Marketing Strategy Frameworks: 12 Proven Models That Actually Work

Your marketing strategy is "post more on social media and see what happens."

That's not a strategy. That's hope.

The reality: Successful companies don't guess. They use proven frameworks—repeatable systems that tell them WHAT to do, WHEN to do it, and HOW to measure success.

The frameworks in this guide have driven billions in revenue for companies from startups to Fortune 500s. They're not theory—they're battle-tested systems that work.

This guide breaks down 12 marketing strategy frameworks: when to use each one, how to implement them, real examples, and which framework fits your business stage and goals in 2025.

Why You Need a Framework

The Cost of Guessing

Marketing without a framework:

• ❌ Random tactics (social posts, ads, content—no coherence)
• ❌ No prioritization (everything feels urgent)
• ❌ Can't measure success (what worked? no idea)
• ❌ Team confusion (everyone doing different things)
• ❌ Wasted budget (throwing money at whatever seems cool)

Marketing with a framework:

• ✅ Clear strategy (know what to do, when, why)
• ✅ Prioritized actions (focus on what matters)
• ✅ Measurable outcomes (track what works)
• ✅ Team alignment (everyone rowing same direction)
• ✅ Efficient budget (spend where ROI is highest)

Example:

• Company A (no framework): Tries 15 tactics, no focus, $500K spent, 10 customers
• Company B (uses framework): Focuses on 3 tactics from STP framework, $200K spent, 150 customers

Frameworks = Focus = Results.

---

The 12 Essential Marketing Frameworks

1. STP Framework (Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning)

What it is: Divide market into segments, choose target, position your offering

When to use:

• Launching new product
• Entering new market
• Rebranding
• Broad market with different customer types

How it works:

Step 1: Segmentation

• Divide market into distinct groups
• Criteria: Demographics, psychographics, behavior, needs

Example (Fitness App):

• Segment 1: Busy professionals (30-45, time-poor, high income)
• Segment 2: College students (18-25, budget-conscious, social)
• Segment 3: Seniors (60+, health-focused, tech-hesitant)

Step 2: Targeting

• Choose which segment(s) to focus on
• Evaluate: Size, growth potential, competition, fit with your strengths

Decision: Focus on Segment 1 (Busy professionals)

• Why: Highest income, willing to pay, underserved by competitors

Step 3: Positioning

• How you want target segment to perceive you
• Define: Key benefit, differentiation, messaging

Positioning statement: "For busy professionals who want to stay fit without wasting time, [Product] is the only fitness app that delivers results in 15-minute workouts, unlike generic apps that require hours."

Real example: Nike

• Segmentation: Athletes, casual exercisers, fashion-conscious
• Targeting: Athletes (then expanded)
• Positioning: Performance and inspiration ("Just Do It")

Pros:

• ✅ Forces focus (can't target everyone)
• ✅ Clear positioning
• ✅ Efficient resource allocation

Cons:

• ❌ Can miss opportunities in other segments
• ❌ Requires research (can't guess)

---

2. AIDA Framework (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action)

What it is: Customer journey from awareness to conversion

When to use:

• Creating campaigns (ads, emails, landing pages)
• Copywriting
• Funnel optimization
• Any customer-facing content

How it works:

Attention: Grab eyeballs (headline, hook, visual)

• Example: "Are you throwing away $10,000/year on wasted ad spend?"

Interest: Make them care (relevant problem, intriguing fact)

• Example: "87% of small business ads target the wrong audience. Here's how to fix it."

Desire: Make them want it (benefits, social proof, emotion)

• Example: "Our clients reduce ad waste by 60% in 30 days. Here's Sarah's story..."

