What Is Marketing Strategy and Why It Matters
For small business CEOs and founders, marketing strategy isn’t a luxury — it’s the blueprint that connects your business goals to the right marketing actions.
If you’re a small business CEO, founder, or leader of a growing company, chances are you’ve heard it before: “We need a marketing strategy.”
But what does that really mean? Is it running ads? Posting on LinkedIn? Hiring a PR firm?
For leaders at this stage, the real question isn’t what to do, but how does marketing actually help us grow — attract the right customers, use resources wisely, and deliver ROI?
That’s what strategy is designed to answer.
Too often, “marketing strategy” gets confused with tactics – the things you do (social posts, events, campaigns). But strategy is something bigger, more foundational, and without it, those tactics rarely connect back to what matters most: your business growth.
At Dodson Consulting, we use a simple but powerful framework that ensures marketing is more than a cost center; it’s a growth driver.
Step 1: Business Goals Come First
Before we talk about marketing at all, we need clarity on your business goals. Where are you trying to go? Do you want to grow revenue? Expand into new markets? Attract investment? Recruit top talent?
Your marketing should serve your business priorities, not the other way around.
Step 2: Translate to Marketing Goals
Once we’re clear on business goals, we can shape marketing goals that ladder up.
For example:
If your business goal is expansion into a new region, your marketing goal might be to build awareness in that market.
If your business goal is increasing revenue from existing customers, your marketing goal might be to strengthen retention and loyalty programs.
This alignment ensures marketing isn’t just “making noise,” but actually driving measurable outcomes.
Step 3: Define Your Marketing Strategy
This is the step most leaders skip. It’s also the one that makes everything else work.
A marketing strategy is the connective tissue between your goals and your tactics. It’s where the critical decisions get made – the decisions that bring focus, clarity, and consistency to everything that follows.
At Dodson Consulting, we break it down into five essentials:
Target Audience: Who exactly are you trying to reach? Spoiler: it’s never “everyone.” The sharper the focus, the stronger the results.
Value Proposition: Why should they choose you? What problem are you solving that actually matters to them?
Positioning: How do you want to be seen in the market, especially compared to competitors? This is about claiming your lane.
Messaging: What do you say (and how do you say it) so your audience recognizes your value instantly?
Channel Priorities: Where will you show up? And just as importantly, where won’t you? Spreading your resources too thin is a fast track to wasted effort.
When these aren’t clear, we see teams jump straight into activity (ads, emails, social posts) without knowing why. The result? Mixed messaging, diluted focus, and leaders left wondering if marketing is worth the investment.
Most leaders skip strategy not because they don’t value it, but because they’re pressed for time. It feels faster to “just do something.” But in reality, skipping strategy slows you down in the long run because you end up redoing work, chasing the wrong audiences, or funding initiatives that don’t deliver.
When strategy is clear, everything shifts:
The CEO sees how marketing directly supports business growth.
The team has a framework to make decisions with confidence.
Marketing campaigns feel connected, part of a bigger story — not just one-off experiments.
Example: A client once came to us saying, “We need more social media.” But when we zoomed out, it became clear social wasn’t the real driver. Their real opportunity was to build trust with a new market segment. Together, we repositioned them as community experts, developed content that spoke directly to customer needs, and focused on the right channels to build credibility. The result? More qualified leads, stronger engagement, and no wasted effort.
Think of strategy as the thing you need to build a house. Without a blueprint, you can buy wood, nails, and paint but you won’t end up with something livable. Strategy is the blueprint. It ensures every brick, beam, and coat of paint works toward a structure that lasts.
That’s the power of strategy: It takes you from scattered activity to focused impact.
Step 4: Build the Roadmap and Execute
Only after strategy is clear should we get to tactics, the development of the marketing roadmap and its plan for execution. This is the part where we roll up our sleeves: campaign execution, events, new landing pages, social initiatives, PR, paid ads, and more.
But here’s the difference: When rooted in strategy, these tactics aren’t just random activities. They’re deliberate actions designed to get you closer to your business goals. Each tactic ladders up to the strategy, the marketing goals, and the business strategy. Anything outside of that is a waste of time and effort.
Why It Matters
Too often, businesses hear “marketing” and skip straight to tactics. Why? Because tactics feel tangible and urgent. But without strategy, tactics just become expensive experiments.
A clear marketing strategy:
Keeps teams aligned and focused.
Saves money by preventing wasted efforts.
Builds consistency across all touchpoints.
Creates accountability by linking marketing directly to business growth.
At the end of the day, marketing strategy matters because it connects the dots between where you are now, where you want to go, and how you’ll get there.
Final Thought
If you’re a CEO or manager who feels like marketing is a black box, you’re not alone. But here’s the truth: With the right framework, marketing becomes less mysterious and more powerful.
When your marketing strategy is clear, you can stop micromanaging campaigns or second-guessing tactics. You can lead with confidence, knowing your team is focused on the right things – and that every dollar and hour spent is moving the business forward.
At Dodson Consulting, we help leaders cut through the noise, align their teams, and build strategies that actually move the business forward.
Because marketing should never be a random activity. It should be your growth plan in action.
FAQs About Marketing Strategy
What is a marketing strategy in simple terms?
A marketing strategy is your blueprint. It connects your business goals to the right marketing actions, ensuring that every campaign or activity has a purpose and drives growth.
Why is marketing strategy important for CEOs and leaders?
Without strategy, marketing can feel like random activity — ads, social posts, events — without clear ROI. Strategy ensures your marketing team is aligned, focused, and accountable to business growth.
What’s the difference between marketing strategy and tactics?
Strategy is the “why” and “how” behind your marketing decisions — audience, positioning, messaging, and priorities. Tactics are the “what” you do — like running ads, posting on LinkedIn, or launching campaigns.
How do you create a marketing strategy?
At Dodson Consulting, we use a 4-step process:
Define business goals
Translate them into marketing goals
Build the marketing strategy (audience, positioning, messaging, channels)
Create the roadmap and execute with focus
What happens if you don’t have a marketing strategy?
Without strategy, businesses often waste time and money on tactics that don’t connect to growth. The result is mixed messaging, diluted focus, and leaders questioning the value of marketing.