Turn a broad growth ambition into one focused market, buyer, problem, and offer you can test.
Step 01
Pick a narrow market with a costly problem
Start with a group of companies that share a recognizable operating problem, not a market label that could describe almost anyone. A useful wedge is narrow enough that you can name the buyer, the trigger, and the cost of waiting.
Score possible markets on urgency, access, proof, and your ability to deliver. The best first market is rarely the largest; it is the one where a credible offer can earn a clear yes or no quickly.
Example
Instead of targeting all professional services firms, a synthetic automation studio starts with recruitment agencies losing consultant time to manual candidate follow-up.
Step 02
Define the buyer and the trigger moment
Name the person who owns the problem, feels its cost, and can sponsor a change. Job title alone is not enough; record what they are responsible for and what makes the issue become urgent now.
A trigger should be observable and relevant, such as rapid hiring, a new market launch, a capacity bottleneck, or a public change in direction. Avoid personal, sensitive, stale, or weakly connected signals.
Buyer and trigger prompt
- The buyer owns...
- The problem becomes urgent when...
- The cost of doing nothing is visible as...
Step 03
Shape one offer around an observable outcome
Describe the result the buyer can inspect, the boundary of the work, and the first low-risk commitment. Keep the offer about one operating outcome rather than a list of capabilities.
A strong first offer makes the next step easy to understand. Replace broad promises such as more growth with a defined change, a credible time horizon, and the evidence needed to decide whether to continue.
Offer statement
- For [specific buyer]
- we improve [observable operating outcome]
- through [bounded method], starting with [low-risk next step].
Step 04
Pressure-test the wedge against evidence
Look for repeated language in customer conversations, competitor positioning, job posts, public priorities, and the buyer's current workarounds. Evidence should sharpen or challenge the wedge, not decorate a decision already made.
Write down what would disprove the thesis. If the problem is not urgent, the buyer cannot own the decision, or competitors already solve it with trusted proof, revise the wedge before building a campaign around it.
Step 05
Write the first campaign brief
Convert the decision into a short operating brief: market, buyer, trigger, problem, offer, evidence, CTA, and exclusions. This becomes the contract for lead selection and campaign angles.
Keep assumptions visible. The first campaign is a structured test of the wedge, not proof that the strategy is permanently correct.
Campaign brief fields
- Market and geography
- Buyer and trigger
- Problem and cost
- Offer and CTA
- Evidence and exclusions
Included tools
Put the playbook to work
- Market-wedge worksheet
- Buyer and trigger template
- Offer statement
- Evidence checklist
Common mistakes
- Choosing a market because it is large rather than because the problem is urgent and reachable.
- Using a job title as the entire buyer definition.
- Writing an offer as a list of services instead of an observable result.
One-page checklist
Keep the decisions visible
- Name one narrow company segment and geography.
- Identify the buyer who owns the problem and decision.
- Record one observable trigger that makes the problem urgent.
- Write the cost of waiting in operational terms.
- Define one bounded offer and one clear next step.
- Capture evidence that supports and challenges the wedge.
- Turn the decision into a one-page campaign brief.
How Ether Bot helps
Ether Bot turns company context into a reviewable growth strategy, tracks competitor evidence, and carries the approved wedge into lead and campaign planning.
Let Ether Bot run this playbook