Navigating uncertainty: Strategic planning for an evolving industry

The world doesn’t sit still. Neither does the market that you and your business operate within. So your strategy shouldn’t, either.

Markets evolve. Tech moves fast. Customer behaviours shift overnight, as does the marketing landscape. And in times of uncertainty, you don’t have to be the biggest or boldest business with the most advanced capabilities to survive; you just need to be as adaptable as possible.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to create a digital strategy that stays strong in ever-changing conditions. One that flexes to change, fuels growth, and means your output has direction and purpose.

1. ‘Set-and-forget’ won’t work.

Strategic plans used to last years. Now, they can go out of date in a month. Especially where digital marketing is concerned.

From generative AI to shifting privacy rules and lesser budgets, external change is always happening. The smartest businesses are building plans designed to flex, not turning a blind eye to the change, living and dying by their existing strategies and hoping for the best.

“Companies that revisit their strategies regularly are far more likely to outperform their peers.” – McKinsey

Telltale signs that your strategy might need a pivot:

• Results are lagging, even with good execution (although remember, a momentary dip is normal – especially when your market is seasonally volatile – so look for sustained changes before deciding to pivot)
• Your customers’ needs have moved on
• Competitors are adapting to market change faster than you
• Internal teams lack direction or your activity struggles to gain momentum

2. Don’t try and predict the future. Plan for as many eventualities as you’re able

Adaptable strategy doesn’t mean you need to know what’s round the corner – it means being ready for multiple outcomes.

Three tools to help:

PESTLE framework (a nice CIM certificate in marketing throwback, for you)

A simple way to plan for what might be to come, by looking for Political, Economic, Social, Tech, Legal and Environmental shifts. For instance:

• Political factors could include regulatory changes around data use or advertising standards.
• Technological changes might mean shifts in attribution modelling or platform algorithms.
• Social factors could be changes in audience behaviour or values that affect messaging, claims and tone.

Using a PESTLE framework quarterly, or ahead of campaign planning, will help you anticipate disruption and find new opportunities. Tools like MindTools’ guide or Smartsheet’s templates can speed this process up for you.

Scenario planning

Scenario planning in a marketing context might mean building out different go-to-market approaches based on budget shifts, media performance, or unexpected competitor campaigns. What would your strategy look like if Meta CPMs doubled? What if a key brand ambassador faced backlash? Planning for these “what ifs” helps teams move quickly with backup plans that are already in place. Deloitte’s scenario models offer a good jumping-off point.

For tactical research, tools like SEMrush, Google Trends, and Statista are invaluable for tracking marketing-specific trends, campaign timing, and emerging platforms.

These aren’t just frameworks for boardrooms — they’re practical tools that help marketing leaders make confident, insight-driven decisions when strategy needs to evolve.

Trend monitoring

Keep an eye on emerging patterns. Tools like Exploding Topics or even social media (Reddit, in particular), can surface useful early warning signs.

3. How to build a resilient strategy

Key traits:

• Purposeful: Your core goal doesn’t change. Your objectives will stay the same, even if the market doesn’t. It’s your approach that needs to change.
• Short feedback loops: Launch fast, learn faster. Review often. Scary – we know. But worth it. Bonus point for if you can set back a small percentage of your marketing budget to do this with, too.
• Cross-team ownership: Strategy isn’t just a leadership job. Everyone needs to see how their work fits into the bigger picture and understand what vital piece of the puzzle it plays.
• Real-time, first-party data: Dashboards and reports should be used to steer, not just report. What do your metrics actually tell you?

4. When to adapt

Changing too often creates chaos. But waiting too long means falling behind.

Look to pivot when:

• KPIs are consistently off-track – don’t jump the first time your social post doesn’t go viral – hold your nerve and stand by your strategy until you have consistent data that suggests not to
• Lead quality or engagement is falling
• Teams feel disconnected or unclear on marketing priorities
• A shift in market or tech opens up new risks or opportunities that you need to react to

A good rule of thumb is to use the “3-6-12 rhythm”:

• 3 months: Tweak tactics
• 6 months: Reassess campaign focus
• 12 months: Refresh the full plan

… but you’ll know what timelines work best for your market, business and business goals, so tweak accordingly.

5. Best practices for agility

Be flexible from day dot

• Don’t spend 100% of your budget on planned activities. Where you can, keep 10–15% aside for opportunistic moves. That way, you’re not risking what’s working for the unknown.

