Jordan Ogren

May 24, 2021

Strategy isn't enough. You also need this.

Having a strategy for your marketing is imperative for success. 

Without it, you’re shooting in the dark—making minimal progress. 

But there’s a critical piece that matters almost more than having a strategy.

That’s execution. 

If you aren’t achieving your goals, it may not be your strategy’s fault.

It could be an execution issue.

“When a brand is struggling to meet targets, the first thing to establish is whether the problems lies with the strategy or execution.” — Dan White from The Smart Marketing Book.

Instead of throwing your strategy out the window with the baby, make sure you understand where the problem stems from.

“If the strategy has been executed according to plan but the brand has not done well, the strategy is probably to blame.”

But,

“If the execution has been weak, the strategies potential has not been tested so the priority should be improving the quality of the marketing activity.”

This may be hard for some to diagnose. 

Who wants to admit their execution was weak?

That’s why you need to have execution metrics. These provide objective feedback on how well you’re executing.

Execution metrics are leading indicators. You should be checking weekly whether all of your action plans got done and whether you did what you committed to (i.e., posting three times on LinkedIn).

When your execution and strategy are working hand-and-hand, that’s when marketing success happens.

Which do you need to improve: Execution or strategy?

🧠 // JO