Action: Tell them what to do (clear CTA, remove friction)

• Example: "Get your free ad audit, [Button]"

Real example: Apple iPhone Launch Ads

• Attention: Sleek visuals, product beauty
• Interest: "This changes everything" (curiosity)
• Desire: Show capabilities, lifestyle appeal
• Action: "Available Friday" (urgency + clear next step)

Application checklist:

• Does headline grab attention? (test with "would I stop scrolling?")
• Does opening build interest? (relevant to target)
• Do I create desire? (benefits > features, use emotion/social proof)
• Is CTA clear and easy? (one action, remove barriers)

Pros:

• ✅ Simple to remember and apply
• ✅ Works for any content type
• ✅ Easy to audit existing content

Cons:

• ❌ Linear (real customers aren't always linear)
• ❌ Doesn't account for relationship building

---

3. AARRR Framework (Pirate Metrics)

What it is: Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue, Referral

When to use:

• SaaS and subscription businesses
• Product-led growth
• Funnel optimization
• Growth hacking

How it works:

Acquisition: How users find you

• Channels: SEO, ads, social, referrals
• Metric: Traffic, signups
• Goal: Cost-efficient user acquisition

Activation: First meaningful experience

• What: User experiences core value
• Metric: % of signups who complete key action
• Goal: High activation rate (40%+)

Retention: Keep users coming back

• What: Ongoing usage
• Metric: Day 1, 7, 30 retention rates
• Goal: Increasing retention over time

Revenue: Monetization

• What: Convert to paying customers
• Metric: Conversion rate, ARPU, LTV
• Goal: Profitable unit economics

Referral: Users bring more users

• What: Word of mouth, referral program
• Metric: Viral coefficient (K-factor)
• Goal: K > 1 (each user brings 1+ users)

Real example: Dropbox

• Acquisition: Content marketing, ads
• Activation: "Aha moment" = successfully upload and sync first file
• Retention: Daily use (file access), integrations
• Revenue: Free, paid when storage full
• Referral: "Get more space by referring friends" (viral loop)

Optimization by stage:

Weak acquisition? Fix:

• Improve SEO/content
• Optimize ad targeting
• Test new channels

Weak activation? Fix:

• Simplify onboarding
• Improve first-time UX
• Faster time-to-value

Weak retention? Fix:

• Improve product features
• Email engagement campaigns
• Better customer success

Weak revenue? Fix:

• Pricing experiments
• Upsell/cross-sell
• Better free-to-paid conversion

Weak referral? Fix:

• Referral incentives
• Make sharing easier
• Build product virality

Pros:

• ✅ Complete growth picture
• ✅ Easy to identify bottlenecks
• ✅ Actionable metrics at each stage

Cons:

• ❌ SaaS/product-focused (less relevant for some businesses)
• ❌ Requires strong analytics

---

4. Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) Framework

What it is: Customers "hire" products to do a "job" in their lives

When to use:

• Product development
• Positioning and messaging
• Understanding customer motivation
• Innovation strategy

How it works:

Core concept: People don't buy products—they hire them to make progress in their lives.

Framework questions:

1. What job is the customer trying to do?
2. What are they currently using to do this job?
3. Why is the current solution inadequate?
4. What would make them "fire" current solution and "hire" yours?

Real example: Milkshake Study (Clayton Christensen)

• Question: Why do people buy milkshakes?
• Answer (not demographics): Morning commuters "hire" milkshakes to:
  • Keep them full until lunch (job)
  • Easy to consume while driving (context)
  • More interesting than banana (alternative)
• Result: McDonald's made milkshakes thicker (last longer), added fruit chunks (interesting), available at 6am (when job arises)
• Outcome: Sales increased dramatically

Application process:

Step 1: Identify the job

• Ask: "When you use [product], what are you trying to accomplish?"
• Example: "I'm trying to look professional for client meetings without spending hours shopping"

Step 2: Understand context

• When does this job arise?
• What constraints exist?
• What alternatives are they considering?

Step 3: Find emotional and social jobs

• Functional job: What task needs doing
• Emotional job: How do they want to feel
• Social job: How do they want to be perceived

Example: Luxury watch

• Functional: Tell time (weak job—phone does this)
• Emotional: Feel successful, reward myself
• Social: Signal status to others

Step 4: Position around the job

• Message the job, not the product features
• Address all three job types

Bad: "Our watch has Swiss movement and sapphire crystal" Good: "Celebrate your success with a timepiece that announces you've arrived"

Pros:

• ✅ Deep customer understanding
• ✅ Differentiates from competitors (different job = different category)
• ✅ Innovation opportunities

Cons:

