Tips for Overcoming Brand Growth Challenges

If I were running a brand heading into 2026, I wouldn’t be looking for “new hacks”. I’d be redesigning the system. Most brands don’t struggle because they lack effort, they struggle because their operations, marketing, and data aren’t working together. Here’s what I’d focus on. 1. Start where demand is created, not where it’s reported Your site, PDPs, and merchandising should do more than look good. Bundles, variants, and product hierarchy should make buying obvious and profitable. If customers have to think, you’ve already lost margin. 2. Let machines do the analysis, humans do the judgement Creative analysis, performance review, and pattern recognition should no longer be manual. AI should be surfacing what’s working, what’s fatiguing, and where demand is forming daily, not monthly. 3. Build a real creative engine, not one-off assets Scaling brands don’t “make ads”, they run a pipeline. Static, video, UGC, AI-generated, founder-led, all fuelled by data. Speed from concept to testing matters more than polish. 4. Treat affiliates and partnerships like a growth channel, not an afterthought Clean them up, remove value leaks, and focus on partners that actually extend reach, publishers, loyalty portals, credible creators. Half-managed programmes quietly destroy margin. 5. Stop thinking in channels, start thinking in exposure Pinterest, retail media, video feeds, podcasts, TV, social, the question isn’t where you advertise, it’s who is seeing your product and how often. Media should be unified, not siloed. 6. Prepare for how people discover brands now Customers don’t just search — they ask. Making sure your products are understood by AI systems and answer engines is no longer optional. Discovery is shifting upstream. 7. Use proof that money can’t fake Clinical validation, expert endorsement, credible testing, authentic customer voice. These don’t just lift conversion — they reshape demand and pricing power. 8. Design for how people actually shop Thumb-friendly UX. Clear CTAs. Fewer decisions. Faster paths to purchase. Optimisation isn’t clever, it’s considerate. 9. Build simple AI agents early Not because it’s trendy, but because learning how to automate small decisions compounds fast. Teams that experiment now won’t be catching up later. Above all: optimise the system, not the tactic...

How do you drive growth? Here are 9, evidence-based ways (most) brands grow 👇 from a book I've now read 3x because it's so compelling. Romaniuk and Sharp are marketing professors and Directors at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute. In How Brands Grow Part 2, they synthesize decades of research into fundamentals of buying behavior and brand performance that we can use to drive growth and improve marketing productivity. My favorite, often counterintuitive takeaways: 1. Focus on market penetration, not customer loyalty. The “double jeopardy law” states that brands with less share also have less loyalty. And the way to increase loyalty is actually to increase share. 2. Position within a larger category. This widens the potential market. For example, one meat-free protein company shifted from positioning as a vegetarian substitute (relevant to ~7% of the market) to a healthy eating brand (relevant to ~70%) and drove considerable growth. 3. Compete against the top brands. The “duplication of purchase law” states that brands share customers in line with other brands’ penetration. So, to grow, you'll likely take customers from the biggest brands, and they from you. Worry less about the smaller players. 4. Build links between your brand and the most common category entry points (CEPs). A CEP is a way that a customer mentally enters the buying process. If you’re hungry, a CEP may be that you want a snack, and Snickers may come to mind thanks to their “You’re not you when you’re hungry” campaign connecting them with that common CEP. 5. Use distinctive brand assets consistently. If your brand doesn’t stand out, attract attention, and look like ONLY you, your marketing could cue people to think about others. The best assets have high fame and uniqueness, like the GEICO gecko. 6. Reach as many category buyers as possible. “It doesn’t matter how many irrelevant people you reach, what matters is the cost of how many relevant buyers you reach.” The broader your reach, the less response rate, but often the greater absolute gain (a 1% impact on 10K people is bigger than a 5% impact on 1K). 7. Reach category buyers consistently but not excessively. Not everyone is in-market all the time, and most buy infrequently (especially in B2B), so market steadily. Plus, the first exposure within a period has the greatest sales effect, and spaced exposures cumulate in more lasting impact. 8. Maximize physical availability. This means distributing where buyers buy, being prominent in those channels, and having a product portfolio that satisfies the largest buying contexts. 9. Overcome the real barriers to acquisition: obscurity, forgetfulness and distraction. Most people don’t buy because they don’t know you, forget about you, or are distracted from doing so—not because they think poorly of you or consciously choose someone else. While there are some exceptions, the evidence suggests the exceptions prove the rules. #yourweeklymap #marketing #howbrandsgrow

Hitting $10M isn't the finish line, it's where the real race begins. Most brands stall here, thinking what got you to 8-figures will surely get you to 9. After scaling dozens of brands past this critical threshold, I've cracked the code on how to break through: #1. Diminishing Returns - Diversify revenue streams to combat rising customer acquisition costs. - Optimize unit economics before scaling further to preserve profitability. #2. Product Expansion - Successful brands add complementary products around their core offering. - Growth comes from diversification, not diluting your core business. #3. Margin Focus - Elite brands optimize unit economics rather than just increasing spend. - Focus on cash efficiency, high-margin products, and post-purchase monetization. #4. Creative Investment - Allocate 5-10% of the budget to new creative or risk growth. - Divide spend: 50% proven, 30% variations, 20% experimental creative. #5. Team Evolution - Replace generalists with specialists who excel in specific areas. - Delegate control and increase overhead to enable efficient scaling. #6. Customer Retention - Your top 10% of customers drive nearly half your profit. - Build tiered VIP systems with exclusive access and personalized experiences. #7. Financial Rigor - Surface-level metrics lead to million-dollar mistakes at scale. - Don't just track metrics—interrogate them and question assumptions. #8. Strategic Leadership - Micromanaging founders become the bottleneck, preventing further growth. - Implement OKRs and frameworks that empower teams to decide. #9. Strategic Alliances - Form partnerships that accelerate reach without proportionally increasing costs. - Explore co-branding, distribution deals, and strategic licensing arrangements. #10. Long-Term Vision - It's okay to stay at $10M if that's your comfort zone. - Sustainable growth systems compound over time, not through quick wins.

