The Year of the Grind
Improve proven demand channels and shorten the payoff horizon of new bets
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 97%
The Year of the Grind is a resource-allocation rule for difficult operating environments. Instead of abandoning innovation, a team shifts more attention toward extracting incremental value from channels and programs that already generate meaningful demand. It audits each proven channel, finds conversion or efficiency improvements, and prioritizes changes whose benefits begin as soon as they go live. New initiatives remain permissible, but their expected payoff should fall within roughly three to twelve months rather than depending entirely on a distant three-year outcome. The mechanism is compounding: multiple modest gains across acquisition, conversion, retention, and pricing create material aggregate improvement while reducing execution risk. The output is a more resilient near-term growth plan that preserves selected long-term options without neglecting today's fundamentals.
Origin
Extracted from Marketing Against the Grain, where Kieran Flanagan described 2023 as the “Year of the grind” and advocated improving every channel already driving meaningful demand.
Core principles
- 01Small performance gains matter more in difficult markets
- 02Existing programs produce returns faster than distant experiments
- 03New initiatives should have a shorter path to impact
- 04Long-term bets should not leave current demand channels under-optimized
How to run it
- 1
Map proven demand
List the channels, products, and programs currently generating meaningful demand or revenue. Establish baseline volume, cost, and conversion metrics.
Pro tip Separate genuine demand drivers from activities that merely produce attention.
Watch out Do not optimize a channel that has never demonstrated business value.
- 2
Find incremental gains
Inspect each proven area for specific improvements in creative, targeting, conversion, pricing, retention, or operational execution.
Pro tip Look for changes whose benefits start immediately after deployment.
Watch out Avoid broad redesigns when a focused change can test the same hypothesis.
- 3
Rank by payoff horizon
Estimate the effort, risk, and time to measurable impact for each opportunity. Prioritize high-confidence gains with short feedback loops.
Pro tip Use a simple impact-versus-time matrix to make trade-offs visible.
Watch out Do not confuse easy activity with meaningful impact.
- 4
Constrain new bets
Continue selected new programs, but require a credible path to results within three, six, or at most twelve months under difficult conditions.
Pro tip Define leading indicators before approving the bet.
Watch out Do not eliminate all experimentation or the pipeline will eventually stall.
- 5
Compound and reallocate
Measure each improvement, retain what works, and move resources toward the strongest gains. Repeat across the operating system.
Pro tip Track the cumulative effect of several small improvements, not only each change in isolation.
Watch out Stop initiatives whose promised quick payoff repeatedly fails to appear.
In the wild
A B2B company postpones a speculative multi-year media venture and instead improves paid-search creative, landing-page conversion, trial onboarding, and sales follow-up. Each change produces only a modest gain, but all four improvements affect demand already flowing through the system.
→ Compounded gains increase revenue within the quarter without requiring a new acquisition engine.
A team still tests a new video program, but defines a six-month horizon, monthly leading indicators, and a fixed budget. It continues optimizing email and paid acquisition while the test develops.
→ The business preserves innovation without sacrificing the programs paying off today.
Common mistakes
Eliminating every new initiative
The framework shortens and disciplines new bets; it does not require abandoning innovation altogether.
Optimizing meaningless metrics
Incremental effort should improve channels that drive demand, not vanity metrics detached from business outcomes.
Letting quick wins become permanent strategy
Near-term resilience should preserve room for longer-term renewal once conditions and resources improve.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for teams facing a difficult year that already have functioning demand channels with room for measurable improvement.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for businesses with no validated channel, obsolete products, or a need for fundamental reinvention.
From the transcript
“I think 2023 is a year that actually sweat and the iteration does matter.”
“Year of like doubling down.”
“the time horizon on when those things are gonna work is gonna need to be shorter. It's gonna be three, six, 12 month at probably…”
From the episode
7 Marketing Trends & Opportunities for 2023