2026 Marketing Strategy and Alignment: Start on a Blank page

Planning season has a habit of turning good teams into busy teams. Calendars fill, last year’s tasks roll forward, and the “strategy” becomes a longer activity list.

Let’s not do that in 2026. Start on a blank page, align with sales around the client journey, and fund only what creates evidence of value.

I keep this standard in mind from the CEO whom I’ve worked with, and it summarizes so well what most CEOs are thinking (how he commented on the Strategy chapter, The Greatest Marketer book):

“For me as a CEO, marketing is an investment — and like any investment, it needs to show a clear return. A well-defined marketing strategy, linked to the company’s overall goals, gives focus, ownership, and accountability. With decision-ready reporting, it becomes possible to see what truly drives growth and to steer actions based on facts, not assumptions.” Mikko Kuusilehto, Group CEO, Robit Plc

That is the lens. Now here is the plan.

What Alignment Really Means

Alignment is not agreement in a meeting. Alignment is daily proof that Marketing, Sales, and Service work together to advance the same client journey.

You know alignment is working when:

1. Everyone can sketch the client journey the same way
2. Priorities trace back to company goals in a straight line
3. Reporting helps leaders decide this week, not just admire numbers

If these three are not true, start here.

Map the Client Journey with Sales.

Open a whiteboard with Sales in the room. Use five stages that are easy to understand:

1. Aware – how the right people discover you
2. Consider – what builds trust and shortens the learning curve
3. Decide – what removes friction so deals move to closed won
4. Onboard – what creates value in the first 30–60 days
5. Expand and Advocate – what earns renewals, cross-sell, and referrals

Under each stage, list the two or three moments that matter most. Add proof where you have it: conversion rates, time to next step, common objections, content gaps, channel data. Now circle the two highest-friction moments you will fix in Q1.

Those circles are the seeds of your 2026 strategy.

Run a Blank-Page Reset and Cut Yesterwork

“Yesterwork” is a term I learned from Peter Hinssen at the Nordic Business Forum 2025, where he concluded so clearly how “yesterwork is a silent killer of organization”. Meaning it is the kind of work that survives because it is familiar. It consumes time without creating value.

Run every recurring task, channel, and budget line through this filter:

• Does it move one of the circled journey moments?
• Can we show evidence that it does?
• If we paused it for 60 days, what breaks?

If an item fails the first two and nothing breaks in a 60-day pause, move it to the Not-To-Do list for 2026. You just cleared space for the work that pushes the circles.

Make Reporting Decision-Ready

Leaders do not need twenty dashboards. They need a clear line of sight from company goals to journey outcomes to levers to evidence.

Use this four-layer view:

1. Company goals for 2026: Revenue, margin, market share, retention, and expansion.
2. Journey outcomes that support those goals: Such as higher trial-to-paid conversion, shorter sales cycle, more first-30-day value events, and higher renewal rate.
3. Levers that Marketing and Sales control: Objection-handling content and talk-tracks. Cleaner qualification. Faster handoffs. Onboarding that delivers a first win.
4. Evidence: A short set of metrics that prove movement.

Turn this into a one-page report you can read in five minutes. Add a short narrative: what moved, what did not, what you will do next. That is your weekly steering wheel.

Reallocation rule: every month, move 10–20% of effort or budget from the least productive bet to the most productive. Write the change on the one-pager so the team sees how learning turns into action.

Build Your 2026 Strategy Spine.

A strategy spine holds effort together. Keep it simple and visible.

1) Goals: Write the two or three company goals that Marketing can influence in 2026.

2) Priorities: Name three to five focused initiatives you will fund. Each one must link to a circled journey moment and a company goal.

Examples:

• Speed up deals: answer two common objections with clear proof and a simple sales guide.
• Faster first results: use a short onboarding checklist and hit two early “value moments.”
• Better renewals: run a simple monthly check-in with top customers to learn and improve.

3) KPIs: choose up to three per priority. For “solve objections,” track:

• Are we using the new materials? (How often does Sales send them in live deals)
• Do more deals move forward? (conversion from Consider → Decide)
• Do deals close faster? (average days from demo to close)

4) Enablement (keep it practical):
For each priority, create at least one simple asset that the team can use live.

