The Best Marketing Strategy? Actually Finishing It
There’s a secret graveyard no one talks about.
Not failed campaigns—unfinished ones.
You’ll find it buried deep in Google Drive folders called “Q2 Ideas” or “Social Plan – Final (no really this time).”
It’s full of half-written blogs, draft emails, and social posts that never made it out of the queue.
At Charcoal, we’ve helped a lot of businesses dig themselves out of this graveyard—and to be honest, we’ve crawled out of it ourselves once or twice. Because here’s the thing: a simple plan that gets executed always outperforms a perfect one that collects digital dust.
Let’s talk about why most marketing plans fail—and what’s actually worked for us and our clients to get things finished and live.
Why Most Marketing Plans Don’t Make It Off the Page
1. You made it too complicated
We’ve seen strategies with 12 KPIs, five audience personas, three-page timelines, and not a single real deadline.
What works:
A one-pager.
A clear goal.
A list of what’s going out and when.
Who’s doing what.
We’ve built full campaigns for clients off a single Google Doc. It doesn't need to be pretty—it just needs to exist.
2. You focused on ideas, not execution
Ideas are easy. Execution is where most plans die.
The fix: We use Google Calendar to block time for actually doing the work.
If a task isn’t scheduled, it doesn’t happen. If it is scheduled, we’re 10x more likely to make progress. (Our team runs everything from photo shoots to post drafts through shared Google Calendars—surprisingly effective.)
We’ve also helped clients create master social calendars in Google Sheets or Meta Business Suite. The key is to have some system in place—not just vibes.
3. No one owns it
Marketing by committee usually turns into marketing by nobody.
We’ve seen this happen with even the best teams—everyone’s excited, but no one’s actually pressing “publish.”
What works: Assign an owner for each task. Even if that owner is you. Even if it’s your fractional marketing team (hi 👋).
For one client, we set up a simple table in Google Drive:
Who’s writing the copy
Who’s reviewing
Who’s posting
Deadlines and all. No apps required.
How to Actually Finish (and Execute) Your Marketing Plan
Here’s how we structure things to stay honest—with ourselves and with our clients.
Step 1: Make a Plan You’ll Actually Use
Not a 25-slide deck. Not a mood board. A real plan.
Here’s what we put in ours (and often build for clients):
Goal: What are we trying to move? Leads, awareness, sales?
Priority channels: Pick 2-3. Not 9.
Key activities: A few core pieces. (e.g. One blog/month, 2 social posts/week)
Timeline: 90 days. Not “this year.”
Tool: Google Doc or Slide. Keep it editable, not sacred.
Step 2: Build It Into Your Week (Like, Literally)
This is the part where the magic happens: time blocking.
We’ve seen great plans fail because the doing never got scheduled. So we use:
Google Calendar time blocks for writing, reviewing, and publishing
Auto-reminders for our clients when approvals are due
Scheduling tools like Meta Business Suite and Buffer to get social out the door without daily effort
We also work in batches. That’s a big one. When we’re creating reels, emails, or blogs for clients, we stack them in one work session. Same with photo and video shoots—we get a month or two of content in a few hours.
Step 3: Stay Lightly Accountable
Plans die when they go out of sight.
We recommend:
Weekly check-ins (short ones). Even just reviewing the shared calendar or Drive doc together.
Visual tracking. We use Drive folders labeled by week or campaign. Everyone knows where things are. Nothing lives only in someone’s head.
Don’t wait for perfect. Our most successful posts often come from behind-the-scenes B-roll or simple social updates. If it’s done, it’s better than sitting in “review limbo.”
Step 4: Launch It, Learn From It, Keep Going
A few truths:
We’ve launched campaigns with placeholder headlines.
One of our best-performing emails was written in 15 minutes.
A blog we almost didn’t post because “it felt too simple” got shared by three other businesses.
It’s not about perfect creative. It’s about consistency and clarity. The goal is to get in the habit of finishing—not fantasizing.
What’s Worked (and Still Works)
For us and our clients, here’s what we keep coming back to:
90-day plans keep the work focused and realistic
Shared Google Docs with bullet points win over fancy presentations every time
Batching content is a time-saver
Ownership is non-negotiable
Publishing > polishing
Marketing only works when it’s in the world—not in a folder.
TL;DR: Ship It
The best marketing strategy? The one that ships.
It’s not about being everywhere. It’s about being consistent in the places that matter most to your business.
If your strategy is 80% there but collecting dust, we’ve got the tools (and people) to help you get it live—and keep it moving.