• ❌ Requires research (customer interviews)
• ❌ Not a quick fix
• ❌ Can be hard to identify true "job"

---

5. The 4 Ps Framework (Marketing Mix)

What it is: Product, Price, Place, Promotion

When to use:

• Launching new product
• Marketing plan development
• Complete strategy review
• Brand/business planning

How it works:

Product: What you're selling

• Features and benefits
• Quality and design
• Branding and packaging
• Product line depth

Price: What you charge

• Pricing strategy (premium, penetration, competitive)
• Discounts and offers
• Payment terms
• Price positioning vs. competitors

Place: Where you sell

• Distribution channels (online, retail, direct, partners)
• Geographic coverage
• Inventory and logistics
• Channel partner strategy

Promotion: How you communicate

• Advertising (paid media)
• PR and earned media
• Content marketing
• Sales promotions

Real example: Tesla

• Product: Electric vehicles (premium quality, advanced tech, minimal design)
• Price: Premium pricing (justify with performance + tech)
• Place: Direct-to-consumer (own stores, online), no dealers
• Promotion: Minimal paid ads, rely on PR, word-of-mouth, Elon's Twitter

Decision framework:

For each P, ask:

1. What's our current approach?
2. What do competitors do?
3. What does our target customer expect/want?
4. Where can we differentiate?

Pros:

• ✅ Complete (covers all marketing elements)
• ✅ Simple to understand
• ✅ Forces alignment across Ps

Cons:

• ❌ Product-centric (less focus on customer)
• ❌ Doesn't address digital/modern tactics explicitly
• ❌ Can feel outdated (evolved to 7 Ps: + People, Process, Physical Evidence)

---

6. Growth Loops Framework

What it is: Self-reinforcing cycles where output becomes input

When to use:

• Building viral products
• Sustainable growth (not paid ads)
• Product-led growth
• Network effects

How it works:

Traditional funnel: Linear (ad, visitor, customer, then stops)

Growth loop: Circular (customer, creates value, attracts new users, become customers, repeat)

Loop types:

1. Viral loops:

• User invites others, they sign up, invite more
• Example: Dropbox referrals (get storage for referrals)

2. Content loops:

• Users create content, attracts visitors (SEO), convert to users, create more content
• Example: Pinterest (users pin, content indexed, Google traffic, new users pin)

3. Paid loops:

• Revenue from customers, reinvest in ads, acquire more customers, more revenue
• Example: If LTV > CAC, loop is sustainable

4. Sales loops:

• Happy customers, refer others, sales team converts, more happy customers
• Example: B2B where each customer refers 1-2 others

Building a growth loop:

Step 1: Identify loop type

• What's the engine? (viral, content, paid, sales, network effect)

Step 2: Define loop steps

1. Input: What starts the loop
2. Action: What users do
3. Output: What that action creates
4. Return: How output feeds back as input

Example: Yelp (Content loop)

1. Input: User searches "best pizza near me" (Google)
2. Action: Finds Yelp page, creates account to leave review
3. Output: Review published, indexed by Google
4. Return: More search traffic from new review content , Loop repeats

Step 3: Optimize loop

• Increase conversion at each step
• Speed up loop (faster loop = faster growth)
• Remove friction

Measurement:

• Loop cycle time: How long one cycle takes
• Loop efficiency: % who complete loop
• Output/input ratio: Each cycle creates more input than consumed? (good) or less? (bad)

Pros:

• ✅ Sustainable growth (not dependent on ads)
• ✅ Compounds over time
• ✅ Harder for competitors to copy

Cons:

• ❌ Hard to design (requires product changes)
• ❌ Takes time to see results
• ❌ Not all products can have loops

---

7. Blue Ocean Strategy Framework

What it is: Create uncontested market space (Blue Ocean) vs. competing in existing market (Red Ocean)

When to use:

• Saturated markets
• Struggling to differentiate
• Innovation strategy
• Long-term strategic planning

How it works:

Red Ocean (avoid):

• Compete in existing market
• Beat competition
• Exploit existing demand
• Value-cost tradeoff

Blue Ocean (create):

