JP Castlin is a former consultancy executive turned independent strategy and complexity management consultant. He is a contributor for Marketing Week and a brilliant podcast guest.

In this episode we discuss:

1. How to define strategy

2. The ambiguous language of marketing and strategy

3. Frameworks and structure for strategy

4. Strategy and execution and how they work together

5. Being humble as a strategist

6. Complexity theory and how to use it in strategy

7. JP’s book and writing on strategy and why you should be reading it

8. How to be a better consultant by asking more questions

9. Hat tip to Tom Critchlow

10. Using theory to inform your practice

11. Examples of when things went wrong in JP’s career

12. When customer research is useful and when it’s pointless

13. Retention v reacquisition and why it’s often a false divide

14. Talking the language of finance and the people you want to influence

15. Andi’s wild predictions about companies that might not exist soon

Book Recommendations

JP’s Marketing Week musings https://www.marketingweek.com/author/jp-castlin/

Tom Critchlow’s consulting blog https://tomcritchlow.com/

Strategy in Praxis newsletter by JP Castlin 

Invisible Gorilla by Christopher Chabris 

How Brands Grow – Byron Sharp 

Strategy Synthesis – Bob De Wit and Ron Meyer 

The Origin Of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics – Eric Beinhocker

The Halo Effect – How Managers Let Themselves be Deceived by Phil Rosenzweig 

Other Links

Luke Carthy on the Black Friday episode 

Nick Baughan from Facebook (now Meta) on the podcast 

Mike Follett from Lumen Research on the podcast 

My Digital Marketing Strategy Course in partnership with the University of Vaasa in Finland is available now via Teachable for just €249.

It’s perfect for small business owners, entrepreneurs and those who want to get a better understanding of what marketing strategy is and how to embed that strategy across an organisation.

Sign up for the programme here.

The best place to find JP is Twitter or LinkedIn

Andi Jarvis

If you have any questions or want to talk about anything that was discussed in the show, the best place to get me is on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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Andi Jarvis, Eximo Marketing