Test and learn, consistently

Testing and learning needs to take place consistently, over time. More often than not, we’re curious as we set out our strategy, but less-so over time. If anything, testing and learning becomes more important as time goes on, in order to keep up with customer needs and market changes, so keep A/B testing campaigns, channels, CTAs etc and capture your learnings somewhere, for safe keeping.

Stay close to your audience

• Re-map customer journeys regularly
• Use tools like Typeform or Tally to get fresh feedback
• Use sentiment tools and forum analysis
• Carry out user-testing, surveys and in-person activations where possible

Manage risks

Adjusting your marketing strategy, whether slightly or significantly, always carries an element of risk. There’s pressure to get it right, especially when campaigns, brand positioning, or budgets are at stake. The key when making changes is to create a structure that makes change informed, testable and measurable.

Start by treating your strategy like a living document. Marketing doesn’t exist in a vacuum — audience behaviours, channel effectiveness, cultural context and competitor tactics evolve constantly. Rather than overhauling everything at once, test new tactics within low-risk campaigns or controlled tests for particular audience segments. Think pilot activity, A/B testing, or shifting spend into a new channel gradually before committing to a full strategy overhaul.

Define what good looks like, too. What metrics will prove your test is working? Set up checkpoints at regular intervals to assess performance, validate assumptions and be flexible and adjust your POA, where needed. This will reduce the risk of you sticking with an underperforming campaign for too long or on the flip slide – abandoning something too early, before it gains traction.

Also, involve the right stakeholders – early. Strategy changes can affect sales teams, internal comms and external comms, too. Sharing rationale, timing, and expected outcomes helps bring everyone on the journey with you, and negates the risk of internal barriers. By doing all of this, the risks aren’t eliminated – they’re managed.

6. Tools to help you along the way

Great marketing strategies don’t come from your gut feeling, alone – they’re informed by insight, structured thinking, and clear planning. When change is necessary, tools, frameworks like PESTLE and scenario planning can help you shift direction with purpose, not panic. Here’s a few examples, that might help you along the way:

Real-life examples: strategy pivots in action

Small business: adapting to local disruption

A local independent café in Manchester noticed a steady drop in footfall when a nearby road closed. Rather than double down on traditional promotional methods, they pivoted. Within a week, they launched a Click & Collect service using Instagram, started offering subscription-based breakfast packages, and partnered with a local gym to cross-promote their protein-packed smoothies. And the result… they matched their previous monthly revenue within two weeks and saw a 20% increase in new customers!

Medium-sized business: post-Brexit pivots

A UK-based logistics company faced increased delays and operational challenges post-Brexit. As well as focusing on operational tweaks, the team reviewed their digital marketing and sales strategy, too. They created sector-specific landing pages for different European markets, launched multilingual email nurturing, and restructured their pricing page to reflect new customs charges transparently – key for the world of uncertainty their industry was, at the time. In six months, they regained traction and increased Europe-based conversions by 17%.

Large enterprise: Netflix’s streaming pivot

Netflix is often criticised for its radical transformation. Starting as a DVD rental business, it shifted to digital long before others did. Instead of sticking with their original strategy, Netflix pivoted to streaming, then evolved again into content production. The key to their success was their continuously revisited strategy; investing heavily in data to understand what users wanted, without being afraid to retire old services and ways of working in favour of new opportunities.

These three examples prove that adaptability works, regardless of business size or sector.

In summary:

Your strategy has to be dynamic, else you simply won’t evolve as the world around you does. It’s not about creating a 90-slide deck once a year and filing it away to never look at it again. It’s about ensuring your activity remains relevant, aligned to your business goals and responsive to the world around you.

If it’s rigid, it won’t evolve with your market. If it’s reactive, it’ll lack direction. The sweet spot is somewhere in between. Work on it over time, with consistent tweaks and tests, and make sure data backs you up. Don’t be precious, be curious and adaptable.

Whether you’re a one-man marketing team or a global brand of hundreds, your approach should be grounded in research and open to iteration. Keep learning. Keep listening. And most importantly, keep moving and enjoy the process; because in today’s landscape, the ability to evolve your marketing strategy confidently is as valuable as the strategy itself.

Want more insight? Start here:

• Embryo: How To Master Digital Strategy
• Gartner: Strategic Planning Assumptions
• Harvard Business Review: The Secret to Strategic Agility
• Loves Data: Adapting to 2025 Digital Marketing Landscapes

Ready to master your digital strategy?

Digital strategy can be overwhelming but the truth is, it’s about asking the right questions, getting actionable answers and adapting your approach over time.

At Embryo, we help business of all sectors build, refine and continually-execute and improve digital strategies that drive real results, over time. Ready to take your strategy to the next level? Contact us today.