Need to Grow Faster? Here are 3 sure ways.

You have a vision for growth.  

You made a tactical plan for the new year or quarter.  

You know precisely where you want things to end up.  

But do you know what could be standing in the way of that?

Do you get a picture of your performance against plan every day?

Can your team use the information to take fast actions to fix things that aren’t working or accelerate things that are?

Clarity on what is sabotaging business growth could be the single greatest exponent for making it to the destination you envision.  

Growth Hacking: Inside Out?

It is often quite challenging to diagnose true performance from the inside out. Metrics and KPIs are usually defined by function or department, with accountability to the top line or bottom line frequently missing. There’s often no escaping the inevitable blind spots created by ingrained company structures, processes, fiefdoms, reporting hierarchies, we-already-tried-that thinking, and politics. And when you do identify potential obstacles to growth, the news isn’t always received as well-intended in highly competitive or political environments.

Growth Hacking: Outside In?

Along the way, it’s not uncommon for leaders to be seduced by discrete, favorable metrics provided by outsourced partners that only paint a rosy or fractional picture related to that partner’s performance. Or they become discouraged when media or performance metrics seem to fall short, without real understanding of how this impacts the whole. Often, it’s difficult to reconcile partner or channel metrics with bottom line realities.

And with high attrition rates across the C-Suite, new leaders are brought in with impossible expectations to create a symphony of meaning across disparate parts.

Three block-busting ways to accelerate growth

1. Start with a forensic analysis.

Unlocking growth will always need to begin with a brave, honest look at the truths of the moment. Identifying what may be impeding growth can be quite challenging from the inside out. The opportunities for growth are usually hiding in plain sight. Sometimes it’s just a matter of evolution versus revolution to get you there. The same is true of your people and your technologies. Unlocking the potential of both can be game-changing for your programs. An unbiased assessment of your marketing program, teams, technology and tools gives you visibility into realities often masked by the fog created by the requisite myopic focus on such a wide breadth of responsibilities. GlueIQ is trusted by company leaders and investment firms for forensic assessments insightfully diagnosing barriers to progress and significant opportunities lying in wait. These digital marketing assessments are fully actionable and, among other things, can address:

Marketing Maturity

Metrics Integration

Effective Reporting & Analysis

Barriers to Growth

Marketing Team, Processes, Technologies

eCommerce Effectiveness

2. Enlist a Performance Coach.

When all your agencies, media partners, and even your teams are grading their own homework, how can you be certain that the results they’re reporting are reliable, effectively orchestrated with each other, deserving of your investment and actually moving the needle on your bottom line? It is quite common for specializing partners to be so focused on their domain that they miss the greater ambition and worse, the greater opportunities. All their respective reports can feel like a disconnected jar of buttons that you’re left to make sense of.

Clients are always asking how to grow my business faster.  Bill Gates once said that “everyone needs a coach. We all need people that give us feedback. That’s how we improve.”  There are executive and leadership coaches, life coaches, sales coaches and fitness coaches – all with the intention of identifying and unpacking blind spots, and then integrating all the goals, the talent and the skills to maximize performance. Having similar Performance Coaching for your marketing program is a powerful way to complement your team without conflicting existing relationships. It helps leaders understand overall marketing wellness on an ongoing basis, identify opportunities, align marketing partners around a single ambition, and convert all the disparate reporting into a holistic story around growth. Performance Coaching by a growth hacking agency offers a reliable feedback loop grounded in data and can be utilized by individual leaders or teams.  

3. Streamline Advisory + Agency Services.

Achieving holistic growth can be sabotaged by the potential conflicting agendas of multiple partners. Consultancies deliver their assessments but are likely ill-equipped to be part of (or accountable to!) the implementation of their counsel. Handoffs to your agencies can be incredibly sloppy, leaving you to add Babysitting to your things to do every week. Agencies are known for great ideas and understanding the customer, but rarely for understanding the business challenges they need to solve.  Conversely, a Creative Consultancy offers an integrated approach to both advisory and agency services. This model was purpose-designed with a fundamental commitment to growth by diagnosing the existing challenges with a fearless, unbiased assessment, shaping a bespoke strategy for growing forward, executing the strategy with award-winning customer experience work, and even fractionally becoming part of the team if necessary. Having a Creative Consultancy partner means you don’t have to compromise magic or measurement: they can inform solutions with the right strategic foundation, growth mapping a way forward, compelling campaigns and experiences to feed the funnel, and optimizing for impact.

There’s no substitute for a business growth consultant partner who is solving for your success – from diagnosis through implementation, integration, and optimization. GlueIQ is a Creative Consultancy helping leaders across industries with current-state Forensic Analysis, ongoing support through Performance Coaching, and proven strategy and experience expertise that gets you where you want to grow faster, easier and more reliably. For more on any one of these services, or a bundle of them, feel free to reach out for a conversation about what’s keeping you up at night and how we might help.