• Create uncontested market space
• Make competition irrelevant
• Create and capture new demand
• Break value-cost tradeoff

Framework tools:

1. Strategy Canvas:

• List all factors industry competes on
• Plot your company and competitors on each factor
• Find where everyone is the same (opportunity to differentiate)

2. Four Actions Framework:

• Eliminate: What factors to remove (that industry takes for granted)
• Reduce: What to reduce below industry standard
• Raise: What to raise above industry standard
• Create: What to create that industry never offered

Real example: Cirque du Soleil

Traditional circus (Red Ocean):

• Competed on: Star performers, animals, multiple rings, low prices
• Result: Declining industry, everyone doing same thing

Cirque du Soleil (Blue Ocean):

• Eliminated: Animals, star performers, multiple rings (expensive, no differentiation)
• Reduced: Humor and thrill (de-emphasized)
• Raised: Artistic quality (theater-level production)
• Created: Unique venue, storyline/theme, multiple productions
• Result: Premium pricing, new audience (adults willing to pay $100+ vs. $30), massive growth

Application process:

Step 1: Map current industry

• What do all competitors do?
• What do they compete on?

Step 2: Apply Four Actions

• Eliminate: What's expensive but customers don't care about?
• Reduce: What's over-served?
• Raise: What do customers want more of?
• Create: What's never been offered?

Step 3: Validate new strategy

• Does it create new value?
• Is cost structure sustainable?
• Is it hard to copy?

Pros:

• ✅ Escape competition (don't fight, create new space)
• ✅ Higher margins (unique = premium pricing)
• ✅ Innovation driver

Cons:

• ❌ High risk (creating new market is hard)
• ❌ Requires significant change
• ❌ May need to educate market

---

8. Content Marketing Funnel Framework

What it is: Create content for each funnel stage (TOFU, MOFU, BOFU)

When to use:

• Content strategy planning
• SEO and organic growth
• Lead nurturing
• Inbound marketing (Note: Many marketers confuse content marketing with social media tactics—understanding the difference between social media marketing and content marketing clarifies which funnel stages each serves)

How it works:

TOFU (Top of Funnel) - Awareness:

• Goal: Attract strangers, build awareness
• Content types: Blog posts, social content, infographics, videos
• Topics: Educational, problem-focused (not product-focused)
• KPIs: Traffic, reach, social shares

MOFU (Middle of Funnel) - Consideration:

• Goal: Nurture leads, build trust
• Content types: Ebooks, webinars, case studies, comparison guides
• Topics: Solution-focused, deeper dives
• KPIs: Email signups, content downloads, engagement time

BOFU (Bottom of Funnel) - Decision:

• Goal: Convert to customer
• Content types: Product demos, free trials, testimonials, pricing pages
• Topics: Product-focused, ROI-focused
• KPIs: Demo requests, trials started, sales

Real example: HubSpot

TOFU:

• Blog: "What is Inbound Marketing?" (attracts beginners)
• SEO: Ranks for broad terms
• Goal: Get on radar

MOFU:

• Ebook: "Complete Guide to Inbound Marketing"
• Webinar: "How to Build Your Marketing Strategy"
• Goal: Capture email, nurture

BOFU:

• Free CRM trial
• Case studies: "How Company X Grew 300% with HubSpot"
• Pricing page, ROI calculator
• Goal: Convert to customer

Content mapping:

Pros:

• ✅ Systematic content creation
• ✅ Address full customer journey
• ✅ Build authority at each stage

Cons:

• ❌ Time-intensive (lots of content needed)
• ❌ Slow ROI (takes months)
• ❌ Requires distribution strategy

---

9. Flywheel Framework (vs. Funnel)

What it is: Circular growth model where customers fuel growth (not just end of funnel)

When to use:

• Customer retention focus
• Building advocacy
• Sustainable growth
• Reducing customer acquisition cost

How it works:

Traditional funnel: Attract, Engage, Delight, stops

Flywheel: Attract, Engage, Delight, Customers attract more customers (loop)

Three stages:

1. Attract: Bring in right people

• Inbound marketing (content, SEO)
• Social media
• Word of mouth (from existing customers!)

