Best-Practice Augmentation Method
Use proven foundations, then diverge toward a higher-value customer outcome.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 94%
This method treats best practices as a starting baseline rather than a finishing line. The team first distinguishes foundational channel mechanics—such as requirements imposed by search engines or advertising platforms—from conventional playbooks and average benchmarks. It adopts enough proven practice to operate safely and predictably, then identifies the few mechanisms that truly drive the result. Instead of making insignificant improvements toward an industry average, the team goes deeper on one leverage point or replaces the standard mechanism entirely. For example, conventional email segmentation might be augmented by scalable content personalization. Each divergence is evaluated by its suitability to the company's problem, strengths, and customer value. The aim is to create or extend a best practice rather than remain a permanent follower of one.
Origin
Extracted from Marketing Against The Grain during Kipp Bodnar and Kieran Flanagan's debate over whether marketers should follow, augment, or invent best practices.
Core principles
- 01Benchmarks describe averages rather than ambition.
- 02Foundational principles differ from copied playbooks.
- 03Best practices can provide a predictable starting point.
- 04Competitive advantage comes from meaningful divergence.
- 05Customer value should govern any departure from convention.
How to run it
- 1
Separate Principles from Playbooks
List the channel requirements that are genuinely foundational, then separate them from conventional steps, templates, and benchmark ranges.
Pro tip Ask whether a practice is necessary for the mechanism to work or merely common among practitioners.
Watch out Ignoring foundational mechanics can destroy the test before differentiation has a chance to work.
- 2
Establish the Baseline
Use proven practices where the team needs an initial predictable result or lacks enough evidence to diverge safely.
Pro tip Treat the baseline as a control group, not the final strategy.
Watch out Predictability can quietly become an excuse for permanent mediocrity.
- 3
Find the Leverage Point
Identify the small number of practices that have the greatest effect on customer value or channel performance.
Pro tip Look for mechanisms where going much deeper could produce disproportionate returns.
Watch out Incremental polishing across every practice dilutes effort.
- 4
Design the Divergence
Augment, replace, or radically deepen the leverage point in a way that suits the company's strengths and customers.
Pro tip Frame the idea as the best version for this company rather than a rebellion for its own sake.
Watch out Being different without improving customer value only adds volatility.
- 5
Compare Magnitude and Predictability
Measure the divergent approach against the baseline, considering both downside risk and the scale of the potential outcome.
Pro tip Use leading indicators early, but retain outcome metrics as the decision standard.
Watch out Industry benchmarks can cap ambition if they become the primary definition of success.
- 6
Codify the New Practice
When the approach repeatedly works, document its mechanism and conditions so the team can reproduce and improve it.
Pro tip Record when the practice should not be used as carefully as when it should.
Watch out A new practice can become another stale playbook if its assumptions are forgotten.
In the wild
An email team keeps the foundational goal of relevance but challenges manual list segmentation as the only mechanism. It establishes a conventional segmented campaign as the baseline, then tests programmable content that personalizes messages at scale using customer context.
→ The team preserves relevance while discovering a potentially more scalable operating model.
A content team follows the technical requirements needed for Google, then identifies the part of search execution that most strongly affects useful customer outcomes. It concentrates experimentation there instead of stopping at standard SEO compliance.
→ Foundational execution becomes a platform for differentiated performance rather than an average endpoint.
Common mistakes
Stopping at the Baseline
The team adopts standard practices and assumes competent conformity will produce exceptional results.
Chasing the Benchmark
An average industry result becomes the target, limiting the team's ambition and range of experimentation.
Diverging Without Customer Value
The marketer pursues novelty without explaining why the new approach is more valuable for customers.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for teams that understand a channel's fundamentals but need differentiated, compounding performance.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for inexperienced teams that plan to ignore essential technical or legal requirements without evidence.
From the transcript
“Benchmarks are average, right? If you were like, "Hey, I'm trying to get to a benchmark," you are saying, "I am trying to be average."”
“What we did was we actually found the things that truly mattered and then iterated refining them”
“if you adopt best practices and that's where you stop, then you're bound to get very average results.”
From the episode
5 Marketing Mistakes That Are Killing Your Business