How I use process mental frameworks for marketing

In my experience, the key is to simplify complex concepts, enabling you to think through them and make informed decisions consistently.

Being strategic in your work involves independent thinking and making smart decisions. One way to achieve this is by carrying out simple marketing frameworks that you can apply.

A process is essentially a set of steps and choices that make up a procedure, operation, or system for getting work done. How you go about things can significantly impact your overall success.

7 Processes you can use:

1. I.D.E.A.A:

Marketing balances creativity and intuition with logic and data. Finding the right mix is key, as overemphasising either can lead to flawed strategies. Successful marketing integrates both creative intuition and data-driven processes.

Why ship growth experiments? Ads are getting pricier.Struggling to find reliable ways to attract customers.Not sure where to invest money wisely.Campaigns are dragging on or costing too much.Some parts of the sales process could work better.

Why growth experiments often don't work out: No clear process in place.Team members aren't fully on board.Measuring the wrong metrics, or not measuring anything at all.Avoiding creative risks.Slow or infrequent implementation of ideas.Failing to apply lessons from previous experiments to future ones

How do you ship growth experiments that work? Develop a five-step approach for each project you undertake. I.D.E.A.A

• I: Innovate - Allow your creativity to flow freely. Jot down any possible ideas without judging them.

• D: Decide - Evaluate each idea based on its expected impact, your confidence in its success, and the effort needed.

• E: Elaborate - Create a concise one-page summary with enough details for clarity but not overwhelming.

• A: Act - Integrate the chosen ideas into your project plan and begin working on them. Focus on 2-3 experiments simultaneously to optimise resources.

• A: Analyse - Investigate the outcomes, understanding why they succeeded, failed, or remained inconclusive. Apply these insights to improve future experiments.

2. Product release framework

This examines how a product combines value and innovation. It looks at whether the product caters to existing customers or attracts new ones (value) and determines if it represents a novel solution or aligns with existing offerings (innovation). This ensures that product releases align with customer needs and stay relevant in the market.

Value is assessed on one axis, considering whether the change is most beneficial to current customers or has the potential to draw in new ones.

From the diagram:

Value is assessed on one axis, considering whether the change is most beneficial to current customers or has the potential to draw in new ones.On the other axis is innovation, determining whether we are catching up to existing products or introducing an entirely new solution to address someone's problem.

Sorting through announcements, we place them into four categories for consistent handling:

• P1: Major Breakthroughs - significant updates that revolutionise problem-solving, attracting new customers and requiring widespread broadcasting.

• P2: Tailored Solutions - new features primarily valuable to existing customers, powerful but may not sway new customers.

• P3: Product Enhancement - includes features and improvements filling gaps or elevating your product to industry standards, addressing customer requests.

• P4: Highlights - for announcements not fitting neatly into the above categories, still worth sharing with your audience. Communication channels and strategies for each quadrant are at your discretion based on your goals and the nature of each announcement.

However, establishing a system and a set of criteria for decision-making will greatly benefit you. It allows you to craft a consistent plan and provides a justification for your actions. 

3. Urgency x Focus

Determining the urgency and importance of tasks is a key aspect of effective task management.

This process helps you in making decisions about which tasks to prioritise, distinguishing between those that are less urgent and less important.

You can then choose to delegate these tasks or remove them from your to-do list entirely.

When you prioritise tasks based on their urgency and importance, you end up with four distinct quadrants, each suggesting a different approach to managing your workload:

Immediate Priority Tasks: These are tasks requiring urgent attention.

1. Significant, Non-Urgent Tasks: Tasks of importance that can be scheduled for a later time.

2. Delegatable Urgent Tasks: Tasks requiring urgency but can be assigned to someone else.

3. Non-urgent and Insignificant Tasks: Tasks that can be removed from your list entirely.

 Frequently, we use productivity techniques as a way to avoid the tough question: "Do I truly need to do this right now?" 

It's easier to stay busy and convince ourselves that a bit more efficiency or extra time at work will suffice than to face the discomfort of eliminating, scheduling, or delegating tasks to focus on what's truly important and urgent.

4. Quality, speed, and cost

There’s always a trade-offs, which are...

