#30: The Mid-Year Strategy Review

Did you know there are only 169 days until Christmas? We’ve entered the back half of the year and there’s no signs of things slowing down anytime soon.

These types of milestones can trigger a variety of emotions. Maybe you’re proud of the progress you’ve made this year, or perhaps you’re panicked about reaching the OKRs you set in Q1.

Either way, one thing is for sure: if you’re heading into the second half of 2023 without a revamped strategy, you’re already behind.

I wrote about this on LinkedIn last week, and CJ Haughey, a SaaS copywriter, shared the following analogy on my post.

How you start does not dictate how you finish. What a refreshing reminder.

The best go-to-market strategies are agile. They evolve and iterate in response to customer and product signals.

Don't force a strategy just because you wrote it down on paper in January.

Before July gets away from us, take a pause to reflect, re-evaluate, and re-adjust. Today’s edition will show you how to do just that.

Three Questions for Reflection

1️⃣ What should you stop doing?

Review the initiatives and activities from H1 and identify any that have missed the mark. Is something not performing as well as you expected? Do you have new information that disproves a hypothesis? Is a project taking more resources (time or people) than expected?

It’s important to put aside anything that isn’t driving the business forward. Just because you put it on hold doesn’t mean you can’t resume it again in the future. Resources are finite, and by letting go of ineffective strategies you can make room for more impactful initiatives.

2️⃣ What should you continue doing?

Next, identify the initiatives and activities that have shown promising results and are contributing to your overall success. These could include high-performing marketing campaigns, successful customer acquisition channels, or new market segments.

Is there an opportunity for you to amplify the success you are already experiencing? If you allocate more resources to these initiatives, can you drive increased momentum for the business?

3️⃣ What should you start doing?

Finally, consider new strategies, channels, or approaches that could potentially enhance your go-to-market efforts. I alway ask myself, “what information is available now that I didn’t have in January?”

How has your market changed? Have competitors shipped new solutions? What new insights have emerged from customer research? What trends are you noticing in product adoption? Compare all of these new opportunities against the current initiatives to determine which ones have a higher potential ROI. Invest in those.

Adjusting your product marketing roadmap mid-year isn’t a sign of failure, but of maturity. Take all of the knowledge you gained in H1, and use it to your advantage.

Reflect, re-evaluate, re-adjust.