2. Engage: Build relationships, provide value

• Sales conversations
• Content that helps
• Personalized experiences

3. Delight: Exceed expectations

• Exceptional support
• Continued value delivery
• Customer success focus

Key difference from funnel:

• Customers aren't the end—they're the ENGINE
• Happy customers fuel growth (referrals, testimonials, case studies)
• More customers = faster flywheel = more growth

Flywheel forces:

• Increase speed: Add more energy (more attract, better engage, exceed in delight)
• Reduce friction: Fix what slows flywheel (bad UX, slow support, poor onboarding)

Real example: Amazon

• Attract: Low prices, selection, convenience
• Engage: Easy purchase experience, recommendations
• Delight: Fast shipping, easy returns, great support
• Result: Customers become advocates, refer others, flywheel spins faster

Friction points to remove:

• Slow customer support (kills delight)
• Complex onboarding (kills engage)
• Poor UX (friction at every stage)
• Misaligned sales/marketing (customers get wrong info)

Measurement:

• Flywheel speed: Growth rate
• Friction: Customer churn, support tickets, NPS detractors
• Force applied: Marketing spend, product improvements, team growth

Pros:

• ✅ Customer-centric (vs. company-centric funnel)
• ✅ Sustainable growth (customers fuel growth)
• ✅ Reduces acquisition cost over time

Cons:

• ❌ Requires excellent product/service (can't fake delight)
• ❌ Takes time to build momentum
• ❌ Whole company must buy in

---

10. OKR Framework for Marketing

What it is: Objectives and Key Results—goal-setting framework

When to use:

• Setting marketing goals
• Team alignment
• Quarterly/annual planning
• Tracking progress

How it works:

Objective: Qualitative, inspiring goal (what you want to achieve)

• Should be ambitious but achievable
• Clear direction
• Inspires team

Key Results: Quantitative, measurable outcomes (how you'll know you achieved it)

• 2-5 key results per objective
• Specific numbers
• Track progress 0-100%

Structure:

Objective: [Inspiring goal]
  Key Result 1: [Measurable outcome]
  Key Result 2: [Measurable outcome]
  Key Result 3: [Measurable outcome]

Real example: Marketing team

Objective: Become the go-to resource for small business marketing

Key Results:

1. Increase organic traffic from 50K to 200K/month
2. Publish 50 complete guides (vs. 12 last quarter)
3. Achieve 4.5+ average content rating (user surveys)
4. Get mentioned by 10 industry publications

How to write good OKRs:

Objectives:

• ✅ Inspiring and qualitative
• ✅ Directional (north star)
• ✅ Time-bound (this quarter/year)
• ❌ Not: "Increase traffic" (that's a KR)

Key Results:

• ✅ Measurable (number, %, binary yes/no)
• ✅ Ambitious (70% success rate is good)
• ✅ Outcome-focused (not activity)
• ❌ Not: "Post 50 blogs" (that's output, not outcome)

Scoring:

• 0.0-0.3: Failed (need to understand why)
• 0.4-0.6: Made progress (okay)
• 0.7-0.8: Success (sweet spot)
• 0.9-1.0: Crushed it (maybe too easy?)

Cadence:

• Set: Quarterly (some annual)
• Check-in: Weekly (update % complete)
• Review: End of quarter (learn, set new OKRs)

Pros:

• ✅ Clarity (everyone knows the goal)
• ✅ Focus (only 3-5 objectives)
• ✅ Measurable (track progress)
• ✅ Alignment (company, team, individual OKRs)

Cons:

• ❌ Can be too rigid (if over-focused)
• ❌ Requires discipline (weekly check-ins)
• ❌ Not for every metric (only what matters most)

---

11. Porter's Five Forces Framework

What it is: Analyze competitive forces shaping your market

When to use:

• Market entry decisions
• Competitive strategy
• Understanding market dynamics
• Long-term planning

How it works:

Five forces:

1. Competitive rivalry:

• How intense is competition?
• Many competitors? Slow growth? High fixed costs? = Intense
• Strategy: Differentiate or find niche

2. Threat of new entrants:

• How easy for new competitors to enter?
• Low barriers (easy to copy)? = High threat
• Strategy: Build moats (brand, network effects, economies of scale)

