I was with a marketing executive a few weeks ago and he uttered something that caught my attention. He said, “We are too stuck in strategic planning — less strategy, more action.”

I disagree for so many reasons. But I’ll focus on one argument: Now more than ever, we need strategy. 

Given the pace of the business environment and change, the complexities of the consumer-marketing channel ecosystem, and the more informed, more vocal, more judgmental consumer-buyer, we need more strategy.

Surely, we don’t need more talk — but strategy is more than talk.

Strategy is knowing and defining what AND why we are doing certain things, whilst knowing fully well that the “what” could change but the “why” stays on.

Strategy is laying down the foundations of not just what we are supposed to do, but also  why we are supposed to do what we are supposed to do.

It is laying down the purpose of the different actions that we are doing.

Strategy talk is needed — but it does not need to be slow. Strategy talk is deliberative — but it can be deliberative, purposive, fast, responsive.

If it takes a year to craft the strategies, if it takes several months to lay down strategies, if it takes several fortnights to identify the raison d’etre of a campaign, then there clearly is something wrong with the process of planning strategy.

But problems in the process and the pace of the process do not invalidate the value strategic planning brings to a business.

Now more than ever, we need strategy to guide us in this complex, constantly changing, quickly evolving world of business and marketing.