Marketing strategy for business growth

Submitted by fpickering on 10 April 2010 - 3:46pm

Understanding your strategic choices means you can decide the best way to grow your business.

The Ansoff matrix is one of those strategic business models that marketers love - four simple boxes that can help guide your decision-making and give your business a clear direction.

I saw this model presented at an event last week but thought the implication of the presentation was more than a bit misleading. The audience was made up of a mixed group of business owners, probably with an equally mixed experience and understandig of marketing strategy.

The speaker presented the model as I’ll explain it below, and asked his listeners to reflect on what they are doing in each of these boxes. The implication was that they should be doing something in each of these boxes. But to take that approach means that you’re not using the model to guide decision making. Rather, you’re making decisions and then mapping them to the model retrospectively.

So how should you use the Ansoff model?