Unlocking Growth: How Effective is Your Marketing Strategy for £3m+ Businesses?
- laura3736
- Nov 10
- 4 min read
Every business hitting the £3 million annual recurring revenue (ARR) mark faces a critical question:
Is your marketing really driving growth, or just converting sales that would have happened anyway?
Understanding where your brand and marketing stand today is the first step to unlocking faster, smarter growth. That’s where the OSER free growth marketing effectiveness diagnostic comes in.
This concise yet powerful assessment enables businesses like yours to pinpoint strengths and gaps in their marketing strategy and creativity. It’s designed to reveal how well your marketing supports your growth ambitions and where sharper focus could make a real difference.
Understanding Your Marketing Spend and Business Stage
One of the first questions is about your marketing budget: what percentage of your revenue do you currently invest in marketing? This simple figure can reveal a lot about your growth potential and priorities.
Next, the diagnostic asks you to identify your current business stage. Are you:
Scaling fast and expanding into new markets?
Consolidating by improving efficiencies and ROI?
Preparing for investment or acquisition?
Transforming through AI, automation, or rebranding?
Each stage demands a different marketing approach. For example, fast scalers might focus on brand awareness and lead generation, while those preparing for acquisition need to build investor confidence and demonstrate marketing ROI.
Clarifying Your Top Goals for the Next 12 Months
Growth means different things to different businesses. OSER’s diagnostic helps you clarify your top priorities, such as:
Accelerating revenue growth
Strengthening brand positioning
Building investor confidence
Improving marketing ROI
Launching new markets or products
Integrating AI or automation across teams
Maximising incremental profit
Knowing your primary goals helps tailor your marketing strategy to deliver measurable results. For instance, if your focus is on launching new products, your marketing might need to emphasise storytelling and customer education.
Pinpointing Areas for Improvement in Brand and Marketing
The diagnostic dives deeper into which parts of your marketing need the most attention. You might want to improve:
Brand positioning and creative strategy
Performance marketing and paid media
Lead generation and conversion
AI integration
Content storytelling and campaigns
Customer experience and retention
For example, a company struggling with lead conversion might discover that its messaging isn’t resonating or that its customer journey has friction points. It is important to identify these gaps clearly so you can resolve them.
Reviewing Your Brand Assets and Recognition
Strong brands have distinctive assets that customers recognise instantly, even without a logo. What brand assets do you have from these?
Logo
Strapline
Icon
Character
Colours
Distinctive packaging
How confident are you that customers would recognise your brand without your logo? Think of Nike’s swoosh or Apple’s apple - these brands have built powerful recognition beyond just their name.
This exercise reveals whether your brand identity is strong enough to stand out in crowded markets or if it needs refreshing.
Connecting Marketing Activity to Business Growth
Do you have a documented brand and communications strategy that links marketing efforts directly to business growth? Many businesses operate marketing campaigns without a clear connection to their overall goals.
OSER’s growth diagnostic encourages you to assess whether your marketing strategy is truly aligned with growth objectives. This alignment is crucial for making smart investments and measuring success.
Tracking the Right Metrics to Measure Success
What metrics do you actively track? Key indicators that show marketing effectiveness include:
Brand awareness
Category entry points
Distinctive brand asset strength
Creative effectiveness or ad recall
Media performance (reach, share of voice)
Incremental profit from advertising
Advertising ROI or ROAS
Tracking these metrics helps you understand not just if your marketing is working, but how it contributes to growth. For example, measuring incremental profit from advertising shows whether your campaigns generate new revenue or just shift existing sales.
How Confident Are You in Your Marketing’s Impact?
Finally, the diagnostic asks a tough question: how confident are you that your marketing is driving growth, not just converting sales that would have happened anyway? This reflection challenges businesses to look beyond vanity metrics and focus on real impact.
If you hesitate to answer confidently, it’s a sign that your marketing strategy needs sharpening.
Why Take the OSER Growth Marketing Effectiveness Diagnostic?
This free assessment is a quick, insightful way for businesses with £3m+ ARR to evaluate their marketing health. It combines practical questions with strategic thinking to uncover opportunities for smarter growth.
By taking the diagnostic, you’ll gain:
Clarity on your marketing spend and priorities
Insight into your business stage and growth goals
Identification of key areas for marketing improvement
A review of your brand’s distinctiveness
A check on how well your marketing links to business growth
A focus on the right metrics to track success
Confidence in your marketing’s true impact
Ready to Unlock Faster, Smarter Growth?
Want to see how your marketing really stacks up and discover where sharper strategy and creativity could accelerate your business? Take the free OSER Growth Marketing Effectiveness Diagnostic today.
Then, join OSER’s upcoming Effectiveness Webinar with Diego Chicharro (ex-Publicis), where he’ll bring years of global brand experience to unpack the diagnostic findings and share actionable insights on how to boost your marketing performance and ROI.
Your growth journey starts with knowing where you stand - it's time to find out!
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