Three Ms Growth Strategy
Expand markets, upgrade marketing, and measure the levers that drive performance
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 99%
The Three Ms organise post-acquisition growth into markets, marketing, and measurements. Markets asks which customer groups, services, or locations the company does not yet serve—for example, a toddler daycare adding newborn care, preschool, or another site. Marketing asks which channels remain unused, such as Facebook ads, TikTok, YouTube, or cold outreach. Measurements asks which important activities or outcomes are not tracked, on the premise that focused measurement often improves performance. The operator inventories possibilities in all three buckets, establishes current baselines, and runs controlled experiments rather than changing everything at once. This creates new revenue lines around a proven operating core while preserving the ability to tell which intervention produced the result.
Origin
Codie Sanchez says her team applies the Three Ms across all the businesses it runs and illustrates the model with a daycare.
Core principles
- 01Growth can come from whom or where you serve
- 02Unused channels create testable demand opportunities
- 03Measurement changes attention and performance
- 04Add revenue lines around a proven core
How to run it
- 1
Map new markets
List adjacent customer groups, services, and geographic areas that fit the company's existing capabilities.
Pro tip Start with adjacency to reduce operational complexity.
Watch out A new market can require different staffing, regulation, or economics.
- 2
Audit marketing gaps
Identify proven channels the business does not use and select one bounded acquisition experiment.
Pro tip Match the channel to where target customers already pay attention.
Watch out Do not launch every channel simultaneously.
- 3
Install measurements
Choose the internal variables that matter, record a baseline, and define the result that would justify continuation.
Pro tip Measure both leading activity and economic outcome.
Watch out Vanity metrics can improve without profit improving.
- 4
Run and sequence tests
Execute one prioritised change, review its effect, and keep, revise, or stop it before adding another.
Pro tip Use the smallest test capable of producing a decision.
Watch out Concurrent changes destroy attribution.
In the wild
A toddler daycare maps three market opportunities: newborn care, a preschool program, and a second location 25 miles away. It then chooses one adjacent service, tests a suitable marketing channel, and measures enrolment and margin before pursuing another option.
→ The company creates a controlled new revenue line rather than expanding in every direction.
Common mistakes
Changing all three Ms at once
Simultaneous market, channel, and measurement changes make attribution difficult.
Measuring attention instead of economics
A channel can look active while failing to produce profitable customers.
Is it for you?
Best for
Operators modernising an established company with a sound core offer but underdeveloped growth systems.
Not ideal for
Businesses whose core economics or service quality must be repaired before expansion.
From the transcript
“And so we have something called the three M's, which basically talks about it talks about markets, marketing and um measurements.”
“What are all the different markets we're not serving that we could get revenue lines on?”
“And then measurements is what inside the business are we not actually measuring right now where if we measured something, then we actually usually outperform…”
From the episode
Codie Sanchez: 7 Boring Businesses You Can Buy Right Now To Replace Your Income
Codie Sanchez