Understanding the difference can transform your campaigns.
At Kin Collective, we work with marketing professionals every day, across brand, digital, comms, content and beyond, and we often hear two terms used as if they mean the same thing: marketing strategy and marketing plan.
But here’s the thing. They’re not the same.
In fact, confusing the two can lead to unclear objectives, fragmented activity, and missed opportunities.
So, let’s break it down.
Strategy is your why.
Your marketing strategy is the big-picture thinking behind everything you do. It’s the ‘why’ that informs the direction your brand takes, shaped by your objectives, your audience, and your unique market positioning.
A strong strategy should answer questions like:
Who are we trying to reach?
What are we trying to achieve?
What do we want to be known for?
How do we differentiate from our competitors?
Where should we focus our efforts to make the biggest impact?
Your strategy is the framework that guides decision-making. It ensures that your team isn’t just ‘doing marketing’, they’re doing the right marketing, for the right reasons.
Plan is your how.
Your marketing plan, on the other hand, is all about execution. It’s the detailed roadmap that brings your strategy to life, covering timelines, tactics, tools, budgets, responsibilities, and KPIs.
A plan might look like:
Campaign calendars
Content schedules
Media buying plans
Ad creative rollouts
The plan is where ideas become action. Without it, even the best strategy will struggle to make an impact.
Let’s look at a few real-world examples.
Here’s how the distinction plays out across some of the most common marketing channels:
Social Media
Strategy: Build brand visibility and foster engagement with a defined target audience
Plan: Develop a content calendar, schedule posts, monitor trends, create shareable formats, and run targeted paid campaigns
📌 Tip: Start by defining your brand voice and the role each platform plays in your funnel before jumping into content creation.
Email Marketing
Strategy: Build trust and nurture leads through personalised and timely communication
Plan: Segment your database, map out workflows or journeys, write and design email content, and schedule send times
📌 Tip: Always lead with value. Consider what your audience wants to receive, not just what you want to send.
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
Strategy: Increase organic visibility and build authority in your space through helpful, relevant content
Plan: Conduct keyword research, optimise meta data and site structure, publish content regularly, and analyse performance
📌 Tip: Make sure your content is not only optimised for search engines, but also genuinely useful to your target audience.
PPC (Pay-Per-Click Advertising)
Strategy: Attract high-intent traffic and convert at key moments in the customer journey
Plan: Choose platforms, create compelling ad copy and visuals, set budgets and targeting, A/B test regularly, and track conversions
📌 Tip: Don’t “set and forget”, consistent optimisation is key to getting the most value from your spend.
Influencer Marketing
Strategy: Build trust and reach new audiences through authentic partnerships
Plan: Identify aligned influencers, negotiate deliverables, brief campaigns, monitor results, and refine based on performance
📌 Tip: Prioritise genuine alignment over follower count. Micro-influencers with strong engagement often deliver better ROI.
Strategy without a plan lacks execution. Plan without strategy lacks purpose.
One without the other often leads to wasted energy.
Without strategy, your plan can feel scattergun, lots of activity, but little direction.
Without a plan, your strategy remains an idea, a deck of slides with no momentum.
At Kin Collective, we speak to hiring managers and marketers who’ve experienced both ends of that spectrum. The magic happens when the two are working together, when every post, every campaign, every click is contributing to a wider purpose.
So, what’s the takeaway?
If you're leading marketing for your business, or managing a team, ask yourself:
Have we clearly defined our strategy, or are we defaulting to ‘doing what we’ve always done’?
Is our plan genuinely aligned to our strategy, or just a list of tasks?
Are we measuring success in a way that reflects both short-term wins and long-term growth?
Getting this balance right is a skill in itself, and something the very best marketers do well.
Looking to bring in someone who can build strategy and execute it effectively? Or are you a marketer who excels at both? That’s where we come in.
Let’s talk.
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