Building Your Strategy Around Your Vision

Hey Pulsers,

Welcome back to The Marketing Pulse! This week, we’re flipping the script on strategy, because too many brands get this backward.

Most brands rush to create marketing strategies before defining what they actually want to achieve. But strategy should serve your vision, not the other way around.

In today’s issue, we’ll cover:

🎯 Why your brand vision should dictate strategy, not trends.

📌 How to define objectives that actually move the needle.

🚀 Choosing tactics that align with your big-picture goals.

📊 The best KPIs to track progress without getting lost in vanity metrics.

Let’s dive in!

🚀 Your Vision is the Blueprint. Strategy is the Execution

Let’s play a game. Imagine two brands:

🔹 Brand A’s goal: “Increase LinkedIn engagement.”

🔹 Brand B’s vision: “Empower small businesses with data-driven marketing solutions.”

Who do you think has a clearer sense of direction?

Brand A is focused on a tactic. Brand B is focused on a mission. And that mission will dictate every strategic move they make.

Your vision is your North Star⭐ It should answer:

✔️ What impact are we creating?

✔️ Who are we helping?

✔️ How do we make a difference?

When your vision is crystal clear, your strategy stops feeling like a guessing game.

📌 Step 1: Define Your Key Objectives

Most brands try to chase everything at once—brand awareness, engagement, leads, revenue.

And when you chase everything, you accomplish nothing.

🔍 Instead, focus on 2–3 core objectives that align with your vision.

Ask yourself:

✔️ What do we want to be known for?

✔️ What does success look like in 1, 3, or 5 years?

✔️ What’s currently blocking us from reaching the right audience?

💡 Examples of Strategic Objectives:

✅ If you’re a personal finance app, your objective might be increasing financial literacy among Gen Z users.

✅ If you’re an e-commerce brand, your objective could be reducing cart abandonment and increasing repeat customers.

Once your objectives are locked in, everything else becomes clearer.

🚀 Step 2: Choosing the Right Strategies (and Ditching the Wrong Ones)

Here’s where most brands go wrong: They start with tactics first.

🚫 “We need to be on TikTok!”

🚫 “Let’s run paid ads!”

🚫 “We should post every day on LinkedIn!”

Instead, choose tactics based on what will actually move the needle.

🎯 If your goal is brand awareness → Prioritize content marketing, PR, and collaborations.

🎯 If your goal is lead generation → Focus on SEO, email marketing, and lead magnets.

🎯 If your goal is customer retention → Invest in loyalty programs, community engagement, and personalized content.

💡Tip: If a tactic doesn’t directly serve an objective, it’s a distraction.

📊 Step 3: Measure Progress with KPIs That Actually Matter

If you’re not tracking the right data, you’ll have no idea if your strategy is working.

🚨 The mistake: Measuring vanity metrics (likes, impressions) instead of KPIs that actually signal growth.

📊 KPIs That Matter:

✅ Brand Awareness: Website traffic, media mentions, share of voice.

✅ Engagement: Click-through rates, comment depth, time on page.

✅ Lead Generation: Conversion rates, cost per acquisition, email signups.

✅ Customer Retention: Repeat purchases, churn rate, Net Promoter Score (NPS).

💡Tip: Set quarterly benchmarks and adjust based on real performance, not assumptions.

*Check image above for terminology explanations.

Brand Campaign Breakdown: Google➕

Google+ was meant to be Google’s answer to Facebook—a sleek, innovative social network that would rival the giant. But instead of becoming a social media powerhouse, it became one of Google’s biggest failures.

Why? It lacked a clear vision.

Google+ didn’t solve a new problem. It wasn’t built around a unique user need. Instead, it was a reaction, a rushed attempt to compete with Facebook, rather than a thoughtful, vision-driven product.

The Key Mistakes Google+ Made:

❌ No Unique Value Proposition

• Facebook already dominated social media. LinkedIn owned professional networking. Instagram was on the rise for visuals.

Google+ failed to answer: “Why should users switch?”

❌ Forcing Adoption Instead of Creating Demand

• Google tried to force people onto Google+ by linking it to YouTube comments, Gmail, and search results.

Instead of making users excited to join, it felt like an obligation, and users pushed back.

❌ Confusing Features and No Clear Audience

• Google+ Circles, Hangouts, and Communities were interesting, but lacked a simple, compelling reason for people to use them daily.

The platform tried to be too many things at once without defining a core audience.

Google+ failed because it chased competition instead of a clear purpose. It didn’t solve a unique problem or give users a reason to care.

The lesson? If your brand isn’t built on a strong vision, no strategy will save it.

