What got you here won’t get you there

Many businesses reach a point where the strategies that once fuelled their growth begin to lose momentum. Early success is often built on instinct, speed, and a willingness to experiment. But as businesses scale, those same approaches can become barriers to the next stage of growth.

This idea is captured well in Marshall Goldsmith’s well-known phrase: “What got you here won’t get you there.” For growing businesses, this is particularly true when it comes to marketing strategy.

In the early stages of a company’s development, marketing is often driven by opportunity. Business owners rely on personal networks, word-of-mouth referrals, opportunistic partnerships, and reactive campaigns. These approaches are valuable and often essential for building early traction. They create visibility, generate initial revenue, and establish credibility.

However, as a business grows, marketing needs to evolve from activity to strategy.

When early marketing success stops scaling

What worked when a business had a handful of clients may not support the ambitions of scaling. A business that wants to expand into new markets, reach larger customers, or position itself as a sector leader needs a more deliberate and structured approach to marketing.

One of the most common challenges we see is businesses continuing to rely on tactical marketing rather than strategic marketing. This often looks like sporadic social media activity, occasional campaigns, or ad-hoc marketing initiatives that lack clear alignment with business goals. While these efforts may produce short-term results, they rarely create sustained growth.

Strategic marketing, by contrast, begins with clarity. It starts by asking fundamental questions:

• Who are we trying to reach?
• What problems are we uniquely positioned to solve?
• How do we want to be perceived in the market?
• What marketing activities will most effectively support our business objectives?

Answering these questions allows businesses to move beyond reactive marketing and instead build consistent, targeted, and scalable marketing systems.

Building a marketing strategy for the next stage of growth

Another important shift occurs in how businesses communicate their value. Early marketing often focuses on what a company does, its services, features, or capabilities. As businesses grow, however, effective marketing becomes more focused on customer outcomes and strategic positioning. Clients are less interested in what a business offers and more interested in the impact it can deliver.

This is where a well-defined brand narrative, clear messaging, and a cohesive marketing strategy become essential.

Scaling businesses also need marketing structures that support growth over time. This includes developing consistent content strategies, refining customer journeys, strengthening digital presence, and aligning marketing with sales and business development efforts. When these elements work together, marketing becomes a growth engine rather than a collection of disconnected activities.

For many business owners, this transition requires a shift in mindset. It means recognising that the scrappy, opportunistic approaches that helped the business get started are no longer enough to support its ambitions.

Growth demands evolution.

At Number 34 Consultancy, we provide fractional marketing director support at exactly this point in a business’s journey; when they have proven their value but need a more strategic approach to reach the next level. By helping business owners clarify their positioning, align marketing with growth objectives, and develop scalable strategies, we enable them to move from early success to sustained expansion.

Because the real challenge for growing businesses isn’t simply achieving success, it’s building the strategy that will take them further.