“I’ve had an idea. Tell me if it’s great or nonsense. STICKERS.”
The text came in with exactly that energy.
A longtime client of mine, a consultant who helps creative professionals work through their process, was getting ready for a prospecting event. She wanted something more substantial than a business card. Something that would linger.
She pictured a sticker with her branding and her tagline: Say more about that.
She loves stickers. They live on her laptop, her water bottle, her notebook. They travel with her. She imagined someone spotting one while she worked at a coffee shop, asking about it, and wanting one for themselves. Fun, memorable, shareable.
And honestly? That instinct is smart. But the question wasn’t whether stickers were a good idea. The question was what those stickers needed to do.
That’s where strategy enters the room.
Leaders often choose tactics they personally like, have seen others do, or that simply feel visible and fun. Suddenly, teams are ordering swag, starting podcasts, or launching ad campaigns.
But format alone doesn’t drive impact.
Her instinct was solid: create something stickier than a business card (literally!). Our task was making sure it was sticky for the right reasons, aligned with what she does and useful to the people she actually wants to serve.
A simple branded sticker would have functioned like a miniature billboard. It might generate visibility, but it wouldn’t reflect her niche positioning, the depth of her thinking, or the transformative nature of her services.
Visibility alone isn’t sticky. She needed to build authority.
Instead of evaluating the stickers, we evaluated the purpose. We slowed down and asked:
I use this filter for campaigns, content, and now, even stickers!
Once we ran her idea through these questions, the direction became clear: the item needed to communicate her value in real time to her audience, not just display her brand to the world at large.
Strategy usually means asking better questions earlier in the process. When you do that, you might realize you don’t need to change the tactic if you can clarify its intention.
Before acting on your next marketing idea, run it through my strategic filter:
Once we defined what the swag needed to accomplish, I researched similar ideas and suggested a conversational sticker sheet built around her tagline.
She hesitated at first. What if these prompts reduced her work to quick questions instead of the deep, sometimes vulnerable conversations she facilitates?
So I reframed it: The sticker is not the service. It’s a preview of the thinking she sparks.
And it accomplishes exactly what we need it to:
To minimize risk, we crafted questions that were pointed enough to unlock creativity but broad enough to apply across disciplines. And they were deep enough that they didn’t oversimplify her work.
If we’d followed her original path, someone (a creative professional, we hope) gets a sticker. Maybe they think it looks cool. Maybe they look her up. Maybe one day they need her services. Maybe they remember who she is and what she does. Maybe they reach out.
Maybe.
Now she gets targeted visibility and relevance. That increases memorability, authority, and the likelihood of a follow-up.
This is how small tactics, done strategically, can produce outsized results.
By now, you know this story was never really about stickers. It was about intentionality.
Slowing down to ask what a tactic needs to accomplish before you invest. Making sure small decisions support your bigger goals. Designing for outcomes instead of impressions.
Her original instinct was good, but strategy made it better.
What marketing idea are you sitting on right now?
Tactics are easy to launch, but alignment takes more discipline. If you choose tactics because they’re fun, familiar, or trending, you’ll get scattered results.
But if you choose based on purpose, even small decisions will work harder. Not louder, or flashier. More effectively.
And that is what makes strategy sticky.