Lina Hope
In the perennial cycle of annual planning, marketing departments often find themselves defaulting to a familiar playbook: adding new initiatives, channels, and technologies without a critical assessment of existing commitments. This conventional approach, while seemingly proactive, can inadvertently lead to diluted efforts, budget inefficiencies, and a lack of strategic focus. Lisa Heay, Vice President of Business Operations at Heinz Marketing, argues compellingly for a paradigm shift, advocating for a "stop, fix, or scale" exercise as the foundational step in crafting an effective marketing strategy. This methodology, detailed in her recent analysis, encourages a rigorous evaluation of current marketing programs, tools, reporting mechanisms, and activities, ultimately guiding teams to make informed decisions about resource allocation and strategic priorities for the upcoming year.
The typical planning season, as described by Heay, commences with the laborious task of reviewing and replicating previous year’s plans. The immediate impulse is to identify opportunities for expansion – a new social media platform, the adoption of a buzzed-about AI tool, or the launch of experimental pilot programs. However, a crucial element is conspicuously absent from these discussions: the deliberate decision to discontinue existing efforts. This oversight is problematic because marketing teams are rarely constrained by a lack of ideas. Instead, their limitations often lie in finite time, budget, and the capacity for focused attention. Every new initiative introduced in the subsequent planning cycle necessitates a corresponding reallocation of resources. Without a conscious decision to divest from less effective activities, the year often dictates these shifts, resulting in new projects being half-realized while legacy programs continue to operate on autopilot, consuming valuable resources without demonstrable impact.
Heay’s framework proposes a systematic approach to counter this tendency. The core of her strategy involves categorizing all current marketing endeavors into one of three distinct buckets: "stop," "fix," or "scale." This exercise begins with a comprehensive inventory of every program, tool, reporting metric, and activity where the team currently expends time and financial resources. Once this inventory is complete, each item is critically assessed and assigned to its appropriate category. The anticipated outcome, according to Heay, is that most teams will discover their "scale" list to be relatively short, while their "stop" list will likely be longer than initially admitted. This dynamic is not indicative of poor planning but rather a natural consequence of the framework’s purpose: to identify underperforming or obsolete initiatives that can be eliminated to free up resources, thereby enabling the amplification of high-impact, scalable strategies.
Identifying Areas for Strategic Divestment
The "stop, fix, or scale" exercise directs attention to specific areas within marketing operations that are prone to inertia and inefficiency. Heay highlights several key categories where a critical review is most impactful:
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Programs Running on Legacy Momentum: These are marketing initiatives that persist year after year, not necessarily due to their current effectiveness, but because they have always been a part of the marketing calendar. Examples include monthly webinars with declining attendance, trade show participation that has become habitual rather than strategic, or newsletters that have not been meaningfully measured for years. The critical question for each of these programs is whether they can demonstrate a tangible contribution to pipeline or revenue in the present, rather than relying on past justifications. Heay suggests a simple yet effective method: for each recurring program, articulate one sentence defining its current objective and one quantifiable metric demonstrating its success. If this information cannot be readily provided, the program warrants inclusion on a review list for potential discontinuation or significant re-evaluation.
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Underutilized Martech Investments: The proliferation of marketing technology (martech) stacks is a common phenomenon. Tools are often acquired for specific campaigns or by individuals who subsequently depart, leaving behind subscriptions that continue to incur costs. This leads to bloat and overlap, with multiple tools offering similar functionalities, such as social media scheduling or intent data analysis. Heay emphasizes that the fourth quarter presents an opportune moment for a thorough audit of the martech stack, particularly as many contracts are up for renewal in the new fiscal year and budgets are finalized shortly thereafter. A foundational step involves compiling a list of all subscriptions, identifying their owners, and noting their renewal dates. This simple inventory often reveals significant redundancies and opportunities for cost savings.
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Reporting That Fails to Drive Decisions: The creation of reports demands considerable time and effort. However, many reports are merely skimmed, filed away, and ultimately fail to influence strategic decisions or operational adjustments. Heay proposes a pragmatic test: if a key metric were to experience a 20% fluctuation in the upcoming month, would any changes be made to marketing activities or strategies? If the answer is no, then the metric is likely being tracked out of habit rather than for actionable insight. The implication is that a more focused approach, emphasizing fewer, more impactful metrics that are directly tied to decision-making, can lead to more efficient leadership meetings and a greater capacity for agile response.
