08/05/2025 | Strategy
I see it all the time in conversations with business owners and marketing managers – a detailed annual marketing plan sitting in a spreadsheet, with activities mapped out month by month. But when I ask about the underlying strategy, I get a puzzled look or a vague response.
It’s a common scenario in the SME world – businesses jump straight into their marketing activities without nailing a clear strategic direction. They’re essentially plotting the journey without deciding on the destination first.
While activity alone might generate some engagement and results, with no strategy you limit your potential. You may create noise, but you won’t necessarily build meaningful connections with the people you need to reach.
Marketing strategy vs. marketing plan: What’s the difference?
A marketing strategy sets your business’s objectives and long-term vision. It clearly defines who you are, what you stand for, who your ideal customers are, and what they care about. It articulates your unique positioning and explains how you’ll stand out.
Your marketing plan is the roadmap of activity you’ll use to execute your strategy. It covers the tactics and channels you’ll focus on, and what specific content and campaigns you’ll create. It outlines who is responsible, and how you’ll measure success.
Put simply: your strategy is the what and the why, and your plan is the how.
How often do they change?
Your marketing strategy should remain relatively stable, though it might evolve as your business grows or market conditions change. Your plan, meanwhile, is much more fluid – you might adjust tactics monthly or quarterly based on what’s working.
Your marketing strategy is your collective guide
A well-crafted marketing strategy isn’t a clunky old document filed away somewhere – it’s the central source of truth that guides every marketing decision your business makes. Think of it as the compass that keeps all your marketing activities pointing in the same direction. It helps you:
- Create a collective understanding of your purpose
- Set clear goals and marketing objectives
- Analyse competitors to identify how you’re different
- Define your unique positioning in the marketplace
- Create your brand identity, including your vision, mission and core values
- Create detailed customer profiles and personas
- Design tailored messaging for each buyer persona
- Create consistent, compelling top-level brand messaging
- Create clear, benefit-led product and service messaging
- Identify channels and opportunities for reaching your target audience
- Set measurable short-term actions and ambitious long-term goals
With this information compiled in one place, everyone who works on your marketing has the same point of reference. This means activity is consistently aligned – whether it’s internal staff, agencies, or freelancers. It’s the difference between random acts of marketing and a coordinated team effort that builds momentum over time.
What happens when a strategy-first approach is missing?
To put it bluntly, without a strategy in place, you are limiting your growth. You might make educated guesses about activity will perform well, but your marketing activity risks becoming scattergun, reactive and inconsistent – leading to wasted time and missed opportunities.
Example #1: Set your website up for long term success
Let’s talk about websites – often the first big investment businesses make in their digital presence. I’ve seen countless examples of businesses rushing to build or redesign their website without a proper strategy in place first.
Your strategy determines crucial elements like SEO and user journeys. For example, when it comes to building search visibility, your site architecture, URL structure, and content plan are all built with your target keyterms in mind from day one.
Equally, a strategy examines how different customer personas interact with your business. An awareness-stage audience needs different content than financial decision-makers to convert. Without defining this in your strategy, your website risks serving none of them particularly well.
A strategic approach also ensures your website can grow and evolve. I’ve worked with businesses who’ve had to completely rebuild their sites because their original design couldn’t accommodate new services – a costly mistake that strategic planning would have prevented.
Example #2: Don’t confuse a social strategy with a content calendar
The strategy-plan distinction if often missed when it comes to social media. Many businesses fall into the trap of chasing engagement through reactive posting and planned content without considering whether they’re building meaningful connections with potential customers.
You might be seeing decent engagement metrics – likes, shares and comments – but is this coming from the right people? Are they invested in your purpose? Trending tactics might work in the short term, but fail when it comes to business results.
By stepping back and developing a proper social media strategy – defining target audience segments, creating a strong content mix, building a relevant audience, and establishing a distinctive brand voice – you create a cohesive presence that drives people to actually convert.
Example #3: Strategy-first branding for cohesion and consistency
Brand positioning might seem theoretical, but its impact on your success is anything but. Without clear positioning, your marketing becomes a collection of disconnected bits of activity, rather than a cohesive picture of who you are and why people should trust you.
Take our client Brand Juice as an example. When we started working with this events supplier, they needed a complete rebrand that would appeal to their target market of major brands and creative agencies, helping them stand out in a growing market.
Rather than jumping straight into the name, logo design and visual elements – i.e. the fun bit – we began with a strategy process. We looked at everything from the business’s finances, history, and existing customers, to the team’s vision for the future.
We worked closely with them to define their target markets, segmentation approach, positioning, vision, and values. Only once we had this strategic foundation in place did we move on to the creative aspects of their brand.
Our work revealed that Brand Juice needed to position themselves as both premium and professional, but with a playful energy that reflected their creative capabilities. We created a monochrome brand mark to hold its own alongside client logos. We supported this with bold, vibrant photography to express fresh creative energy while maintaining a premium feel.
This strategy-first approach kept every element of their brand launch cohesive. The positioning carries through their website, tone of voice, marketing materials, and client comms. The result is a brand that clearly communicates their value to their audience.
Develop an effective marketing strategy before creating your tactical plan
Ultimately, the relationship between strategy and plan isn’t about semantics – it has real implications for how you allocate resources and measure success. When you start without a strategy, you risk spending time in the wrong places and stunting your messaging.
I will say – despite its importance – developing your strategy doesn’t need to be overly complex or time-consuming. A focused workshop with business leaders gives you what you need. The important thing is getting the right support and buy in to deliver the final document.
How to tell if your business needs to revisit its marketing strategy
You may have noticed some warning signs that it’s time to revisit your marketing strategy. Perhaps your team struggles to explain what makes your business different from competitors. Maybe you’re seeing plenty of marketing activity but minimal results or business impact. Or you might notice inconsistent messaging across different channels and materials.
These symptoms all point to the same underlying issue: a disconnect between your tactical marketing plan and a clearly defined marketing strategy.
Of course, it’s always possible to take a step back and establish that strategic foundation. In fact, businesses that take the time to develop a proper strategy find it easier to achieve results with fewer resources once that strategy is in place.
Think of it as taking one step back to take two steps forward – an investment of time and thought that pays through more effective marketing execution for years to come.
Remember: your strategy is your destination, and your plan is the route you’ll take. Both are essential, but the destination must be clear before you can plot the simplest path to reach it.
Do you want advice on your business’s marketing strategy? Get in touch and I’d be happy to have a quick chat with you to hear where you’re at.