In extraordinarily general terms, there are 3 main plans employed. You need to be able to hop between strategies almost instantly as the action of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This is composed of creating a 6-deep wall of pieces, or at a minimum as deep as you can achieve, to lock in the opponent’s checkers that are on your 1-point. This is judged to be the most acceptable tactic at the begining of the game. You can build the wall anywhere inbetween your eleven-point and your two-point and then move it into your home board as the match advances.
The Blitz
This consists of closing your home board as fast as as you can while keeping your opponent on the bar. e.g., if your challenger rolls an early two and moves one piece from your one-point to your 3-point and you then roll a five-five, you can play six/one 6/1 eight/three 8/3. Your challenger is now in serious difficulty taking into account that they have 2 checkers on the bar and you have closed half your home board!
The Backgame
This plan is where you have two or more checkers in your competitor’s inner board. (An anchor spot is a point occupied by at least two of your pieces.) It would be employed when you are decidedly behind as it greatly improves your chances. The better locations for anchor spots are close to your opponent’s smaller points and either on abutting points or with a single point separating them. Timing is essential for a powerful backgame: after all, there is no point having two nice anchor spots and a solid wall in your own inner board if you are then forced to break up this straight away, while your challenger is getting their checkers home, taking into account that you do not have any other spare pieces to move! In this situation, it’s more tolerable to have checkers on the bar so that you are able to maintain your position up until your challenger gives you an opportunity to hit, so it may be a wonderful idea to try and get your opposer to hit them in this case!