −3 to +3.
No zero.Every dimension is either helping your goal or hurting it. Sitting on the fence is not a position the method allows. Each answer is then recorded on the Maturity Ladder: Absent, Flawed, Weak, Functional, Strong, Champion.
Each posture gives ten roles to the dimensions that decide your goal: the Vital 8 (two Fatal Brakes, two Primary Accelerators, two Secondary Brakes, two Secondary Accelerators) and two Growth Drivers. A dimension can hold two roles, so you score 8 to 10 dimensions. The gaps between your scores and their targets go to Step 3.5, which finds the cause of each gap, then to Step 4.
Fatal Brakes (F)
Target: ≥ +2
If negative, you cannot achieve your goal. A Fatal Brake at or below zero is fixed first, before anything else moves.
Primary Accelerators (P)
Target: ≥ +2
Your main engines for achieving the goal: where your posture wins or loses its competitive position.
Secondary Brakes (S)
Target: ≥ +1
Supporting friction points that slow progress. Fixed in the FIX stream, with the Fatal Brakes.
Secondary Accelerators (T)
Target: ≥ +1
Turbo boosters that amplify your primary engines. Strengthened in the ALIGN stream.
Growth Drivers (GD)
Recommended: ≥ +1
Secondary growth dimensions for the next phase. Their stream runs in parallel across all cycles, so revenue keeps moving while you repair.
Ready to run the method,
alone or with your team?
Three ways in, depending on how you work: on your own with the book, in a workshop with the cards, or facilitated with your team.
The Book
Marketing Strategy, Programmed
The method in ~300 pages: every step, every dimension, every archetype, with 20 case studies from Tesla, Patagonia, LEGO, Airbnb, Nokia and 15 more.
€25 · Amazon · Paperback & eBook
About the book →The Cards
MCM Card Deck
60 physical cards covering all 24 dimensions, 9 archetypes, and the 6-step process. Built for workshop facilitation.
€50 · Shipped from Brussels
Get the cards →Workshop
Facilitated with your team
1–2 days, on-site or remote, through Steps 0 to 5. Your team leaves with a scored canvas, its posture and a roadmap in three cycles: FIX, ALIGN, SCALE.
On request · Europe
Book a call →The framework (dimensions, archetypes, scoring logic) is free to use under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence.
Worked Example
See the method applied
The full diagnostic in action: a six-step worked example of the Marketing Canvas Method applied to the A9 Category Creator archetype. Interactive, with the full math visible.
Green Clean Case Study →