I’ve sat in quite a few kick-off meetings where the first question on the table is which channels to use. Should we double down on LinkedIn. What about webinars. Do we need TikTok. It’s understandable. Channels are visible, they feel tangible, and they promise a quick route to “doing more marketing”. But every time we start with channels, we box ourselves into tactical decisions before we’ve agreed why we are doing them, who they are for, and how they will create commercial value.
The fix is simple to describe and harder to do. Start with the strategy, then let the strategy choose the channels. When we do that, budgets stretch further, measurement becomes meaningful, and execution gets easier because the team knows what good looks like.
Why channels-first derails performance
When I’m invited in to review a plan, I often find a busy set of activities that are hard to connect to revenue. The symptoms are familiar. Inconsistent messaging across posts and pages. Low engagement from the right buyers, even when vanity metrics look healthy. A content calendar that drifts away from commercial priorities. All of this comes from asking “where shall we post” before answering “what problem are we solving for whom, and what is the outcome we need”.
If this sounds familiar, you might also find my piece on Strategic marketing: the operating system behind growth helpful, because it shows how to anchor tactics to business priorities rather than to trends or noise.
Strategy first means choices
Good strategy tells us what to do and what not to do. That means agreeing goals, audiences, positioning and propositions before we touch the toolkit. In practice, I work through four decisions with leadership teams:
- Commercial goals. What outcome are we on the hook for in the next 6 to 12 months. Pipeline in a specific segment. Expansion revenue from existing accounts. Penetration in a new geography. Clarity here stops every discussion from turning into “more content”.
- Audience clarity. Who are we trying to reach, and what jobs are they trying to get done. Tools like ideal customer profiles keep us honest and stop us designing messages for everyone and resonating with no one.
- Message and value. What’s our sharp point of view. How do we frame value in language that lands with our buyers. If you want a deeper dive on this, you might enjoy From leads to revenue: how to build a sales ready marketing engine in an SME and Differentiation through competitive insight: how to stay ahead, both of which show how messaging and market insight work together.
- Journey and proof. Where are the friction points from first contact to renewal. What signals prove progress. Mapping the journey across digital and physical touchpoints prevents the scattergun. I unpack this in Customer journey mapping across channels: the B2B guide to seamless experiences.
Only when these are agreed do we pick channels, content formats and cadence.
Channels become multipliers, not guesses
Once the strategy is set, channels stop competing for attention and start working together. For example, an all-bound mix blends inbound momentum with outbound acceleration. Paid LinkedIn can amplify a strong point of view piece, webinars can deepen engagement with specific buying groups, and email nurtures can turn curiosity into qualified conversations. If you want a practical overview of that balance, I cover it in All-bound marketing: why today’s marketers need both inbound and outbound.
The point is not to be everywhere. It is to be consistently present where it matters, with a message that carries through every step. That is how you reduce wasted effort and increase conversion.
What this looks like in an SME
When I help an SME shift from channels-first to strategy-first, the workflow changes in three ways:
- Quarterly direction, weekly momentum. We set a simple, outcome-driven plan for the quarter and translate it into a weekly rhythm the team can keep. If you’re balancing agility with long term direction, Agile B2B marketing vs long term planning shows how to do both without spinning plates.
- One idea, many executions. We commit to one narrative and adapt it for different stages of the journey, rather than inventing new themes every week. If your team is stretched, Extend your reach, not your workload: a B2B guide to content upcycling is a useful read.
- Measures that tie to money. We agree the few metrics that indicate movement toward revenue. That might be first meetings in a named segment, demo requests from a specific buying unit, or expansion proposals accepted. Vanity falls away when you can see the chain from message to money.
A quick self-check for your next planning session
Before you talk channels, ask and answer these five questions:
- What commercial outcome are we targeting, and what will we deprioritise to achieve it.
- Which ideal customers matter most this quarter, and what pains or triggers move them to act.
- What is our single narrative that ties campaigns together.
- Where are the current friction points in their journey.
- How will we measure progress weekly and decide what to stop, start or scale.
Get those right and the channel plan almost writes itself.
Five key takeaways
- Never start with channels. Start with goals, audience, message and journey, then let those choose the mix.
- Pick a single narrative and execute it consistently across the buyer journey.
- Use an all-bound blend to pair inbound depth with outbound reach.
- Plan quarterly, operate weekly, and measure what ties to revenue not vanity.
- Treat channels as multipliers of strategy, not substitutes for it.
