Planning vs. Performance: Why You Can’t Fix Execution With More Execution

When digital marketing isn’t working, the natural reaction is to do more.

More campaigns. More emails. More spend. More content. More platforms.

The thinking goes: if something’s not performing, it must be an execution problem. So the answer is to double down.

But here’s the truth: You can’t fix execution with more execution.

At least not sustainably—and definitely not strategically.

More activity ≠ better results

In many organizations, underperformance sparks urgency. Leadership pressures marketing. Marketing pressures execution. And the team starts throwing more tactics at the wall, hoping something sticks.

But when the underlying problem is a lack of clarity, more motion just adds noise.

This creates what I call a “performance spiral.” You increase activity in search of performance, but since there’s no real strategic anchor, nothing sticks. So you do more—and get less. The cycle repeats until resources are burned out, budgets are maxed, and trust erodes between marketing and leadership.

The problem isn’t effort. It’s direction.

Why performance suffers without a plan

Execution is only effective when it’s tied to the strategy (the right strategy for your company). Without a plan, most teams fall into reactive mode—chasing trends, mimicking competitors, or guessing what might work.

You see it in things like:

• Campaigns that launch without clear goals
• Content created with no connection to buyer journeys
• Paid ads optimized for clicks instead of pipeline
• Teams tracking KPIs that don’t tie back to revenue

This is the kind of inefficiency that creates friction, not growth. And ironically, it’s often invisible—because everyone’s busy. But busy doesn’t equal effective.

The case for pausing, to plan

Pausing, to plan, might feel counterintuitive when things aren’t working. But it’s often the fastest way to turn things around.

When you take the time to document a plan, you’re doing more than just organizing ideas. You’re defining:

• Who your ideal customer is
• What your funnel looks like
• What assets are missing or misaligned
• What success actually means for your business
• How every tactic maps to a specific objective

That clarity unlocks better decision-making. It creates shared definitions across your team. And it gives you a framework to say no to the distractions that eat up time and budget.

You don’t need to stop everything—just slow down long enough to assess

Planning doesn’t mean you have to grind all marketing to a halt. Often, it just means stepping back enough to evaluate what’s working, what’s not, and what’s missing in your strategy.

You can still ship campaigns. But you’ll ship them with intent.

You can still run ads. But you’ll measure them against business goals—not just platform metrics.

You can still create content. But you’ll know exactly who it’s for, where it fits in your funnel, and what action it’s meant to drive.

That’s the difference between activity and traction.

When execution follows planning, performance improves

This is the heart of the Digital Marketing Success Plan® and the START Planning Process.

If you don’t have a planning system or process that is your go to, I encourage you to explore START.

START isn’t just an acronym. It’s a framework that helps you step out of the execution trap and focus on what actually drives growth:

• Strategy: Know where you’re going and who you’re targeting
• Tactics: Choose the right activities to move those people
• Application: Build the assets and tools needed to execute
• Review: Measure what matters and adjust
• Transformation: Turn short-term action into long-term growth

Each step builds on the one before it. So when you get back into execution mode, you’re not guessing. You’re implementing a focused, measurable, and aligned plan.

Final Thought

If your marketing isn’t working, the answer isn’t always to push harder—it might be to pause and ask better questions.

Because no amount of “doing” can replace the power of planning. And no campaign, platform, or piece of content can save a strategy that doesn’t exist.

So if your team is running fast but not gaining ground, it may be time to stop spinning and start planning.

You can explore the START Planning Process or get a copy of The Digital Marketing Success Plan® at https://thedmsp.com to see how it works.

You don’t need to do more. You need to do what works—and that starts with a plan.