“Reviewing your marketing activity.” That’s the title of slide 19 in a research and discovery document I’m working through for a new client. And I already know how the conversation will go. We’ll talk about Google Ads, social media, and maybe a long-standing print placement in the local paper. There’s usually a list. And to be clear, I’m not against any of that. If there’s historical data and past performance to dig into, that’s a solid place to start.
But the moment we ask how those channels connect to a broader marketing strategy, the room usually goes quiet, or someone smiles and says, “that’s why we’re here.” What we tend to find is a collection of well-intentioned activities rather than a coherent plan, each channel working hard on its own, but rarely pulling in the same commercial direction.
It’s at that moment that the distinction appears: the gap between marketing activity and marketing strategy.
Strategy is the part that makes the activity valuable
Most organisations have no shortage of activity. Budgets are allocated, content is produced, and campaigns are launched, but the fundamental question often remains unresolved: what commercial outcome is this activity designed to achieve?
The challenge is rarely a lack of marketing. It’s a lack of agreement about what marketing is meant to do for the business. That agreement has to include sales. When marketing and sales strategies aren't aligned on target customers, value proposition, or success metrics, marketing ends up making progress harder than it needs to be. A real strategy gives your activity a clear role, it defines which customers matter most, what problems we will be solving, and how marketing should contribute to revenue and pipeline. Only after those choices are made do channels, campaigns, and creative decisions start to connect in a way that makes commercial sense.
What strategy needs to decide before the activity begins
Before a single campaign is planned, a strategy has to answer a small number of uncomfortable questions. Not about channels, but about the commercial mechanics of the business.
The first is where growth is meant to come from. Is the priority winning new customers, expanding existing accounts, or defending market share? A Google Ads campaign means something very different depending on that answer.
The second is who actually creates value. Many businesses talk about broad audiences, but strategy forces a narrower choice: which segments are most profitable, which buyers influence decisions, and which problems are worth being known for solving. Activity should flow from those decisions, not the other way around.
The third is how marketing will be judged. If success is defined only by clicks and impressions, that’s what activity will optimise for. If success is defined by pipeline, win rates, or deal volume, the shape of that activity changes immediately.
At a commercial level, this means understanding what marketing contributes in real terms, such as dollars in, margins improved, or costs avoided. The basic logic of spending $1 to make $4. Brand and marketing metrics still matter, but only to the extent to which they support those commercial outcomes.
What this looks like in practice
For one of our construction clients, this meant making a deliberate choice to focus marketing on two of their six customer personas. The two most influential on revenue. Once that decision was clear, activity changed naturally. Content became more tactical, messaging shifted to be more technical, and channels were chosen based on their ability to reach those specific audiences.
For another client in professional services, we needed to reposition the brand at a more premium level, deliberately targeting Tier 1 clients and higher-value engagements. Work that delivers better margins, lower overheads, and stronger growth opportunities. Marketing therefore moved away from service-led messaging toward partnership value, with greater focus on case studies, projects, and producing sharper credentials documentation to increase credibility and proposal win rates. The result: five additional qualified website leads per month organically, and a 20% lift in tender shortlisting.
These decisions don’t require complex frameworks, but they do require agreement. Strategy is simply the set of choices that explain why certain activity deserves investment and why other activity does not. Without those choices, marketing defaults to whatever feels familiar or easy.
From disconnected activity to an intentional strategy
Strategy doesn’t need to be complicated, but it does need to be intentional. When those core decisions are made, activity stops being a collection of disconnected efforts and starts to feel like a system working toward a shared outcome. Channels become tools rather than commitments, and marketing budgets start feeling like investments rather than expenses.
That’s the distinction Plato tries to create when we discuss slide 19. Not more marketing activity, but a clearer answer to what that activity is meant to achieve. Once that answer exists, the work that follows becomes easier for marketing, more useful for sales, and far more valuable for the business.