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Activities Generating Busyness, Not Business Impact: Metrics such as likes, opens, followers, and downloads can create an illusion of progress. However, if these engagement metrics are not demonstrably linked to the acquisition of target accounts or the achievement of core business objectives, they can be categorized as vanity metrics with associated costs. While Heay acknowledges that some top-of-funnel activities have downstream effects that are difficult to attribute directly, she cautions against indiscriminately cutting all immeasurable efforts. The key lies in honest self-assessment: which activities are genuinely believed to contribute to business goals, and why? Activities that persist solely because they present well on a slide or because they have always been performed should be critically examined.
The Decision-Making Framework: Five Crucial Questions
To facilitate the challenging task of deciding what to eliminate, Heay proposes a set of five probing questions that should be applied to any item placed on the "review list" or identified as potentially belonging in the "stop" category. These questions are designed to force a rigorous justification for the continuation of an initiative:
- What is the primary objective of this initiative, and how does it directly contribute to our overarching business goals (e.g., revenue, customer acquisition, market share)? This question grounds the evaluation in strategic alignment, moving beyond superficial activities.
- What specific, measurable outcomes demonstrate the success of this initiative? What are the key performance indicators (KPIs), and what are the current benchmarks and recent trends? This emphasizes the need for quantifiable evidence of impact.
- What is the current return on investment (ROI) or cost-effectiveness of this initiative? Have we conducted a recent analysis? This focuses on the financial viability and efficiency of the program.
- Are there alternative, more effective, or more efficient ways to achieve the same objective? Could resources be reallocated to a higher-impact activity? This encourages a forward-looking perspective and the identification of potential optimizations.
- If we were to start from scratch today, would this initiative be among our top priorities? Why or why not? This question serves as a powerful litmus test for relevance and continued strategic value.
By systematically applying these questions, marketing leaders can move beyond emotional attachments to existing programs and make data-driven decisions about where to allocate their limited resources.
Operationalizing the Stop, Fix, and Scale Lists
Once initiatives have been categorized, each list requires a distinct set of actions:
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The Stop List: Items placed on the "stop" list represent opportunities to reclaim resources – time, budget, and human capital. The primary action is to develop a clear plan for their discontinuation, including the communication of this decision to relevant stakeholders and the reallocation of freed-up resources. This might involve ending a subscription, canceling an event, or ceasing a particular type of campaign. The ultimate goal is to achieve a leaner, more focused marketing operation.
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The Fix List: Initiatives on the "fix" list are deemed to have potential but require improvement to reach their full efficacy. This necessitates developing a specific action plan outlining the necessary changes, assigning ownership for these improvements, and setting clear timelines for their implementation. It is crucial to monitor progress closely and to re-evaluate the initiative after the fixes have been implemented. If the improvements do not yield the desired results within a defined period, the initiative may need to be reconsidered for the "stop" list.
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The Scale List: This list comprises the most successful and impactful marketing efforts that are poised for expansion. The focus here is on identifying opportunities to amplify their reach and impact. This could involve increasing budget allocation, investing in additional resources or technology to support growth, or exploring new channels or markets where these successful initiatives can be replicated. The goal is to maximize the return from proven strategies.
To ensure agility and responsiveness, Heay recommends scheduling a follow-up check-in for the following quarter. Market dynamics and program performance can evolve rapidly, and an initiative currently on the "fix" list might be ready for scaling, or conversely, a "scale" candidate might require a "fix" or even be slated for discontinuation.
The Strategic Advantage of Focused Planning
The overarching principle behind Heay’s "stop, fix, or scale" methodology is that a shorter, more focused marketing plan, with clearly defined priorities and adequate resourcing, will invariably outperform a more ambitious but thinly spread plan. By consciously deciding what to stop, marketing teams can unlock the potential to scale what truly works, leading to greater efficiency, improved ROI, and ultimately, a more impactful contribution to the organization’s business objectives. This strategic approach moves beyond the reactive addition of new programs and fosters a proactive, data-informed discipline essential for navigating the complexities of the modern marketing landscape.
In an upcoming analysis, Heay plans to delve deeper into a critical aspect of this framework: the essential questions to ask before renewing any martech tool. This ongoing dialogue underscores Heinz Marketing’s commitment to providing actionable insights for marketing leaders seeking to optimize their operations and achieve sustainable growth. For organizations looking for expert guidance in refining their strategic marketing plans for the upcoming year, Heinz Marketing offers consultation services. Interested parties can reach out to [email protected] for further information.
Neng Nana
Ali Ikhwan