3. Threat of substitutes:

• What alternatives exist?
• Easy substitutes? = High threat
• Strategy: Increase switching costs, differentiate

4. Bargaining power of buyers:

• How much power do customers have?
• Many alternatives? Low switching cost? = High power
• Strategy: Increase value, lock-in features

5. Bargaining power of suppliers:

• How much power do suppliers have?
• Few suppliers? No alternatives? = High power
• Strategy: Diversify suppliers, vertical integration

Real example: Streaming (Netflix, Disney+)

Competitive rivalry: HIGH

• Many players (Netflix, Disney+, HBO, Amazon, Apple)
• Slow market growth (saturation)
• High content costs , Strategy: Exclusive content, global expansion

Threat of new entrants: MEDIUM

• High capital required (content $$$)
• But tech is easy (cloud infrastructure) , Defense: Content library, brand

Threat of substitutes: MEDIUM

• YouTube (free), cable, piracy , Strategy: Better UX, original content, value pricing

Bargaining power of buyers: HIGH

• Easy to switch (cancel anytime)
• Many alternatives , Strategy: Must-watch content, multi-tier pricing

Bargaining power of suppliers: HIGH

• Content creators have power (bidding wars)
• Sports leagues, studios , Strategy: Own production studios (vertical integration)

Application:

1. Rate each force (low/medium/high)
2. Identify biggest threats
3. Develop strategies to counter

Pros:

• ✅ Complete market view
• ✅ Identifies threats/opportunities
• ✅ Guides strategy

Cons:

• ❌ Static (doesn't account for change)
• ❌ Complex markets hard to analyze
• ❌ Doesn't directly suggest actions

---

12. North Star Metric Framework

What it is: Single metric that best captures core value you deliver to customers

When to use:

• Company/team alignment
• Focusing efforts
• Product-led growth
• Cutting through metric noise

How it works:

What makes a good North Star Metric:

1. Measures value delivered to customer (not just revenue)
2. Reflects engagement and growth
3. Actionable (team can impact it)
4. Leading indicator (predicts future success)

Formula:

North Star = Customer value + Business value

Real examples:

Airbnb: Nights booked

• Why: Captures guest satisfaction + host earnings + Airbnb revenue

Spotify: Time listening

• Why: More listening = engaged users = retention = premium conversions

WhatsApp: Messages sent

• Why: Messages = value delivered = network effect = growth

Amplitude: Weekly Learning Users

• Why: Users learning from product = value realized = retention

NOT North Star metrics:

• Revenue (lagging, doesn't show value)
• Users (vanity, doesn't show engagement)
• Pageviews (activity, not value)

Supporting metrics (Input metrics):

• Levers that influence North Star
• Example: If North Star = "Nights booked", inputs might be:
  • New listings added
  • Search conversion rate
  • App installs
  • Booking completion rate

Implementation:

Step 1: Identify North Star

• What's the "aha moment" for customers?
• What predicts retention?
• What captures value to customer + business?

Step 2: Define inputs

• What drives North Star?
• What can teams control?

Step 3: Align teams

• Everyone understands North Star
• Team/individual goals ladder up to it

Step 4: Instrument and track

• Dashboard with North Star front and center
• Review weekly

Pros:

• ✅ Singular focus (cuts through noise)
• ✅ Customer-centric (value-focused)
• ✅ Company alignment
• ✅ Leading indicator

Cons:

• ❌ Hard to identify right metric
• ❌ Can be gamed if chosen wrong
• ❌ May need to evolve over time

---

How to Choose the Right Framework

By Business Stage

Startup (0-10 employees):

1. JTBD (understand customer deeply)
2. AIDA (create effective messaging)
3. North Star (align small team)

Growth stage (10-100 employees):

1. AARRR (optimize funnel)
2. STP (focus on right segment)
3. Growth Loops (sustainable growth)

Scale-up (100-500 employees):

1. OKRs (align multiple teams)
2. Flywheel (customer-centric growth)
3. Porter's Five Forces (competitive strategy)

Enterprise (500+ employees):

1. 4 Ps (complete strategy)
2. Blue Ocean (innovation)
3. OKRs (company-wide alignment)

---

By Marketing Goal

Launching new product:

1. STP (segment, target, position)
2. JTBD (understand customer job)
3. AIDA (create launch campaigns)

Improving conversions:

1. AIDA (optimize messaging)
2. AARRR (find bottlenecks)
3. Content funnel (right content at right stage)

Vendor selection and outsourcing: Apply reputation management outsourcing decision framework principles when evaluating any marketing vendors—calculate time value vs. cost, volume requirements, and expected ROI.

