You don’t have a strategy until somebody thinks it isn’t a good idea.

Here’s a simple test for any strategy you’ve defined – can you think of an organization that wouldn’t be following the same strategy? If not, then you’ve only defined a goal, not a strategy.

“Cutting costs” is not a strategy. Everybody wants to do that. If you say something about how you will do that (what you will consciously sacrifice in order to cut costs), and not every organization would have the same answer (hint: “eliminate waste” and “streamline operations” are too generic / formulaic to count), then you are on your way to a strategy.

A strategy must give some indication of how you will be different from your competitors. You don’t have a strategy until somebody thinks it isn’t a good idea. Having the right strategy is a much more complicated matter, but the test above (i.e., would anybody do otherwise?) will keep you from settling on generic pablum that lends only the illusion of strategic thinking.