Why Building a Marketing Strategy Feels 'Slow' and Why That’s a Myth

Leads are down. Sales are soft. The CXO wants to run ads. That’s not the time to skip strategy - it’s the time to do it fast and right.

When companies bring in a marketing lead, whether full-time or fractional, it’s rarely because everything is humming along. It’s because something’s stuck:

• Sales goals aren't being met

• Leads are down or just garbage

• Ads aren't delivering

• The board is asking, “What’s marketing even doing?”

So leadership brings someone in to fix it. Fast.

Let’s get one thing out of the way: I get it - creating a marketing strategy feels slow. You want to make moves, and pausing to assess and plan maybe feels like a delay or a detour you can't afford.

But here’s the truth: planning a good strategy isn’t slowing you down. Bad strategy, or no strategy at all, is what’s actually wasting your time and money.

Or worse, thinking because you have an ad plan or email campaign in the works, that’s actually a strategy.

Here’s what “no strategy” looks like:

• Running paid ads that don’t convert

• Targeting everyone, and resonating with no one

• Sales changing the pitch deck every week because “it’s not quite right”

• Endless copy tweaks on campaigns that still fall flat

Everyone’s hustling. But nothing’s really working. Because that's just busy work. 

The Real Job of Marketing Strategy? Speeding Up What Works

The point of strategic planning isn’t to lock yourself in a messaging cave for 3 months.

It’s to pressure-test assumptions quickly, align your teams, and make everything you’re already doing work better. Sometimes, all it takes is a focused 1–2 week sprint.

B2B teams can improve performance across the funnel just by:

• Getting sharper on your primary buyer (ideal customer persona)

• Clarifying what problem they solve and honing your messaging

• Aligning sales, marketing, and leadership around a shared narrative and go-to-market approach

When that happens:

• Ads convert because the message finally clicks - leading to stronger, more qualified leads

• Leads nurture better because you understand who they are, what they care about, and what to say next

• Sales closes faster because they’re equipped with content, messaging, and process tailored to the buyer

• Everyone internally speaks the same language, so there’s less rework, fewer pivots, and more progress

This isn’t fluff or just theoretical. There’s so much data to back this approach and it’s how you create real momentum.

That’s not slow. That’s velocity.

Good Brand Strategy Turns Confusion Into Conversion

It’s easy to dismiss messaging or brand strategy as “fluff” when the heat is on. But if your pipeline is soft or your CAC is climbing, it’s generally either a positioning or priority problem in disguise.

If buyers don’t understand why they need you or how you solve their problem, no ad budget, outbound cadence, or ABM tool will save you.

When you bring in an experienced marketing leader, you’re not just buying tactics.You’re buying clarity. Focus. Acceleration.

Yes, you need leads. Yes, you need results.But you also need to stop guessing and start executing in the right direction.

That doesn’t mean you need a 60-page brand book. You just need a sharp point of view, alignment across your team, and the guts to test it fast.

So the next time you find yourself brushing off your marketing lead’s push to slow down in order to speed up or maybe passing over that strategic hire for another marketing doer, ask yourself:

What’s more expensive: a couple of weeks of alignment work—or another quarter of missed goals?

Slowing down doesn't look so bad, does it?

Want help pressure-testing your positioning, brand, or go-to-market approach? I’ll help you skip the detours and hit the road, with a clear roadmap, a solid playlist, and a meaningful journey.