Low cost & speed often results in compromised quality.Speed & quality tend to be on the pricey side.Quality& low cost might take some time and patience.

Remember you can only choose 2 out of the 3.

You can choose Cost and Speed but expect lower-quality work. Opting for Speed and Quality might be expensive. Alternatively, you can aim for Quality and Cost, but that may not happen soon. 

It all boils down to priorities: 

If you have the budget, go for a quick and high-quality outcome. If you can compromise on quality, getting it done at a lower cost and quickly is an option. If time is on your side, aim to get it done right without breaking the bank. Choose wisely based on your priorities.

5. Fast feedback

When asking for feedback, you normally don’t get what you want from it. The usual responses might not give you the insights you're looking for.

Try using the C.R.E.S.S. approach:

• Confusing: Ask about what seems confusing to others. This allows people to share what doesn't make sense to them. Sometimes, folks are hesitant to give detailed feedback, but by inviting it, you can get the insights you need.

• Repetitive: Check for things that are repeated too much and remove unnecessary redundancies.

• Enlightening: Seek insights to find key highlights and areas for improvement.

• Stale: See if your work or presentation is getting boring, even if people don't say it directly.

• Surprising: Encourage feedback on what is unexpected, whether it's positive or negative.

When seeking feedback, use this approach and encourage people to share their thoughts objectively.

6. Inputs vs Outputs

Do you ever stop what you’re working on and ask
“Why am I actually doing this”- I ask this at least once a day.

It’s whenever something that requires a lot of investment (time or money) vs little reward.

There are two forces that play:

Input: the effort being the amount of work investment time and energy involvedOutput: the impact / the amount of positive reinforcement change or reward resulting

The input-output framework helps you structure your tasks to maximise your results with the time and energy you invest

Assess each marketing task by determining its level of input and output, giving it a low or high score. Sort these tasks into four quadrants:

Low input / low outputLow input / high outputHigh input / low outputHigh input / high output

Prioritise low input, high output, and high input, high output activities to maximise your time. Not all ideas are equally valuable, so create a filter for new ideas and optimise for the most impact relative to your effort.

7. Human-system-product

Connecting with people, optimising systems, and delivering a valuable product are crucial aspects of effective marketing.

Human: Building personal relationships (P2P) is the key to acquiring customers. A common reason for customer churn is when the initial champion who bought the product leaves, and no one else knows how to use it. This lack of understanding can lead users to explore competitors' offerings.

Systems: Customers need to learn how to use the product for it to be useful. Providing training, examples, tutorials, and reviews is essential. Adapt to users' existing processes and gradually transition them to your way of doing things.

Product: A product becomes effective when people and processes align. Communicate clearly about the product's target audience and how it facilitates their goals through a proven process. If the product doesn't meet user expectations, effective marketing becomes challenging.

Ask yourself: Are you reaching the right people? Do your systems and processes align? Does your product fit seamlessly into existing processes, or does a change need to occur? Clearly communicate how your product supports each person in achieving their goals through a proven process. Remember, the key elements for driving change are people, processes, and product.

TLDR

Navigating marketing requires understanding the underlying steps and strategies. Simplify complex concepts using straightforward processes for consistent, efficient results. Today, focus on seven processes:

• I.D.E.A.A: Innovate, Decide, Elaborate, Act, Analyse for successful growth experiments.

• Product Release Framework: Evaluate product value and innovation, categorising announcements for consistent handling.

• Urgency x Focus: Prioritise tasks based on urgency and importance, distinguishing between immediate priorities and non-urgent tasks.

• Quality, Speed, and Cost: Recognise trade-offs—choose two out of three: low cost & speed (lower quality), speed & quality (higher cost), quality & low cost (more time).

• Fast Feedback (C.R.E.S.S. approach): Confusing, Repetitive, Enlightening, Stale, and Surprising for more insightful feedback.

• Inputs vs Outputs: Assess marketing tasks based on input (effort) and output (impact), prioritising low input, and high output activities.

• Human-System-Product: Connect with people (P2P), optimise systems for product use, and deliver a valuable product for effective marketing. Align people, processes, and product elements for success.