STRATEGY
[Designing experiences] requires more than simply giving lip service to the importance of customer service. [It] requires an intentional, tested process to create experiences that will lead participants through a sequence of interactions across all three experience phases; interactions that produce results desired by the participant and intended by the experience designer.
Rossman & Duerden
I think projects/products have to take these three considerations seriously before pen ever touches paper. This means meeting with stakeholders, users, engineering teams, content strategists, etc., so that there is a consensus of collaboration and intention both towards our goals and an ideal. That said, I really like the considerations Ideo has outlines for experience design: Feasibility. Viability. Desirability.
Product/UX strategy starts getting close to traditional, old-school marketing: figuring out the market, doing comparative analyses, figuring out your unique selling point. It can even move towards operations, depending on your competitive advantage. Your product may only have parity but you have cost reductions throughout your supply chain.
UX strategy relies on brand and vice versa. Your products should be the living version of your brand promise. Your values should be instilled into the product so that they emerge in customer experiences.