Recently, I was having a conversation with a friend about strategic choices and risks in our industry. The best way to map the two is to think of them in terms of the Ansoff Matrix. Ansoff argued that business growth can only come from two sources: new products and services or/and new clients and markets.

Market Penetration – One can grow existing clients or win new clients in your current market by offering a better value propositions. These could include new pricing models, efficiencies through consolidation or lower costs through off-shoring or automation. This is considered a low risk strategy.

Product Development – One can create new products and services that complement the existing suite. These could include ecommerce analytics, identity resolution, digital/linear cross-channel programmatic or new products around content creation and management. This is considered a medium risk strategy.

Market Development – This one is straight forward. Grow business my entering new markets with existing and/or new products and services. This is considered a medium risk strategy.

Diversification – One can develop brand new products and services that are outside the current areas of expertise. This could include tech consulting, software development, ecommerce management, or in-housing solutions (within expertise but can cannibalize existing services). This is considered a high risk strategy.