Strategy Vectors Canvas

Think differently about strategy using the 3 exploration vectors and translate strategy into ...

Steps
10
Last edited
Sep 2, 2025
Created by
Nova

About this process

This is a Strategy Vectors Canvas — a template that helps you do two things in one flow: Think differently about strategy using the 3 exploration vectors: Analogies 🔁 (borrow brilliance from other industries or contexts) Tradeoffs ⚖️ (refuse the false either/or choices that trap others) Anomalies 👀 (spot signals in what looks weird, small, or ignored) Translate strategy into execution by mapping the critical supports you’ll need — habits, processes, leadership, or resources. It helps you avoid the trap of “beautiful but empty strategies” and instead generate distinctive, creative possibilities that you can actually deliver.

The process in detail

10 steps
  1. 1

    Product: How is your product satisfying your customers' needs?

  2. 2

    Promotion: How do you increase your sales or your brand awareness?

  3. 3

    Price: What's the amount of money your customer or user is willing to pay for your solution?

  4. 4

    Place: Where do you sell your product or service?

  5. 5

    People: Who is your target market? How can your team help you develop a good solution and keep up with the competition?

  6. 6

    Process: How do you execute your idea or solution?

  7. 7

    Physical evidence: What elements will help you position your brand and target the right kind of customers or users?

  8. 8

    The 3 vectors

  9. 9

    5X columns

  10. 10

    Strategy Overview (Optional)

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1. Product: How is your product satisfying your customers' needs?

Discuss and add your strategy to the board. Explore your product and how it satisfies your customers' needs. Engage your team in discussions about user expectations, the purpose of your product, differentiation, design, branding, and more.👉💯 At the core of your marketing strategy is your product or service. This "P" focuses on what you offer, its features, benefits, quality, design, and how it fulfills your customers' needs.

These questions will guide the discussion:

•What does a user expect from your product or solution?
•Why would they use your product?
•What is the purpose of your product or solution?
•What needs are you satisfying?
•How is your product different?
•In what fields and for what purposes will buyers use our product?
•What does it look like? Is the design user friendly and attractive? Is your website and marketing up-to-date? Are you following current design trends?
•Do all parameters (size, colors) perfectly match?
•What's your branding strategy?
•Are you missing features?
•Do you have any features that customers do not need but which can increase the price of the product?
Work on the whiteboardStrategy
2. Promotion: How do you increase your sales or your brand awareness?

"Promotion" revolves around how you communicate with your target audience. It includes advertising, public relations, sales promotions, social media, and any other tactics to spread the word about your product or service. 🙃Channels: Advertising, Internet marketing, TV or Radio advertising, etc. Discuss and add your strategy to the board.

These questions will guide the discussion:

•How will potential customers and users receive your message?
•When is your customer looking or listening to that type of media? What is the best time for your promotion?
•What social networks are you using and what's the strategy and purpose behind each of them?
•How is your competition promoting their solution?
•Develop a promotion strategy combining a few promotion techniques and channels, keeping in mind your budget and target market.
Work on the whiteboardStrategy
3. Price: What's the amount of money your customer or user is willing to pay for your solution?

🤑🤑🤑 Discuss and add your strategy to the board. The "Price" element pertains to the cost of your product or service. It involves pricing strategies, discounts, and considerations related to affordability and value for money.

These questions will guide the discussion:

•How much did I spend to develop the product? How much is my user/customer willing to pay?
•Would I need to change the price of a particular region?
•Will a price reduction help attract more clients?
•Is the current price competitive?
•What's the price structure?
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4. Place: Where do you sell your product or service?

Discuss and add your strategy to the board. These questions will guide the discussion: Where are you going to offer the product? Do you have an online store? What type of store or product display better represents your product or solution? What distribution channels do you currently have? Is your distribution channel the same one as your competitors? Do you attend trade fairs, visit an online site, or use any type of salesforce?

Work on the whiteboardStrategy
5. People: Who is your target market? How can your team help you develop a good solution and keep up with the competition?

Discuss and add your strategy to the board. 🤷‍♂‍👨‍🎨👩‍🎤🤵‍♂‍👩‍🌾 Your team members and customer service personnel are a crucial part of the customer experience. The "People" aspect emphasizes the importance of well-trained, customer-focused staff who can enhance your brand's reputation.

These questions will guide the discussion:

Target Audience:

•Who are they? What is the size of your audience?

Key partners and influencers.

•How are we going to stay relevant and up-to-date? Who can help us?
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6. Process: How do you execute your idea or solution?

Discuss and add your strategy to the board. These questions will guide the discussion: How can you minimize costs and increase profits? How is your team managing the ideation process? What measures do you have in place to improve efficiency? How do you manage your project and keep your team motivated? Explore payment, distribution, ideation, sales, and other processes, and develop your strategy.

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7. Physical evidence: What elements will help you position your brand and target the right kind of customers or users?

Physical evidence is all of the things that will help you become a well-known company, or help users to identify you. Think about things like comfort, usability, design, interface, etc. 🗣👥⏰⚡Sometimes referred to as "Presentation," this "P" is all about tangible aspects that contribute to your brand's image. It includes factors like packaging, branding, store layout, and overall physical presentation.

What elements will help you position your brand and target the right kind of customers or users?

Work on the whiteboardStrategy
8. The 3 vectors

It’s called vectors because they’re not answers — they’re directions of exploration.

Think of strategy like standing at a crossroads. You don’t know exactly where the destination is, but you know where to start looking. Each vector gives you a direction to search in:

•Analogies 🔁 → Look outward to other industries and contexts. Think about it: almost every big innovation came from borrowing an idea from somewhere else. 👉 Here’s why analogies work: They show you your problem isn’t unique. Someone else—somewhere, in another industry, with another language—has solved a version of it already. Here is an example: James Dyson studied sawmills to fix vacuum cleaners.
•Tradeoffs ⚖️ → Look through the false choices everyone else accepts. Most strategy talks end up stuck in tradeoffs: “We can be affordable or premium.” “We can be fast or high quality.”But here’s the secret: the best strategies are born when you refuse the tradeoff. 👉 The move is simple: whenever you see an either/or, pause. Ask: “What’s the one thing we must keep from each side?” Then design a way to keep both.

I use three moves for this:

1.Hidden Gem — keep the small, magical thing from one side while scaling the other.
2.Double Down — take one principle to the extreme and rebuild around it.
3.Decomposition — split the problem into parts and solve each differently.
•Anomalies 👀 → Look closely at the edges, the weird stuff most people ignore. Most leaders are trained to look at averages. But averages don’t spark creativity. Anomalies do. It’s the outliers, the “weird” behaviors, the unusual customers that point to the future. 👉 Anomalies are uncomfortable. They look like noise. But if you listen closely, they’re often early signals of what will matter tomorrow.

A vector doesn’t guarantee the treasure, but it points your flashlight into the dark corners where creative answers tend to hide.

That’s why I like the word “vectors” over “methods” or “tools.” It reminds you: this isn’t a recipe. It’s a search path.

9. 5X columns

Now, on the right side where you see more columns, you have to think about anything essential that needs to happen to support that strategy. Whether it’s a new habit, a key deliverable (or several) by a certain date, a critical process, leadership support, or even funding to back it up. From this, you’ll build the action plan — but make sure you’ve clearly defined the high-level ingredients required.

10. Strategy Overview (Optional)

This step is optional.

👉With this template, you can define your final strategy. You can even download it and hang it on your wall.

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Created byNova·Official process
Last edited Sep 2, 2025·10 steps