Every founder faces that moment when growth stalls. And almost every founder makes the same mistake: "We need more marketing." I shared this observation on the BGF Good Growth Podcast recently, and the response from founders has been overwhelming - because it hits a nerve. In my experience, more marketing rarely solves the real problem stopping growth. Here's what's actually happening when growth flatlines: 1. You're diagnosing the wrong problem When founders tell me "we're not growing fast enough," they usually mean: → We need more customers → We need more marketing budget  → We need more channels But the real issues are typically: → Who are you acquiring? → Are they staying? → Is your product what they actually need? 2. The growth engine has multiple failure points "Growth" isn't just one thing: • Some companies have acquisition problems • Some have retention problems • Some have targeting problems • Some have product - market fit As I explained on the podcast: Throwing more marketing at a retention problem is like adding gas to a car with a hole in the tank. 3. The foundational principles never expire The basics matter at every stage: → Right solution to the right problem → Clear understanding of who needs it most → Product experience that delivers on promises Even post product-market fit, these principles remain crucial as markets and customers evolve. 4. Your best growth hack is happy customers When you have: → The right audience → Using a sticky product → Solving a real problem Your referral flywheel naturally activates, and suddenly your acquisition gets easier and cheaper. Here's my advice: Before you increase your marketing budget, make sure you're clear on exactly who your product is for and that those customers are staying. Fix that, and your growth problem often solves itself. Check out my full conversation (full link in comments) on the Good Growth Podcast for more insights on building sustainable growth engines. What's been your biggest growth challenge? Share below 👇 ♻️ Found this helpful? Repost to share with your network. ⚡ Want more content like this? Hit follow Maya Moufarek.

Spot these pitfalls early, and you can be part of the 20% that grow: You’ve probably seen it. Teams are working hard, and Leaders are pushing. → Yet the results never come. → The frustration builds. → The energy drains. Why does this happen? Here’s what I’ve seen over 20 years of helping brands grow: 1) Lack of clear objectives: → Teams don’t know what success looks like. They work in the dark. Tip: Define measurable outcomes. Ask: “How will we know we succeeded in 90 days?” 2) Misaligned teams: → Marketing, product, and operations are pulling in different directions. Efforts cancel each other. Tip: Align everyone on one north star metric. Make roles and responsibilities clear. 3) Overemphasis on tactics vs. strategy: → Ads, funnels, campaigns, they’re great, but they don’t fix broken systems. Tip: Start with a strategy. Diagnose your customer journey, operations, and product fit first. 4) Ignoring data and feedback: → Decisions based on gut feeling rarely scale. Tip: Track retention, conversion, and feedback. Adjust weekly. 5) Poor resource allocation: → Spreading money and people too thin kills experiments. Tip: Focus on the highest-impact initiatives. One or two experiments at a time. 6) Leadership bottlenecks: → Slow decisions or a lack of empowerment stop momentum. Tip: Give clear decision rights. Let your team act confidently within boundaries. 7) Lack of continuous learning: → Mistakes repeat because lessons aren’t captured. Tip: Hold regular retrospectives. Document what works and what fails. Iterate fast. Remember: Growth is intentional and systematic. The 20% who succeed? They spot these pitfalls early. They act. They iterate. They win. You can be in that 20%. Please Like and Repost to help others. Follow (Asim Khaliq) for more career, marketing and business insights.

The #1 Growth Mistake We See Brands Make (And How to Avoid It) Most brands want to scale. But here’s the problem… They focus on the wrong thing at the wrong time. 👉 Some try to scale too early—before fixing the leaks in their funnel. 👉 Others focus on retention—without enough customers to retain. 👉 And many throw money at ads—without optimizing their website for conversions. We’ve worked with 150+ brands, and the ones that scale profitably do three things differently: #1: They Optimize BEFORE They Scale Instead of throwing more money at paid ads, they: - Fix conversion bottlenecks (site speed, checkout flow, offer clarity) - Improve product pages to boost AOV - Ensure email & SMS flows are in place before acquisition ramps up 💡 Scaling an inefficient system = scaling revenue leaks. #2: They Balance Acquisition, Conversion, & Retention Most brands pick one (and struggle). Winning brands focus on all three: - Paid Acquisition brings in new customers. - CRO ensures visitors actually convert. - Retention turns one-time buyers into repeat purchasers. 💡 When these work together, you don’t just grow—you scale profitably. #3: They Prioritize LTV Over ROAS Chasing a 3x ROAS on first purchase is a losing game. Smart brands focus on increasing lifetime value (LTV) by: - Structuring offers & upsells that drive bigger initial purchases - Using email & SMS to nurture long-term customer relationships - Creating loyalty programs that turn customers into repeat buyers 💡 More revenue per customer = more money to reinvest in growth. One of our clients was stuck trying to scale through ads alone. We applied our full-stack growth framework by: ✔️ Fixing their conversion issues before increasing ad spend ✔️ Optimizing email flows & post-purchase strategy ✔️ Aligning acquisition & retention to maximize customer value 💡 The result? They doubled revenue in just 90 days—without spending more on ads. The takeaway? Scaling is about strategy, not just spend. If you’re stuck in the same revenue range, you might be focusing on the wrong lever. Want to unlock smarter growth? Comment below or DM me—I’ll send you my Calendly link.