# Get a marketing strategy for your small business URL: https://blackbox.plus/guides/approve-your-strategy Level 1: Get set up (https://blackbox.plus/guides/get-set-up) Updated: 2026-10-23 Time: about 5 minutes You'll end with: An approved strategy for your brand, with its 3-month plan on the way Do it in Blackbox: https://blackbox.plus/app/inbox > Blackbox drafts your strategy from your website, competitors and numbers. Check what it assumes, change what’s wrong, and approve it in the Inbox. ## Short answer Blackbox (blackbox.plus) drafts a marketing strategy for your small business from your website, your competitors, your connected accounts and the numbers you give it, and you approve it in the Inbox. Click Inbox in the left menu and open your brand: the Strategy draft card sits at the top of Recommendations. Read If you approve, which says where to play, how to win, your budget, the most you would pay per customer and the worst case, and Not known yet, which says what is measured and what is still assumed. Open Why this strategy · the 5 checks to see your figures beside measured ones and where you stand against your competitors. To fix a number or a competitor, or add a note, click Change something, then Save and redraft; a new version arrives in about 10 minutes. When it reads right, click Use this strategy. Only an admin can approve it, nothing is posted or spent, and your 3-month plan is drafted next. ## You'll need - **Setup finished.** Your brand, its competitors and the setup questions. The draft is written from them. (Guide: https://blackbox.plus/guides/get-started) - **An admin login.** Only an admin can approve the strategy. Teammates can read it. ## How to get a marketing strategy for your small business in Blackbox 1. **Open the Inbox.** Click **Inbox** in the left menu and open your brand. You'll see: The **Strategy draft** card at the top of **Recommendations**. Starts at: https://blackbox.plus/app/inbox 2. **Read what approving means.** Read **If you approve**: where to play, how to win, your numbers and the worst case. You'll see: **Not known yet** under it: what is measured so far, and what is still assumed. ![The Strategy draft card for Daybreak Coffee Co., with If you approve ringed: where to play, how to win, the numbers and the worst case, then Not known yet and the Use this strategy button](https://blackbox.plus/guides/approve-your-strategy/02-card.png) 3. **Check why.** Click **Why this strategy · the 5 checks**. You'll see: **You said** beside **Measured**, **Your position** against your competitors, and the five checks. ![Why this strategy, ringed and open: what the owner said beside what was measured, the position map against three competitors, and the five checks](https://blackbox.plus/guides/approve-your-strategy/03-why.png) 4. **Change what’s wrong.** Click **Change something**. Fix your numbers or competitors, or write a note, then click **Save and redraft**. You'll see: A new version arrives in about 10 minutes, with **What changed** at the top. ![The Change something panel: budget, most you would pay per customer and price, the competitors, a note in the owner’s own words, and Save and redraft ringed](https://blackbox.plus/guides/approve-your-strategy/04-change.png) 5. **Approve it.** Click **Use this strategy**. You'll see: The card marked **Your strategy**, live since today. ![The card after Use this strategy: marked Your strategy, with live since today ringed](https://blackbox.plus/guides/approve-your-strategy/05-approved.png) 6. **See it on the Strategy tab.** Click the **Strategy** tab, then **Details**. You'll see: **Who we sell to**, **Why they pick us**, **Up against** and **How we’ll know**. ![The Strategy tab on Details, ringed: who we sell to, why they pick us, who we are up against and how we will know](https://blackbox.plus/guides/approve-your-strategy/06-details.png) 7. **Approve your 3-month plan.** When the plan card arrives in **Recommendations**, read it and click **Approve the plan**. You'll see: The plan’s first phase on the Strategy tab’s **Now** view. ## Good to know - The first draft arrives about 10 minutes after setup finds your competitors and saves your answers. Questions you skipped wait next to it in Recommendations. - Use this strategy records your choice. Nothing is posted, and nothing is spent on any account. - Each line is marked Measured (from your connected accounts), Assumed (from you or your website) or Proposal (a figure Blackbox suggests, which you can change). - Once a strategy is approved, the answers behind it are locked. New campaigns, ad ideas and the brand chat work from it. - Only an admin approves. Teammates see the same card with “An admin approves the strategy.” under it. - In the Change something panel, Not sure? Talk it through with AI opens the brand chat, which can suggest a change for you to add. - For the cards that follow, see [Act on the Inbox’s suggestions](https://blackbox.plus/guides/act-on-inbox-suggestions). ## Questions people ask **There’s no strategy draft in my Inbox** It arrives about 10 minutes after your competitors are found or your answers are saved. If the Strategy tab says Not set up yet, click Set up your strategy. **I can’t click Use this strategy** Only an admin can approve it. Teammates see “An admin approves the strategy.” under the card instead of the buttons, so ask an admin. **I saved a change and the card didn’t update** A redraft takes about 10 minutes. The new version replaces the card, with What changed since version 1 at the top. **A competitor on the map is wrong** Click Change something and remove it with the × on its name, or click Add for the right one. That saves straight away, and a new version follows. **I clicked Not now by mistake** The draft is put aside and leaves your Inbox. Answering a question or reviewing your competitors brings a new draft. **Almost everything says Assumed** Assumed lines come from you or your website. They turn Measured once your ads show the numbers — see [Connect your Meta ad account to Blackbox](https://blackbox.plus/guides/connect-meta-ads).