You know your function. The rest is fuzzy.
You've been in marketing for 8, 10, 15 years. You're good at what you do — possibly very good. But the system around it — how brand connects to performance, how business goals become campaigns, how strategy turns into execution — was never shown to you as one picture. You picked it up in fragments. It still feels like fragments.
You know exactly where your expertise ends. You have the point but not always the language to connect it to everyone else's. Not because you lack experience — because most people in the room don't have the full map either. They just never noticed it.
Every step up requires a wider lens. This course is the lens.
The Thinking
You can read 200 marketing books this year. You'll remember maybe three ideas from each. You'll use even fewer. And when a real problem hits — budget cut, repositioning, new market — you won't reach for Chapter 14 of anything. You'll reach for whatever mental model is already in your head.
This course puts the right ones there. And for the first time, the whole system clicks.
Not a textbook. Not a collection of tactics. A complete map of how marketing actually works — the logic behind it, and the architecture that holds it together. Compact enough to finish. Durable enough to use for years.
In the age of AI, you can look up anything in seconds. What you can't look up is which question to ask. That's what this course builds: the instinct to recognize the moment and the structure to think it through.
From business goal to campaign execution. Twice.
Part 1. How it works.
The logic of marketing — from the business objective that funds everything, through audience and behaviour, down to the message that reaches people.
You'll see how money defines audience, how audience translates into behaviour, how behaviour is shaped by perception, and how perception is carried by messages and experiences. Not as theory — as a system where each layer constrains the next.
Covers: business objectives and profit logic · audience and the segmentation debate · behavioural models and lifecycle · perception, salience, and belief · insights, barriers, and message architecture.
Part 2. How to build it.
Now you step into the planning seat. A new brief lands — what do you do first?
You'll work through the planning architecture: how brand strategy becomes a communications platform, how a platform generates campaigns, and how campaigns translate into execution. The layer that turns strategic thinking into something a team can actually run.
Covers: brand strategy and positioning · long-term vs short-term planning · brand platform · campaign architecture · performance and brand integration · measurement and effectiveness.
How I teach
- Understanding, not memorizing. Two maps. Once you understand the system, you can use it anywhere. The rest you can look up.
- Make-or-break points only. There's more marketing theory out there than you could study in a lifetime. I'm keeping what actually changes how you think.
- Practice to cement learning. You'll apply every lesson to a real business — because understanding a system means using it, not just watching someone explain it.
- Ready for the AI age. Not prompts. A way of thinking where knowing the right question matters more than the details you can get in seconds.
Who it's for
You know your function cold. You want the full picture. You've spent years going deep — performance, brand, CRM, content, product marketing. You know exactly where your depth ends and the rest begins. This gives you the rest.
Your next step is broader than your current one. Every move up in marketing requires a wider lens — from channel to function, from function to leadership, from specialism to strategy. This is the system you need before that step. Or right after.
You lead a team and want shared language. Your people are good but siloed. Everyone optimises their corner. This gives everyone the same map. Buy it for your direct reports. Go through it together.
What this is not
Not a digital marketing course. Not growth hacking. Not media planning. Not about AI tools.
This is the strategic layer underneath all of that — the part that decides whether any tactic makes sense in the first place.
Format
8 weeks. 20+ lessons. Short videos (3–7 min) with written guides. Released weekly.
You'll practice on a real business. Choose yours or one of the cases I provide. Each lesson includes an exercise — because understanding a system means using it, not just hearing about it.
Direct access. Every lesson has a comment thread. I read and respond.
About me
Ilya Petrov. 22 years in marketing — agency strategy at BBDO and Proximity, 9 years at Nike managing €60M+ budgets across Europe, now leading global marketing for developer tools at JetBrains.
I've been on both sides. Built strategies as a planner. Bought them as a client. Ran brand campaigns and loyalty programs. Managed big budgets and questioned whether they were spent right. I'll share what I've learned — including the parts where I think we were wrong. This is scars and gray hair, not just theories.
This course exists because I kept seeing the same gap: smart, experienced marketers who still can't see the full system. Not because it's complicated — because nobody shows it to you all at once.
The first version ran for 4 years. 500+ graduates. People still reference it — not because it taught them tricks, but because it changed how they see the work.
This is the new edition. Rebuilt for a broader marketing audience with everything I've learned since.
What graduates say
"The puzzle clicked. A treasure trove of systematised knowledge. I'll be using the cheat sheets from now on — and recommending this to everyone." — Ekaterina Khomich
"The best marketing strategy course for anyone who wants to navigate the variety of marketing concepts, models, and techniques. Especially useful for those already working in the field who feel a gap in the bigger picture." — Alexander Luchnikov
"Logical structure. Common sense as the main test for whether a method actually works. High density of knowledge per minute of video. And strategy presented not as an object of worship — but as a business tool." — Sasha Starikov
Price
€349 before April 1 (€649 after) — full course access, all materials, bonus, direct Q&A with me.
Team pricing — building shared language across your marketing team? Get in touch for per-seat rates (3+ people).
Common questions
I've been in marketing for 10+ years. Will this be too basic? The concepts will be familiar. The system that connects them won't be. The more experience you bring, the more it clicks.
I come from performance / CRM / product marketing. Is this relevant? The system covers all of marketing. You'll see where your function fits — what sits above it, below it, and alongside it. That context is what most specialists never get.
What if I already read Sharp / Binet & Field / Ritson? Good. You know some ingredients. This course shows you the recipe — and where those thinkers agree, where they disagree, and how to form your own position.
I don't have much time. Each lesson is a short video plus a written guide. Built for senior professionals with full schedules. Consistency, not intensity.
One course. The whole map. Everything else you can look up.