Sustainable growth:

1. Growth Loops (compounding growth)
2. Flywheel (customer-fueled)
3. North Star (focus team)

Market entry/expansion:

1. Porter's Five Forces (understand market)
2. Blue Ocean (differentiate)
3. STP (target right segment)

Team alignment:

1. OKRs (clear goals)
2. North Star (single focus)
3. Flywheel (customer-centric model)

---

Implementing Frameworks: Step-by-Step

Week 1: Choose framework

Day 1-2: Assess your situation

• What's your primary challenge? (growth, conversion, competition, alignment)
• What stage is your business? (startup, growth, scale, enterprise)
• What resources do you have? (team, budget, time)

Day 3-4: Select framework(s)

• Pick 1-2 frameworks (don't use 12 at once!)
• Ensure team understands why

Day 5: Gather data

• What data do you need for chosen framework?
• Collect customer insights, competitive data, metrics

---

Week 2-3: Apply framework

Using STP example:

Week 2:

• Segment market (research, interviews, data analysis)
• Identify 3-5 distinct segments
• Create segment profiles

Week 3:

• Evaluate segments (size, fit, competition)
• Choose target segment(s)
• Develop positioning statement

---

Week 4: Execute and measure

Create action plan:

• What changes based on framework insights?
• What campaigns/tactics to launch?
• Who owns each initiative?

Set metrics:

• How will you measure success?
• Weekly/monthly check-ins

Iterate:

• Review monthly
• Refine based on data
• Don't abandon framework too quickly (give it 3-6 months)

---

Common Framework Mistakes

Mistake 1: Using too many at once

❌ What companies do:

• Try to apply 5 frameworks simultaneously
• Team confused, no focus

✅ What to do instead:

• Pick 1-2 frameworks max
• Go deep on those
• Add more only when mastered

---

Mistake 2: Framework over execution

❌ What companies do:

• Spend 3 months on framework
• Perfect strategy doc
• Never execute

✅ What to do instead:

• 80/20 rule: 20% planning, 80% execution
• Week 1: Choose framework
• Week 2-3: Apply
• Week 4+: Execute and learn

---

Mistake 3: Ignoring customer reality

❌ What companies do:

• Force framework despite customer feedback
• "The framework says we should target X" (but customers want Y)

✅ What to do instead:

• Frameworks guide, not dictate
• Listen to customers
• Adapt framework to reality

---

Mistake 4: No metrics

❌ What companies do:

• Apply framework
• Don't measure results
• Can't tell if it's working

✅ What to do instead:

• Define success metrics upfront
• Track weekly/monthly
• Iterate based on data

---

Related Resources

• Marketing Automation Tools - Execute your strategy
• Digital Marketing Channels - Channel strategy
• Marketing ROI Measurement - Measure success
• Brand Strategy Guide - Brand framework
• Growth Marketing - Growth strategies
• Marketing Communication Strategy Examples - Real-world strategy examples

The bottom line: Stop guessing. Use proven frameworks.

Successful marketing isn't about trying random tactics. It's about:

1. Choosing the right framework for your situation
2. Applying it systematically
3. Measuring results
4. Iterating based on data

Start today:

1. Identify your #1 marketing challenge (growth? conversion? competition?)
2. Pick 1 framework from this guide that addresses it
3. Spend 1 week applying framework
4. Execute for 3 months, measure, iterate

Quick picks:

• Need focus? , North Star Metric
• Need growth? , AARRR or Growth Loops
• New product? , STP + JTBD
• Team alignment? , OKRs

Frameworks turn guessing into strategy.

Pick one. Apply it. Win.