Do You Understand the Difference Between Marketing Strategy and Tactics?

Do you know your marketing strategy from your marketing tactics, and is it important that you do?

There are marketing activities you may carry out diligently and regularly, but these do not constitute a marketing strategy in themselves, even if you?ve thought them through carefully.

 

Tactics Without Strategy

If you engage in regular, concentrated marketing activity but there?s no overarching plan behind it then you risk becoming a busy fool.

One example is social media marketing. You can easily make yourself very busy on social media, posting tweets, links, articles and blogs, sharing content and commenting on other people?s posts. It can all feel very involving.

However, if there?s no real plan to all this activity, there?s no guarantee that you?re going to reach your audience, connect with them, and make the necessary conversions that will grow your business.

Tactics are actions and these actions should execute your strategy. Otherwise you risk losing direction, or not following a direction in the first place.

 

Strategy Without Tactics

Strategy is the planning, choosing your goals and understanding what it is exactly that you want to achieve.

For example, you might have a start-up business and your marketing strategy involves building a responsive website as a means of attracting your audience, and getting them to act by contacting you.

If you have the website built, what will you then do to attract visitors and convert them into prospects? Without tactics, a website is like a billboard ? it may look the part, it may even gather some passing interest, but it?s not actively working to grow your business.

Here your tactics might involve SEO, blogging, downloadable content, posting links to social media and email marketing ? all activities designed to drive people to your site.

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The Whole Package

Marketing only works effectively when it comes from joined-up thinking and considered action. Marketing strategy and marketing tactics must work together to deliver on business objectives.

It goes like this:

1. set your goals;
2. do your research;
3. form your strategy;
4. decide on your tactics;
5. launch your marketing campaign;
6. evaluate its effectiveness;
7. adjust where necessary; and
8. keep measuring your results.

If you need to be sure about your goals, try thinking in reverse. First, imagine the future you want for your business; then look at the steps you will require to make it a reality.

Ask yourself these questions:

• For marketing strategy ? how do I achieve this?
• For marketing tactics ? why am I doing this?

To create successful tactics which will enact your strategy, you need to thoroughly understand your customers, and you must choose the correct marketing channels to reach them.

Based in Manchester, Reform Creative is a design agency making marketing work for a wide range of businesses across different sectors. We can help you develop the correct marketing strategy to meet your business growth goals, and we know what tactics will work best to make it all happen for you.