DM402
Before the Tactics: A Marketing Strategy Masterclass
Faculty
John Jantsch
Founder, Duct Tape Marketing
Course length
Duration
Total hours
Credits
Language
Course type
Fee for single course
Fee for degree students
Skills you’ll learn
Overview
Most marketing wastes money because there's no strategy underneath it. Founders pick channels before they know who they're talking to. Agencies start executing before the core message is clear. The budget moves, but growth doesn't follow.
Strategy First is the principle that fixes this. Before any tactic gets approved, a business needs a clear ideal client, a differentiated message, a mapped customer journey, and a sequenced plan. That foundation is what makes tactics work. Without it, even the right channel produces the wrong results.
This masterclass teaches the complete Strategy First process, the framework John Jantsch developed over 30 years of working with founder-led businesses. Students work through every component: honest situation analysis, competitive landscape, ideal client personas, core message, customer journey mapping, content strategy, channel selection, and a 90-day execution plan.
Every session builds a piece of a complete strategy document. Students work on an assigned case company throughout the course. Strategy first. Then tactics. That's the course.
Learning highlights
Conduct a marketing and brand audit that surfaces what's working, what's broken, and what's missing.
Define specific ideal client personas with documented buying motions, pain points, and behaviours.
Develop a differentiated core message a business can build all its marketing around.
Map a complete customer journey using the Marketing Hourglass framework, identifying where revenue is leaking.
Build a content strategy grounded in ICP needs and channel fit.
Prioritise and sequence growth initiatives against a 90-day execution calendar.
Present a marketing strategy to a CEO and defend the thinking behind every recommendation.
Course outline
15 classes
Why strategy fails?
The cost of random tactics: why most businesses end up here. An introduction to the Marketing Operating System and the Strategy First approach.
The marketing and brand audit
How to assess a business honestly. SWOT with real teeth. Identifying structural weaknesses vs. cosmetic ones. How to read market timing as a strategic variable. Groups conduct their first audit of the case company.
Competitive landscape
How to read a market. What competitor messaging reveals about where the gap is. What buyers are actually comparing you to vs. who you think your competitors are. Groups run competitive research on their case company using AI tools.
Ideal client personas
Why narrow beats broad. The difference between a demographic target and a buying-motion persona. The three-problem framework: external, internal, emotional. Groups build 2 to 3 personas for their case company using AI, then pressure-test them.
Core message and differentiation
How to build a message a business can actually own. The difference between a feature list and a real differentiator. Building the brand promise. Groups draft a core message for their case company and test it against the ICP.
The Marketing Hourglass
The seven stages of the customer journey: Know, Like, Trust, Try, Buy, Repeat, Refer. How to diagnose which stages are strong and which are leaking. Why the hourglass widens after the sale, and why most businesses ignore that half.
The Try stage
The most commonly missing piece in B2B marketing. What a real Try offer looks like. Why a demo is not a Try experience. How to design a low-friction entry point that shortens the sales cycle. Groups design a Try strategy for their case company.
Content strategy and Hub Pages
Content pillars mapped to the Marketing Hourglass. Finding the angle no competitor owns. What Hub Pages are and why they matter for both search visibility and trust-building. Groups define 3 content pillars and sketch a hub page concept.
Channel selection
How to choose channels based on ideal client and Hourglass stage, not trend or preference. Owned vs. earned vs. paid and why owned always comes first. Building a channel map tied to strategy. Groups build their channel map.
Growth priorities and sequencing
How to decide what goes first. The difference between foundational work and tactics that only compound once the foundation is in place. Groups identify and prioritize 3 growth priorities for their case company with rationale.
The 90-day execution calendar
How to translate strategy into sequenced action. What belongs in month one vs. month three and why sequencing matters. Groups build their 90-day calendar, connecting every initiative back to a strategic priority.
Measurement and the marketing dashboard
The 5 to 7 metrics that actually matter. How to connect marketing activity to business outcomes. What a useful monthly dashboard looks like and how to build one that tells a story instead of dumping numbers.
Working session
No new content. Groups build their final strategy document with instructor coaching available. Each section of the document is reviewed and tightened before the final presentation.
Peer review and rehearsal
Groups present to each other. Feedback structured around four questions:
* Is the ICP specific enough?
* Is the core message differentiated?
* Does the Hourglass reveal the real leak?
* Is the 90-day plan realistic?
Final CEO presentations
Each group presents their complete marketing strategy to a panel playing the role of the business owner.
The question on the table:
* Do I believe this diagnosis?
* Is this the right plan?
* Do I trust this team to execute it with me?
Methodology
Students are placed into small groups at the start of the course and assigned a richly detailed fictional case company — a founder-led business designed with specific strategic challenges built in. Each session introduces a new framework and applies it immediately to the company.
Across 15 sessions, each group develops a complete Strategy First document. Sessions combine short lectures, framework instruction, and dedicated working time, with group exercises anchored to the case company throughout.
AI tools are used as research and drafting aids across multiple sessions, supporting activities such as competitive analysis, persona development, core message drafting, and content strategy. The emphasis is on using AI as a working strategist would: to accelerate the process, while students apply their judgement to evaluate the quality and relevance of the output.
The final session is a live CEO presentation. Groups present their completed strategy to a panel acting as the business owner, which evaluates whether to proceed with both the plan and the team behind it.
Grading
Apply for this course
Before the Tactics: A Marketing Strategy Masterclass
by John Jantsch
Total hours
45 Hours
Dates
Sep 28 - Oct 16, 2026
Fee for single course
€1500
Fee for degree students
€750
How to secure your spot
Complete the form below to kickstart your application
Schedule your Harbour.Space interview
If successful, get ready to join us on campus
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