Clarity Before Channels - Why Strategy Still Comes First
When a new client joins us, one of the first questions that usually comes up, often very early on, is simple: “Which channels should we be using?”
LinkedIn? Google Ads? Email? SEO? Socials?
It’s a reasonable question. But it’s rarely the right place to start.
Because choosing channels before you’ve achieved clarity is a bit like choosing tools before you know what you’re building. You might stay busy, but progress is far from guaranteed.
When channels become the strategy
It’s easy to see how this happens.
Channels are tangible. They’re familiar. They come with dashboards, metrics and visible activity. Strategy, by contrast, feels slower and less obvious. It requires thinking, alignment, and decisions, often about what not to do.
So instead of pausing to ask what the business is trying to achieve, who it’s really talking to, or what success would genuinely look like, the conversation jumps straight to channels.
“We should be on LinkedIn.”
“We need to do more SEO.”
“Everyone’s doing video.”
Task lists fill up. Activity increases. Everyone feels busy, which can look a lot like progress from the outside.
But it isn’t the same thing.
Clarity is the work before the work
Real strategy doesn’t start with channels. It starts with clarity.
Clarity about who you’re trying to reach, not just their job title, but their context and readiness. Clarity about what you offer, not a list of services, but the value behind them. Clarity about priorities, constraints, and what matters now, not eventually.
Often, this is the difference between talking to “people like us” and reaching people who are ready to engage.
Without that clarity, channels don’t amplify your message. They amplify confusion. You can be active everywhere and still be unclear.
Why this keeps happening
There are understandable reasons channel-first thinking is so common.
Channels feel actionable, especially when strategy feels abstract. Platforms change quickly, which creates urgency and fear of missing out. Marketing activity is increasingly visible, so being busy can feel reassuring. And teams are stretched, which means thinking time is the first thing to go.
None of this makes businesses careless. It makes them human.
But it does mean many organisations end up doing a lot of marketing without being entirely sure what it’s supposed to be doing for them.
What clarity gives you
Clarity doesn’t give you a rigid plan. It gives you a filter.
When clarity is in place, decisions become noticeably easier. Channel choices stop being reactive. Activity starts to align. It becomes clearer which efforts are worth sustaining and which are distractions, at least for now.
Strategy before channels doesn’t mean no channels
This isn’t an argument against using channels.
SEO, paid media, social platforms and email etc. all have their place. Used well, they’re powerful. But they work best when they’re answering a clear brief, not filling a gap or responding to noise.
When strategy comes first, channels become tools rather than objectives. Consistency becomes easier to maintain. Trust builds more naturally over time.
Without that grounding, channels tend to pull in different directions, each optimised in isolation, but rarely coherent as a whole.
A familiar moment
Most of us recognise this scenario.
A business is active across multiple platforms. There’s regular posting. Ads are running. Content is being produced.
But something feels off.
Not because anyone’s doing a bad job, but because everything is pulling in slightly different directions. The messaging doesn’t quite join up. The audience response is muted. Results are inconsistent.
Often, the issue isn’t effort or execution.
It’s that clarity was skipped.
Why this matters now
As platforms multiply and tools become more accessible, it’s never been easier to do marketing and never been easier to do it without direction.
The temptation is to move faster. The better response is often to slow down briefly.
Because clarity, once established, saves time everywhere else.
It saves budget, energy, and the quiet frustration that comes from doing a lot of work that doesn’t quite add up.
The Last Word
At The Last Hurdle, we don’t see strategy as a document or a one-off exercise. We see it as the thinking that gives everything else meaning.
Channels change. Tools evolve. Trends come and go. Clarity endures.
And when clarity is in place, the channels tend to fall into line.
If you are seeking better clarity and would like to explore working with us, let’s chat. Call us on 01604 654545 or email hello@thelasthurdle.co.uk
