7️⃣ Strategic Marketing Questions - To End 2025
From noise to navigation. These 7 questions are your invitation to pause, reflect, and return to what matters – so you can lead with clarity and confidence in 2026.
Hi 👋 I’m Florian Schleicher. This is the FutureStrategies newsletter. Thank you so much for reading along 💚
Winter is coming! And that’s a good thing - if you use it right.
In nature trees use this time to strengthen roots and expand in the invisible underground. We can draw some inspiration from that and use this season to wind down, reflect and maybe even some intentions for the next year.
I personally have never been a big fan of New Year’s resolutions, but what I have been doing in recent years is to sit down and think about some questions to reshape my approach.
So if you also want to use the holiday season for some new found clarity – and maybe even a new way of looking at your strategy, here are my 7 questions about your marketing strategy that might also spark some new perspectives.
Each one touches a different part of your marketing strategy:
AI
Focus
Relevance
Momentum
Customers
Team
You
Before we get started, a little teaser:
My next deep dive in January will be a special feature on marketing trends for 2026.
So here are the 7 questions for your marketing strategy:
1. AI - Is AI making our brand smarter, or just faster?
2025 was the year AI went from innovation to infrastructure.
By now, most marketing teams have mastered agility and speed. But in the rush to ship, create, and optimise, many forgot how to think.
They stopped questioning. Stopped sharpening their strategy.
In 2026, reflection will be a competitive advantage again. The brands that stand out won’t be the fastest – they’ll be the ones that know when to pause, zoom out, and ask better questions.
Because you can’t be a source of clarity if you’re addicted to speed.
The real strategic shift? Stop asking what AI can do.
Start asking: What’s the part only you should still do.
2. FOCUS - What are we still doing out of habit, not impact?
Most brands are overproducing.
Content, Reports, Presentations, Meetings.
True focus means choosing what deserves your time, not what fits your template. Many teams, managers – even strategists – say “yes” to too much. Because that is expected and because that is how things have been done in the past.
But to quote the great Steve Jobs:
“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But it means saying no to the hundred other good ideas.”
So think about it: What did you say “yes” to this year that diluted your impact?
Here are two brand examples:
Lush dramatically reduced its digital presence – shutting down TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook for most markets. Why? To stop chasing algorithmic attention and focus on community-driven, local engagement instead.
Vita Coco shifted their PR and marketing strategy away from large influencer gifting campaigns – and toward a more community-driven pop-up experience. They stopped chasing surface-level hype to focus on real-world, human connection.
