The biggest mistakes I see entrepreneurs making in regards to marketing their business is focusing on tactics, and completely ignoring strategy or worse – creating strategy on the run to fit a tactic.
Let’s be clear….Tactics and Strategies are NOT the same thing. They are mutually exclusive, but are both necessary for you to have success in your business.
Strategy comes from the Greek word “strategos” meaning “general.” Tactic comes from the Greek work “taktikas” meaning “foot soldier”.
To define it, tactics are actions that allow you to achieve a strategic objective.
It is critical that you know this.
Think of it this way:
Soliders, M16′s, Tanks, Smart Bombs, Stealth Bombers, Battleships = These are not strategies to win a war, they are tactics.
Tanks, carrying solidiers armed with M16′s, advance on a beachhead, with air cover from Stealth Bombers, after Navy Battleships pound the coastal fortresses with Smart Bombs = This is a strategy to win a war.
So, Landing Pages, SEO, Blogs, Facebook, Email, Adwords, Offers, Copy, Content = These are also TACTICS
Combining Content with good SEO that drives people to your Offer with good Copy = Strategy
Driving people from your Facebook page to your Blog where you present an Offer with good Copy = Strategy
Driving people from Adwords to your Landing Page where you Present an Offer with Good Copy and get them to subscribe to an Email series = Strategy
If you are tackling a revenue problem via tactics, you’re not solving the problem. You must attack the revenue problem strategically, then employ the proper tactics to execute the strategy.
For example, it may not be the best strategy for your high-priced product to drive Adwords to a landing page. Cold traffic is hard to come by for your product and people are not likely to buy right from a click.
You might discover that selling your product via a webinar or speaking opportunity is the best strategy, so instead of wasting money and time on Adwords and landing pages, you should be taking the time to connect to possible partners with lists of your ideal customers via LinkedIn and Facebook.
So many clients have thought that their issues are because of a failed tactic. This could not be farther from the truth.
Remember, tactics do not win the war, strategies do.
Great Blog Bob. Very true
How right you are! Unfortunately, it seems as if people enjoy talking about their bright, shiny tactics over having a solid, carefully defined strategy in place.
That is excellent intel on the difference between strategy and tactics. It makes sense, is short and to the point.
Hi Bob, very true.
Long ago I wrote a report on people ignorance of strategy vs. tactics called “Spitting in the Wind.” (You can imagine why I called it that….) I’m taking the liberty of pasting the first section here:
Dov Gordon
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Who ISN’T a brilliant strategist?
I remember reading that more than 90% of people believe that they are better looking and funnier than average; better drivers, too. It often seems that more than 90% of executives believe that they are better than average strategists. But can this really be so?
Many executives find themselves frustrated when leading strategic discussions. The deliberations take numerous turns, many – or even most – of which do not move forward. Like an infant who can’t quite crawl, we reach for what we want and find that we have moved backwards or in circles. The loudest, most charismatic or most senior voices tend to dominate and these are not always the most informed and most objective. When there finally appears to be agreement – it is often mere submission.
When it comes to strategy, there is too much ego and not enough understanding.
We tend to become very attached to “our” ideas about how strategy should be formulated and we forget that there are objective tasks to be done.
The missing link in strategy is this: We need to forget our definitions of strategy and begin to deeply understand what we are trying to accomplish.
I was sitting with Richard, the COO of a $130,000,000 distributor, discussing a problem they were having. “You know, Dov, yesterday I used your approach to strategy when presenting some ideas to the team,” he told me.
Since I hadn’t yet shared anything with him personally but had sent him my audio book, I asked “Oh, did you listen to the audio book?”
“No. I just looked at the model. I am familiar with all that stuff already,” he said. “I studied strategy with Professor So-And-So who is widely considered to be the foremost strategic mind in the country.”
“Really,” I said, unimpressed. “With all that you know about strategy, I have one question for you. What is the difference between a strategy and a plan?”
“Strategy is the WHAT and a plan is the HOW,” he replied.
“You mean that strategy is a goal? It’s a kind of vision? It’s what you want to achieve?” I asked.
“No, it is more than just a goal. It is also what you plan to do to get there,” he said.
“So a strategy is both what you want to achieve and your plan for reaching your goals?” I asked.
Now he was stumped. And perplexed. Like so many others before him, I had quickly shown Richard that neither his MBA nor all he had learned from his prestigious professor helped him really understand this tool we call “strategy.”
We often sit around the same board room table, debating strategy without a clear – let alone a common – understanding of what it is.
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Don’t Define it. Understand it!
Most definitions of strategy create confusion, not clarity. My suggestion: Don’t define it. Instead understand it. Understand the QUESTIONS that you need to answer and just answer them. The definition doesn’t matter if you get the results you need.
Any strategy formulation process should help you answer the four fundamental strategic questions:
i. What products will we offer and not offer?
ii. What markets will we serve and not serve?
iii. How do our target markets need to perceive us in order to want to do business with us? [This leads you to your competitive advantage.]
iv. What key capabilities do we need in order to successfully create that perception so that our target market comes and buys our products and services?
Etc…