• Objections pack: 1-page answer + short email template + call script.
• Onboarding pack: 30-day checklist + first-value steps + check-in plan.
• Renewal pack: renewal playbook + health check list + referral prompt.

5) Cadence: make the operating rhythm explicit

• Weekly: one-page report and two actions
• Monthly: reallocate 10–20% based on evidence
• Quarterly: ship a milestone for each bet and update the journey map

Practical Kickoff: a 90-Minute Session You Can Run Next Week

Part 1: Journey map (35 minutes)
Marketing and Sales list 2 or 3 key moments for each stage. Circle the two friction points to fix in Q1.

Part 2: Blank-page review (25 minutes)
Put every recurring activity on a board. Ask the three filter questions. Move items to the 2026 To-Do or Not-To-Do list.

Part 3: Strategy spine (20 minutes)
Write two goals, three to five priorities, and one to three KPIs for each. Add one enablement deliverable for it.

Part 4: Reporting and cadence (10 minutes)
Agree on the weekly one-pager owner, the monthly reallocation date, and the first quarterly milestone.

Capture everything on one page and share it with the whole team within 24 hours.

Examples of Clean 2026 Choices

To-Do

• Publish a three-part objection series that Account Executives can send during consideration, with a short talk-track and usage prompt.
• Implement a 30-day onboarding checklist with two value events and clear ownership.
• Run a monthly customer roundtable for top segments and log insights in a shared library.
• Add a referral ask to the 60-day success check-in and measure referral volume.

Not-To-Do

• Trade shows without pre-booked meetings or a follow-up plan.
• Vanity social posts that do not support a circled journey moment.
• Reports that do not lead to a decision. If a metric is not tied to a decision, drop the metric.

Keep the Operating Rhythm Light

A strong plan collapses without rhythm. Keep it light and steady.

• Monday: share the one-pager and two actions for the week.
• Midweek: quick check on the two circled moments.
• Friday: what moved, what blocked, and one fix for next week.

This keeps attention on outcomes, not just activity, and it respects people’s time.

Close the Gap between Activity and Growth.

You do not need more tasks in 2026. You need fewer, better-aligned ones. Start on a blank page. Circle the moments that matter with Sales.

Fund the priorities that move those moments—report in a way that leaders can steer. Reallocate every month based on evidence. When the work matches the journey and the numbers tell a clear story, momentum follows.

To close where we began: if marketing is an investment, as Mikko Kuusilehto put it, then our job is not to flood leaders with noise but to equip them to decide.

End every week with a five-minute read that links company goals to what moved, what did not, and the single recommendation you want funded, paused, or doubled, including trade-offs and risks.

Keep the few KPIs that matter front and center (conversion shift, cycle time, first-value rate, retention, referrals) and leave out raw tool dumps and vanity stats.

Report this way and you teach the CEO exactly what marketing drives — focus, ownership, accountability — so decisions are made on facts, not assumptions.

Also read: How to Conduct a Social Media Audit: Step-by-Step Guide (Free Template Included)

Copy this checklist into your 2026 kickoff

Journey with Sales:

• Map the five stages together and circle two friction points for Q1.
• Note what proof you already have — and what proof you still need.

Blank-Page Reset

• Run the three filter questions on every recurring item
• Move items to To-Do or Not-To-Do for 2026

Strategy Spine

• 2–3 company goals
• 3–5 priorities linked to circled moments
• 1–3 KPIs per priority
• One enablement deliverable for it
• Weekly, monthly, quarterly cadence

Decision-Ready Reporting

• One-page view leaders can read in five minutes
• Short narrative: what moved, what did not, what is next
• Reallocate 10–20% monthly based on evidence

If you want support to run this process with your team, join the Powerful Marketers Hub. We align plans around the client journey, set up decision-ready reporting, and build a weekly cadence that teams can keep. You get practical templates, peer accountability, and live sessions that turn plans into results.

Build your 2026 spine with us → Powerful Marketers Hub