LAW
38
Repeat what works
Once you’ve found things that are successful, find ways to double down on them and do more of it. Most companies succeed by doing a few things right, and then doing them all the time.
Tips
- Most founders and startup employees have a craving for novelty. Once we figure something out, we want to go and do something else. Remember though, that you have only truly figured something out once there is a set of processes in place that others can follow to be successful. Be a builder of such processes and systems (= be a growth marketer!).
- True mastery comes from doing things many times over. There is often a lot to be learned from doing things not only for a little while, but for a long time!
- Double down on what works. It is typically much easier to scale up one acquisition channel from 1 to 10, than to take a second channel from 0 to 1. Most of the payoff is in scaling things up, not in taking things from zero to one.
- Repurpose creative assets from top performing campaigns like high-converting ads or landing pages. Don't reinvent the wheel.
- Foster a culture focused on continuous optimization vs chasing the next shiny object. Avoid disruption without cause.
- Build playbooks and document processes so successful initiatives can be reliably repeated and scaled by others. Automate where possible, so effective tactics can be run again at larger volumes without added overhead.
- Promote team members who prove themselves skilled at executing successful strategies so they can train others. Leverage talent, and move out of their way. Repeating actions at scale is how you win the race.
In Practice
Gary Vaynerchuck spoke extensively about how he scaled his family business, Wine Library TV, to a $60 million empire. A crucial part to the success was that he consistently produced an enormous library of videos before things truly started to take off. The lesson here is complicated: sometimes perseverance pays off (like in Gary’s case), but it can also be a dead end. On the other hand: once you see early signs of traction, to “repeat what works” is almost always good advice. Let your winners ride.
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