A lack of strategy in marketing often leads to ineffective busywork with minimal results. The biggest lie in marketing these days is that the “latest” tools and tactics are here to solve all our marketing woes.
This completely alienates the absolute need for free thinking and creativity. This undermines all of the hard work we’ve all done. This says to marketers that data, tools, and tactics are all we need to succeed.
I’m here to tell you that this thinking is why our feeds are flooded with nonsense and sameness.
I love AI. It is a revolutionary tool. It has removed so much mindless and exhausting busy work and allows me to focus on what I love to do - think, create, educate, and inform.
I love tools like Semrush and Ahrefs. They give me valuable insight into what is happening in search and how people search for us and consume our content. But, alone, this is simply data.
And data alone cannot drive strategy.
What’s missing from this discussion is brand. Who are we? What do we offer? Why do we matter to those we are trying to attract?
Brand3, the absolute best company I have worked for, is on a mission to bring forth a brand-first awakening.
What the heck does this mean? It means that every great brand, big or small, has a voice. And that voice is made up of the ideas of people, real humans. You cannot replace this with a machine… well, at least not yet.
It’s time that we, as brands, focus on making real connections. We need to focus on being helpful. We MUST focus on educating and empowering our clients to be better at their jobs.
Provide a product or service that serves a meaningful purpose.
We are repeatedly asked to offer marketing services without any real strategy. We refuse to do this because it wastes time and money.
We need to achieve something more significant. We need to focus on growth. People help people to grow. Your customers, clients, advocates, and employees are the ones who will bring about the success that you crave. It’s time to listen to them.
We can no longer fool people into parting with their money. We need to earn their support.
This is where strategy comes in.
I’ve worked for a company where the word strategy was used as a trick. It served as a comforting distraction. “We are very strategic.”
That was a lie. Why? Because without a brand-first approach, strategy was just a word. Strategy means nothing without the hard work of developing a strong brand voice and a bold brand promise.
Brand is everything now. Your brand is your identity and how you connect with the people you need to grow your business.
Strategy, when done in a brand-first way, is the answer to the marketing questions we get asked all the time. How do we connect? How do we make any meaningful progress in our marketing? How can we achieve real growth?
Strategy is built on developing your voice, message, education, and a desire for authentic connection.
So, knock it off. Yes, knock it off. Stop beating your audience over the head with meaningless tactics and a bunch of content that does nothing for your target audience. No one cares about you. They are only concerned with how you will solve their problems.
Make your customers the hero. Be their guide. Get out of your own way and let your brand tell the story. The real connection comes when your ideal clients can identify in and feel that you are there to help them.
That’s what it means to make them the hero of your story. You are simply there to tell them that you will guide them to the success they need to see.
Again, tools are great. They can be incredibly useful. And marketing tactics, such as SEO, PPC, social media marketing, content marketing, and others, are potentially an effective means to an end. But in and of themselves, they are not a solution. They are part of a larger strategy.
Strategy is the solution.
So, let’s fix this problem together. Here’s how…
Are your marketing efforts done simply because “that’s what’s done?” It’s hard to know what marketing tactics will be effective. Do you know why it’s hard? Because if you skip critical strategic steps, you will engage in a lot of guesswork.
Look at your efforts. Which are producing? I’m not talking about metrics. I’m talking about tangible business outcomes. Driving growth.
Is your social media generating results beyond just vanity metrics? Are you tracking SEO from traffic to conversions?
And how about your paid efforts? Are they generating conversions that end in closed business?
It’s time to do a brutal assessment. Look at each effort. Is there a throughline from these to meaningful outcomes? Like conversions, growth, achieving real goals?
Brand awareness is valuable if you are connecting with the right people. You are building trust and becoming known for the right reasons. If you’re not known, how can your customers find you?
Are your brand-building efforts translating into your brand being known as a resource for your target audience? If not, it might be time to rethink your efforts.
Traffic, for traffic's sake, is meaningless. Your content, social, and SEO efforts should build traffic that drives actions that matter. These are things like time on site, downloads, shares, etc. Just getting a bunch of eyeballs won’t move the needle.
It must be the traffic you want. Their actions when they visit your site will determine their value to you. Traffic that bounces, or worse, wastes your time with less-than-ideal requests is not what you want.
In other words, how are your leads? Are they worth your time, or are they just inquiries from the wrong types of customers?
I’ve seen this time and time again. You get a report from your digital marketing firm, and it’s “green.” All the indicators tell you, on the surface, that your SEO efforts are working! Great!
But what if those are not the rankings you want? Are you ranking for the exact keywords as those competitors you want to move away from? Or worse, ranking for keywords that your less-than-ideal clients would use?
Rank for keywords that indicate the right intent. Rank for words and phrases your ideal customers would use to search for you… specifically, the brand that you’ve built.
If not, it’s time to examine your SEO strategy and content efforts again.
Just remember, these are all just tactics. Don’t do a piecemeal review of this and that. Look at the big picture and build a strategy that drives real growth.
It’s time to fall in love with your ideal clients again. What do they truly value from your brand? What content would they thank you for? And how can you serve them better?
Customer experience should be at the heart of everything you do.
I’ve spoken to some of the best experts around, and they all say the same thing. It’s time to be relentlessly focused on providing value. It’s time to become relentlessly focused on the needs of your clients.
So, take a beat and return to what matters. I suggest you focus on the following:
Moving from tactical to strategic marketing requires more than just improving your messaging – it demands a relentless focus on customer experience. Sure, tactics drive traffic. Automation generates leads.
But exceptional experiences create loyal brand advocates. That's where real transformation happens.
Journey mapping is a powerful strategic tool that helps you move beyond tactical thinking. Have your brand promise handy.
Now map every single touchpoint where customers interact with your brand. This is where strategy lives. At each touchpoint, ask yourself - Are we delivering our brand promise? Analyze each touchpoint by further questioning:
Your customer-facing team members are your greatest source of insight. They hear firsthand what resonates with customers and where frustrations arise. Make it a priority to gather and act on their feedback regularly.
When you design your customer experience with intention, your marketing naturally becomes more strategic and authentic. In fact, focusing first on customer experience will get you all the content you need. It will be the source of everything you need to say in your marketing.
After all, your marketing is really just an invitation to experience something.
Make that something truly exceptional.
Everything else is just noise.
