For many years, whenever I thought of creating a marketing strategy… things got ugly. Especially because, as a recovering perfectionist, there’s nothing that paralyzed me more than having endless possibilities. I’d be working on a strategy forever without ever actually implementing it. Thankfully, after years of dealing with analysis paralysis, I discovered a marketing strategy framework that freed me.
The funny thing is that there was nothing extraordinary about it. This framework is simple. Easy to develop, easy to implement; easy to iterate on it. In this post, I’ll share this six-step marketing framework in detail, but first…
What’s a Marketing Strategy?
A marketing strategy is a document that outlines a path to achieve a particular goal through marketing. You can think about it as your “game plan.” Some marketing strategies are over a hundred pages long. But unless you’re trying to get a multimillion-dollar company to approve your proposal, I’d say that’s overkill. By knowing what, when, why, and how you want to achieve something, you’ll be on the right path. And if you also know who you need to target and how to measure success, who’s there to stop you?
All Marketing Strategies Require Research
One defining factor and requirement for any marketing strategy is research. However, I have good news. Unless you’re totally new to an industry or know nothing about marketing, you probably will have some previously acquired knowledge that’ll speed up the research phase.
In this market research guide, I break down the simplest process to research the only four areas you need to focus on to achieve results.
The Simplified 6-Step Marketing Strategy Framework
I’ll use a fictional manufacturing company in the fashion industry to illustrate this framework. If you’re curious…
My fictional company offers a hybrid model to source their brick-and-mortar or ecommerce stores. Their clients can 1) order wholesale or 2) print-on-demand (drop-shipping style).
Step #1: Set a Clear Goal
The best way to approach your marketing strategy is to focus on one goal — or a set of closely related ones. We don’t need to get everything done at once. Some common goals are to increase website traffic, generate qualified leads, or sell more of a particular product or service.
If you want many things and aren’t sure what to focus on first, prioritize based on impact. Which specific goal could potentially affect multiple areas for your brand?
For my fictional brand, the goal is to “increase web traffic by 15% in two months through improved keyword rankings and cross-promotion.” I chose that goal because their two main priorities are to…
- Get more wholesale orders
- Improve brand recognition
Both of those can be positively impacted by more relevant traffic hitting their site.
You can use any goal-setting framework you find effective. My two all-time favorites are:
- SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-bound), for which you can use this goal generator.
- OKRs (objectives and key results), which you can generate using this objective generator.
Step #2: Target Your Ideal Customer
If you have a customer avatar, kudos! Use that and move on. If not, pick the segment you want to reach with this strategy and sketch out a few bullet points. Think demographics and psychographics, just enough to shape your messaging.
For demographics, check your website or social media insights. Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn all offer solid audience breakdowns. Just make sure you’re pulling from a well-performing account.
For psychographics, your market research will be helpful. Focus on the type of person most likely to become a happy client, someone who actually benefits from your product or connects with your story. Describe them briefly and clearly.
Step #3: Define a Timeline (by Phase, Not Calendar)
Don’t jump into deadlines yet; just lay out the big phases. Your strategy needs a general structure:
Setup → Execution → Review.
For example, my fictional brand might follow this rough timeline:
- Phase 1 – Setup: Keyword research, SEO audit, messaging refresh
- Phase 2 – Execution: Content rollout, cross-platform promotion, ad campaigns
- Phase 3 – Review: Tracking KPIs, identifying what’s working, iterating
This phase-based approach keeps you focused without getting caught up in to-do lists. You’ll break this down further when you build your marketing plan.
If you’re running this solo, adjust expectations. Ambitious timelines sound good in theory, but burnout isn’t a strategy.
Step #4: Allocate a Budget (at a High Level)
No need to break out spreadsheets here. The goal is to understand how much you can invest and which areas are going to need it.
In my example, I know paid ads are part of the mix, which means I’ll need to account for:
- Creative costs (design, video, copy)
- Ad spend
- Campaign management
Just flag what categories you’ll need to invest in. The exact numbers will come later when planning out execution.
Step #5: Break Down the Strategy
Now that we know the goal, who we’re targeting, how long we’ve got, and what we can spend, we can sketch the core strategy.
Ask yourself:
- What sub-strategies will get me to that goal?
- For each, what’s the best tactic to execute it?
- What KPI will tell me if it’s working?
Let’s say I want to improve web traffic. One sub-strategy might be to improve engagement.
Tactic: Internal link optimization to increase pages per session.
KPI: Average pages viewed per visit.
Keep it simple. One goal → a few sub-strategies → one tactic each → one KPI each. No need to measure everything. Just what matters.
Step #6: Prep to Plan (Don’t Roadmap Yet)
Here’s where most people jump straight into tasks and timelines… but hold that thought. Strategy is about clarity. Planning is about logistics.
At this point, you know what you’re trying to do, why it matters, who it’s for, and what levers you’ll pull to make it happen.
Turning that into a list of deliverables, deadlines, and team responsibilities? That’s your marketing plan, and it deserves its space.
I walk you through that process in detail in this post: 5-Part Marketing Plan Template to Stay on Top of Your Game.