Breaking Down Growth: The Importance of Sub-Strategies

When people talk about business growth, the focus is often on the big picture, e.g. expanding into new markets, increasing revenue, or becoming an industry leader. While these are great goals, growth doesn’t just happen because you’ve set your sights on it. It happens when every part of your business is working together and moving in the same direction. That’s where sub-strategies come into play.

Think of your business like a sports team. The team has an overall game plan. That’s your business strategy. However, winning the game isn’t just about having a strategy written on paper. It’s about how each player understands their role, executes specific plays, and works with the team to achieve the goal. In business, these “players” are different functional areas such as marketing, operations, and finance, each with its own approach to support the broader vision.

And… it’s not just limited to these three areas. Sub-strategies are needed in many parts of your business, from human resources and customer service to technology and product development. Every function has a role to play, and having clear, focused strategies for each area helps keep your business aligned and on track.

To make this more concrete, I’ll dive deeper into marketing, operations, and finance as examples. These areas show how sub-strategies work in real business situations and how they contribute to overall growth.

Let’s break it down.

1. Marketing: Getting Noticed and Winning Customers

You can have the best product or service in the world, but if no one knows about it, growth will be slow. That’s where your marketing strategy comes in. This strategy is about having a clear plan to attract the right people, connect with them in meaningful ways, and ultimately turn them into loyal customers.

A strong marketing strategy helps you answer key questions such as:✔️ Who are our ideal customers?✔️ Where do they spend their time?✔️ How do we convince them to choose us over others?

Let’s bring this to life with an example. Imagine you run a care home. Your overall goal isn’t just to fill rooms. It is to create a trusted environment where families feel confident placing their loved ones in your care.

• Who are your ideal customers? In this case, it’s not just the residents themselves but also their family members, who are often the key decision-makers. They’re looking for a place that offers not just safety and medical support, but genuine care, warmth, and a sense of community.

• Where do they spend their time? Your audience may not be scrolling through TikTok, but they could be active on Facebook, searching for information on Google, or attending local community events. Understanding this helps you focus your marketing efforts in the right places. For example, partnerships with local healthcare providers can help you reach the right people.

• How do you convince them to choose you? This is where the focus is on telling a compelling story that builds trust, highlighting testimonials from happy families, sharing videos that showcase the warmth of daily life in your care home, or offering virtual tours can make a big difference. You could even host open days where families can meet staff, experience the environment, and see first-hand what sets your care home apart.

Marketing isn’t just about throwing money at ads and hoping for the best. It’s about understanding what resonates with your audience, testing different approaches, and continuously improving based on what works. For a care home, this might mean focusing more on community connections and word-of-mouth referrals than on digital ads alone. When your marketing strategy is aligned with your overall business goals, it helps you attract the right customers, who will value what you offer and help your business grow.

2. Operations: Making Everything Run Smoothly

Operations are the behind-the-scenes engine that keeps a business running effectively. No matter how strong your marketing efforts are or how high the demand for your services, without efficient operations, sustaining growth becomes a challenge. A well-designed operations strategy ensures that the day-to-day functions of the business are streamlined, cost-effective, and aligned with the overall goals of the organisation.

A robust operations sub-strategy focuses on:

✔️ Streamlining processes to save time and reduce waste

✔️ Ensuring quality control to deliver consistent, high-quality experiences

✔️ Managing resources effectively, whether that involves people, materials, or technology

Using the same care home example, your operations strategy might involve implementing scheduling software to efficiently assign carers based on resident needs and staff availability. This reduces the chances of overstaffing or understaffing, ensuring optimal care at all times. Also, setting clear response time targets for family inquiries can improve communication and build trust with residents’ families. Regular staff training programs are also important, focusing on both clinical skills and soft skills, to maintain high standards of care and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.

Operational strategies might also include maintaining detailed care plans, optimising supply chain management for medical equipment, and adopting technology solutions for monitoring patient health metrics. By continuously reviewing and refining operational processes, the care home can enhance efficiency, improve resident satisfaction, and support sustainable growth.

If your operations aren’t functioning smoothly, it doesn’t matter how many customers you attract, you won’t be able to meet their expectations or scale effectively.

3. Finance: Managing Money the Right Way

Financial management is the backbone of any growing business. While increasing customer numbers and sales revenue is desirable, without disciplined financial oversight, growth can quickly become unsustainable. A well-structured finance strategy ensures that resources are allocated wisely, risks are managed, and the business remains financially healthy.

A comprehensive finance strategy helps you:

✔️ Track profits and expenses accurately to understand your financial position

✔️ Make informed investment decisions that support strategic growth

✔️ Maintain sufficient cash flow to ensure smooth day-to-day operations

Consider the care home example. A strong finance strategy in this context might involve creating detailed budgets that account for both fixed costs (such as rent, utilities, and salaries) and variable costs (such as medical supplies and food). Implementing robust accounting systems can help track income and expenditures in real-time, making it easier to identify cost-saving opportunities.

Additionally, financial strategies could include negotiating better terms with suppliers to reduce costs without compromising quality, exploring diverse revenue streams (such as offering premium care packages), and regularly reviewing financial performance against key metrics. Effective cash flow management is particularly critical in a care home setting, where payroll and operational expenses must be met consistently, even if payment cycles from residents or insurance providers vary.

Managing money well isn’t just about cutting costs; it’s about ensuring that every financial decision aligns with the long-term goals of the business.

Why Sub-Strategies Matter

Without functional sub-strategies, businesses often struggle with misalignment - one department is focused on one thing while another is pulling in a different direction. Marketing might bring in customers, but if operations can’t keep up, service suffers. Or, if finance isn’t keeping an eye on spending, you could run into cash flow issues even if sales are booming.

When all these areas work together under a clear, overarching business strategy, growth becomes more predictable and sustainable.

So, if you’re thinking about growth, don’t just focus on the big picture. Look at the smaller strategies within your business and ensure that they are aligned, efficient, and working toward the same goal. That’s how real, lasting growth happens.

The above article is part of the Make Growth Happen Series which is tailored to empower business owners like you to develop the right strategy, structure and skills needed to take your business to the next level. .

Janice is a Certified Business Coach whose extensive knowledge and experience in various aspects of business have set her on a mission to help business leaders turn their Vision into Reality. She works with them to develop the right strategies, structure, and skills needed to take their business to the next level. She is the Author of The Ten Commandments of Crisis Management. Janice also works with Christian business owners who desire to run their businesses based on Biblical Principles.