Marketing investment priority canvas

The decision it supports

Use the marketing investment priority canvas to make this choice explicit and reviewable: Where should early marketing investment go based on product maturity, customer, and growth motion? The working view makes customer, product-market fit, and acquisition motion visible so discussion can move from general opinion to a specific action or decision.

When to use it

Use the marketing investment priority canvas when several reasonable paths exist in marketing and communications, the trade-offs cannot all be removed, and the decision needs to be explained later. Agree how customer, product-market fit, and acquisition motion will be judged before advocating an option.

What it compares

The marketing investment priority canvas is a transparent comparison of credible paths, their evidence, trade-offs, authority, and review conditions. Its core working elements are customer, product-market fit, acquisition motion, and bottleneck. Those elements belong together because each changes how the others should be interpreted or acted on.

Decision criteria

Customer

Identify the relevant people or groups, their needs, and any important differences in influence, access, or impact. Within the marketing investment priority canvas, connect this entry to product-market fit so the relationship can be reviewed rather than inferred.

Product-market fit

Capture product-market fit only at the level needed to answer: Where should early marketing investment go based on product maturity, customer, and growth motion? Use observable evidence, name any unresolved judgment, and state what action or choice this entry can change. Within the marketing investment priority canvas, connect this entry to acquisition motion so the relationship can be reviewed rather than inferred.

Acquisition motion

Capture acquisition motion only at the level needed to answer: Where should early marketing investment go based on product maturity, customer, and growth motion? Use observable evidence, name any unresolved judgment, and state what action or choice this entry can change. Within the marketing investment priority canvas, connect this entry to bottleneck so the relationship can be reviewed rather than inferred.

Bottleneck

Capture bottleneck only at the level needed to answer: Where should early marketing investment go based on product maturity, customer, and growth motion? Use observable evidence, name any unresolved judgment, and state what action or choice this entry can change. Within the marketing investment priority canvas, connect this entry to function options so the relationship can be reviewed rather than inferred.

Function options

Describe credible alternatives on the same basis so that benefits, costs, risks, dependencies, and reversibility can be compared fairly. Within the marketing investment priority canvas, connect this entry to evidence so the relationship can be reviewed rather than inferred.

Evidence

Name the evidence, its date and owner, and any limitation that affects how confidently it can be used. Within the marketing investment priority canvas, connect this entry to budget so the relationship can be reviewed rather than inferred.

Budget

State the required amount and timing, the source or constraint, the opportunity cost, and the decision rule for changing the allocation. Within the marketing investment priority canvas, connect this entry to metric so the relationship can be reviewed rather than inferred.

Metric

Define the measure, population, period, source, owner, calculation, baseline, target or reference range, and counterweight. Within the marketing investment priority canvas, connect this entry to budget so the relationship can be reviewed rather than inferred.