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Your digital marketing strategy needs the right focus to see results. It’s easy as a small business to want to improve all aspects of your digital marketing. But this isn’t always the best course — you could spend too much time and money on marketing efforts that work well and less on others that need extra attention. What you need is to match the right marketing framework to your business’s needs and goals and target the right areas.
Modern Businesses Need Modern Marketing Frameworks
If your business targets customers on the web, you need a modern marketing framework. Legacy frameworks, like Porter’s Five Forces, the 4 P’s, and SWOT analysis, were developed way before the digital age and don’t address all the issues affecting modern businesses.
The best frameworks for digital strategy are newer and were developed by today’s top marketers. These are the strategies tailored to help startup and small business reach their goals, whether that’s growth, channel selection, or behavioral influence.
Match Your Goals to the Right Framework
A business that needs to grow needs a different framework than one that needs to influence user behavior. Thankfully, there are a number of frameworks suited to each type of business marketing needs.
Frameworks for Growth
Growth frameworks help you understand how and when to grow your business and what metrics matter at each stage.
The Startup Pyramid
The three-stage Startup Pyramid framework developed by growth-hacking guru Sean Ellis gives marketers a game plan for any business stage. Businesses can use this system to achieve product/market fit, move on to understanding their product value so they can transition to growth, and finally focus on growth by discovering and focusing on your top growth channels.
Pirate Metrics (AARRR!)
The humorously named Pirate Metrics (AARRR!), developed by Dave McClure of 500 Startups fame, breaks down your marketing funnel into five key stages: acquisition, activation, retention, revenue, referral. The framework helps marketers isolate their metrics for each stage so they can assess what’s working and what’s not.
Lean Analytics
Authors Alistair Croll and Ben Yoskovitz mixed elements of various frameworks to come up with their Lean Analytics model. This is another framework that breaks down your business marketing into five funnel segments: empathy, stickiness, virality, revenue, scale.
Frameworks for Channel Selection
Choosing the right acquisition channel is crucial for your marketing efforts. Channel selection frameworks help take the guesswork out of the picture.
The ICE Score
Startup Pyramid framework marketer Sean Ellis contends the answer lies in his ICE Score framework. Marketers look at the impact a channel could have, how confident they are it will work, and how much effort will required to implement that marketing effort.
Bullseye Framework
Bullseye framework developers Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares believe there is one best channel for your specific marketing goals. Their framework is the process to pick and implement that channel and consists of brainstorm, rank, prioritize, test, and focus stages.
Frameworks for Behavior
To keep people coming back for more and to get the most from your marketing dollars, focus on a behavior framework.
The Hook Model Framework
Marketing psychology expert Nir Eyal lays out his Hook Model framework in a recent book on user habits. The model says habit-forming products follow a repeating pattern: trigger, action, variable reward, investment.
STEPPS Framework
Jonah Berger, author and expert on contagious content, says there’s no magic to why viral content gets people to talk and share. His STEPPS framework considers how social currency, triggers, emotion, public visibility, practical value, and narrative stories can make content contagious. Â
Next Steps
I know what you’re thinking: I understand these frameworks are out there and get how they can help my business, but now what? The truth is that a great technique is only great when well implemented. If you’re not sure which marketing goals you should be focusing on or which framework will best suit your business needs, we can help.