Marketing Hits and Misses✅❌

Hit: Duolingo’s “Death of Duo” Campaign

Duolingo “killed off” its mascot, Duo the Owl, in a chaotic, satirical social stunt. The brand shared cryptic, comedic posts, and blamed his death on a Tesla Cybertruck. Packed with Gen Z humor, pop culture nods, and playful Drake jabs, the campaign went viral.

What Worked:

🔥 Perfectly aligned with Duolingo’s chaotic brand voice and Gen Z humor.

🔥 Created a viral, interactive mystery that kept audiences engaged.

🔥 Tapped into trendjacking, tying the campaign to Tesla and the Super Bowl.

Lessons to Be Learned:

✔ Know your audience. Duolingo speaks Gen Z fluently, and it shows.

✔ Risky, bold marketing can work if it’s authentic to your brand.

✔ Lean into humor and pop culture to keep engagement high.

Miss: MTN Nigeria’s “Apology” Release

MTN’s recent statement on price hikes of its 15G Digital Bundle aimed to use humor to defuse tension. But, it fell flat, leaving customers more frustrated than before.

What Went Wrong:

❌ Lack of Transparency – The release vaguely referenced reasons for the increase without actually explaining them.

❌ Misleading Framing – Calling it a “mistake” when it clearly wasn’t felt disingenuous.

❌ No Real Resolution – Asked customers to “forgive and forget” without offering any justification or solution.

What Could Have Been Better:

✅ Honest and Direct Communication – Clearly outline the real reasons behind the price hike instead of dodging accountability.

✅ Customer-Centric Approach – Acknowledge frustration and offer a tangible benefit, like improved service or cost-saving alternatives.

✅ Effective Crisis Management – A well-planned response should calm backlash, not intensify it.

Lessons to Be Learned:

🔹 Humor alone isn’t a crisis strategy – If your audience is angry, deflection won’t help.

🔹 Transparency builds trust – If you want forgiveness, give people a reason to move on.

🔹 Sometimes, saying nothing is better than saying the wrong thing.

Key Highlights💡

✅ Vision before strategy – A clear vision guides effective marketing.

✅ Differentiate, don’t imitate – Google+ failed by trying to be Facebook.

✅ Solve real problems – Brands that meet unmet needs win.

And remember:

❌ Trends aren’t strategy – What works for competitors may not work for you.

❌ Clarity is key – If people don’t get your purpose, they won’t engage.

❌ User experience matters – Confusion kills adoption.

🥷Stealable Marketing Move

The "Red Ocean" Strategy

Instead of fighting for space in a crowded market, create a new category where competition is irrelevant.

Why It Works:

✅ You control the narrative – no direct comparisons to existing brands.

✅ Customers see you as the first and best option in your space.

✅ You avoid price wars and race-to-the-bottom marketing.

How to Steal This Move:

🚀 Define what makes your brand truly unique, not just different.

🚀 Identify an underserved audience or unmet need in your industry.

🚀 Build messaging that positions you as the only brand offering that solution.

🔍 Example: Instead of competing with traditional taxi services, Uber redefined transportation with a peer-to-peer ride-sharing model.

Will you try it?

👉Quick Exercise

Take 5 minutes to test if your marketing strategy is truly aligned with your vision.

Step 1: Write down your brand’s vision in one clear sentence.

🔹 Example: “We help small businesses scale with AI-powered financial tools.”

Step 2: List 3 marketing tactics you’re currently using.

🔹 Example: Running LinkedIn ads, posting daily content, launching a webinar series.

Step 3: For each tactic, ask yourself:

✔ Does this directly support my vision?

✔ Does it move me closer to my long-term goal?

✔ Or am I doing it just because everyone else is?

Step 4: If a tactic doesn’t align, tweak or replace it. Marketing isn’t about doing everything, it’s about doing the right things.

🚀 Spotlight: Trendjacking

📌 What is it? Capitalizing on viral moments to boost visibility. Done right, it sparks engagement. Done wrong, it feels forced.

🎯 How to Nail It:

✔ Stay updated on trends

✔ Act fast, timing is everything

✔ Make it relevant to your brand

✔ Keep it authentic, not forced

🎯 Example: Brands create their own "Wrapped" when Spotify Wrapped goes viral. It works because it fits naturally.

🚀 Worth It? Absolutely, if the trend aligns with your brand. But jumping on everything? A quick way to be ignored (or worse, mocked).

🎬 That’s a Wrap! If there’s one thing to take away from this issue, it’s this: Your strategy should serve your vision, not the latest trend.

So, before jumping into your next campaign, take a step back. Ask yourself: Does this align with where I want my brand to go?

The best strategies aren’t reactive, they’re intentional.

And if this resonated, share it with someone stuck in a strategy rut.

Until next time!

P.S Why don’t marketers like nature?

Too many organic results. 🥹🌱