When approaching new initiatives, be it product development, market entry, or even a job search, we’re often told to choose between two seemingly mutually exclusive strategies: the broad “shotgun” approach (many small bets hoping one hits) or the focused “sniper” approach (one carefully aimed shot after extensive planning). But what if this is a false dichotomy? I believe that for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (SMBs) aiming for impactful innovation and growth, a hybrid approach, what I call the “Sniper with a Shotgun”, often yields the best results.

Illustrating the Approach: The Job Search Analogy

Consider three job seekers, all out of work for a couple of months:

• Shotgun Joe: Spends hours daily blasting his resume to almost any remotely fitting job posting. His goal is maximum volume and exposure. He’ll likely find a job, but perhaps not the right job, leading to dissatisfaction.
• Sniper Doris: Meticulously researches specific companies and roles, sending only one or two highly targeted applications a week. She’ll likely land a great fit, but her search might take significantly longer due to its narrow scope.
• Sniper-with-a-Shotgun Andrea: She first defines her core values, unique capabilities, and matches them to broader industry segments and role types. She then uses filtered searches, targeted networking, and focused event participation. She’s not as narrow as Doris, nor as indiscriminate as Joe, averaging 20-30 targeted, researched, and tailored applications a week.

Andrea is most likely to land a suitable role faster, and one that aligns well with her skills and values. Her approach allows for learning and quick adaptation as she explores within her defined “target area” without a complete strategic overhaul.

Applying “Sniper with a Shotgun” to SMB Innovation & Technology Strategy

This balanced approach is incredibly powerful for SMB innovation and, specifically, for how you approach technology strategy and new IT initiatives.

• The “Sniper” Element (Strategic Focus): Instead of randomly chasing every new tech trend or trying to solve every problem at once, first clearly define your strategic “target area.” What specific business challenges are you trying to solve? What core value proposition are you trying to enhance with technology? This initial deep research and focus is your sniper’s aim.
• The “Shotgun” Element (Focused Exploration): Once that target area is defined (e.g., “improving customer onboarding,” “automating key operational workflows,” “enhancing data analytics for sales”), then leverage broader, agile methods within that space. This could mean rapid prototyping of a few potential solutions, piloting a couple of different software platforms with small teams, or brainstorming various approaches to a defined problem. You’re not firing randomly across the entire business landscape, but exploring multiple, promising paths within your strategically chosen domain.

As a fractional CIO, I often guide SMBs through this process. We first “aim the sniper rifle” by defining the critical business outcomes technology needs to support. Then, we use the “shotgun” to efficiently explore and validate the best tech solutions or IT strategies within that focused scope, maximizing the return on innovation investment and getting to market (or internal deployment) faster with solutions that deliver real value.

The Advantages of a Balanced Attack

The “sniper with a shotgun” approach allows your SMB to:

• Maximize odds of a “kill shot” (a successful outcome) by focusing efforts.
• Quickly adapt if initial assumptions within the target area prove slightly off.
• De-risk innovation by not putting all your eggs in one unproven basket.
• Achieve better alignment between initiatives and core strategic goals.

What’s Next

Stop thinking in either/or terms when it comes to your strategic initiatives. By first doing the foundational work to identify your most promising target areas (the sniper’s precision) and then leveraging agile, exploratory methods within that domain (the shotgun’s broader, yet still aimed, pattern), your SMB can maximize its return on investment, accelerate innovation, and build a more resilient path to “Succeed Sooner.”

Is your SMB struggling to balance focused strategic bets with the need for agile exploration, especially in your technology initiatives? If you’re looking for a partner to help you apply a “sniper with a shotgun” approach to your IT strategy and innovation efforts, let’s connect with Succeed Sooner Consulting.