To get a CEO to champion a unified go-to-market strategy, don't pitch its importance. Ask them to answer core strategic questions, then ask if they believe their leadership team would provide the same answers. This highlights potential misalignment and positions the CEO as the leader to solve it.

Use this strategic principle at a micro-level for every meeting and campaign, not just long-term planning. By starting with a clear definition of the purpose, objectives, and success metrics, you ensure the entire team is aligned and operating with maximum efficiency from the start.

For goal-setting to be effective, limit company-wide goals to three. Designate one goal as the ultimate tie-breaker in resource conflicts. Ensure goals are simple enough for an intern to understand. Crucially, your strategy must involve painful trade-offs ('strategy should hurt'), otherwise you haven't truly prioritized.

A successful content strategy isn't random. Each post must have a specific job. Content should be intentionally designed to either attract new followers, nurture the existing community to build trust, or directly drive sales with conversion-focused messaging.

Instead of pitching a new idea in a vacuum, connect it directly to a leader's existing priorities, such as market disruption or a specific annual goal. This reframes your idea as a way to achieve their vision, increasing the likelihood of approval.

Before defining segments or campaigns, leadership must align on a "North Star": the desired market position, revenue goals, and any reputational gaps. This high-level agreement prevents downstream misalignment and ensures all functions are working toward the same concrete business outcomes.

To get leadership buy-in for a social media initiative, frame it as a short, time-bound experiment like a single quarter. This is much easier for stakeholders to approve than a vague, indefinite commitment to 'do social media'.

CEOs can maintain focus by co-creating a simple one-page strategy with their board. When board members later propose off-strategy ideas, this document becomes a powerful tool to re-center the conversation and ask whether the new idea is important enough to displace an agreed-upon priority.

Most marketers jump straight to finding influencers. The crucial first step is aligning on what success looks like with all stakeholders (marketing, sales, C-suite). Different departmental goals, like booked demos versus brand awareness, fundamentally change the campaign's strategy and creator selection.