Before You Plan, Get Clear on Strategy

Let’s be honest: few words make people’s eyes glaze over faster than marketing strategy. 

It sounds like something that lives in a binder, doesn’t it? Did you just hear the jargon bell ring? 

But marketing strategy isn’t marketing jargon, and it’s not the same thing as a marketing plan. The two are related, but they play different roles. Strategy gives you clarity; the plan creates momentum. 

What a marketing strategy really is 

A marketing strategy is your organization’s high-level approach to connecting with the people you serve. It’s the “why” and “how” behind everything you communicate — the shared understanding that keeps your brand consistent and purposeful across departments. 

According to renowned management thinker Roger Martin (in his Harvard Business Review master class), strategy is about choice. It defines where you’ll focus, who you’ll serve, and how you’ll stand out. It’s set at the leadership level because it touches more than marketing — it shapes decisions in operations, customer service, human resources, and even product and program development. 

I recently worked for an association that called it an “engagement strategy.” Otherwise, everyone would have assumed it belonged to the dreaded marketing department. 

And marketing strategy isn’t something you hand to your marketing team and forget. It’s a framework for how your entire organization shows up in the world. 

What a marketing plan really is 

If your strategy defines your approach, your plan defines your playbook. 

A marketing plan is tactical: it outlines the specific steps, tools, and timelines you’ll use to carry out your strategy. It translates vision into action — your campaigns, social media calendar, sponsorship outreach, and donor communications schedule. 

The plan is what “puts your strategy into motion.” It answers questions like: 

• What channels will we use? 

• What messages will we lead with? 

• How will we measure progress? 

A strong plan always ladders up to the strategy. When it doesn’t, marketing becomes a collection of disconnected activities — busy, but not necessarily effective. 

Why the distinction matters 

Here’s where organizations often get stuck: they jump straight to planning because planning feels productive. It produces spreadsheets, calendars, and meetings — tangible outcomes. 

But if your strategy isn’t clear first, those plans rarely deliver the results you want. You end up tweaking tactics (“let’s post more,” “let’s sponsor that event,” “let’s redesign the brochure”) instead of asking whether the overall direction is right. 

When strategy comes first, every tactic has purpose. You can evaluate ideas quickly: Does this support our positioning? Does this reach our audience? Does this reflect who we are? 

Strategy saves time because it filters out what doesn’t matter. 

How to know if you’re missing strategy 

If you’re not sure whether your organization has a true marketing strategy, here are a few telltale signs: 

• Your marketing feels reactive instead of proactive. 

• Different teams define “success” differently. 

• You’re doing a lot, but results feel scattered. 

• You can’t easily explain what makes your organization distinct. 

• Your leader agrees to do everything because they have nothing to point to for direction. 

These are symptoms of a missing or unclear strategy, not of a bad team or lack of effort. Most organizations simply haven’t paused long enough to articulate their choices at the strategic level. 

From Clarity to Momentum 

At Write Design Group, we think of this sequence as Clarity + Momentum. 

Clarity comes from strategy — understanding who you are, what you stand for, and how you connect with your audience. 

Momentum comes from planning — translating that clarity into campaigns, materials, and messages that move people to act. 

When you have clarity first, momentum follows naturally. Your marketing efforts feel aligned, your team makes faster decisions, and your message stays consistent across every channel. 

If your marketing plan feels busy but disjointed, it might not be a planning problem. It might be a strategy problem. 

Final thought 

A marketing plan tells you what to do next week. A marketing strategy tells you why it matters and how it connects to your larger purpose. 

Before you plan, get clear on strategy because clarity is what creates momentum. 

And if you ever need help finding that clarity, that’s what we love to do.