A well known German proverb states, "What’s the use of running if you are on the wrong road." No place is this more true than the marketing and advertising world.
One of the greatest mistakes you can make in marketing is not knowing the difference between a marketing tactic and an overall marketing strategy. This misunderstanding leads to short term profit chasing and a disjointed effort that wastes your marketing budget.
It’s the first quarter and time to create strategic plans for the year to come. But what framework should you use? Most people use some form of objectives, goals, strategies and tactics for their plans. Here’s a quick primer on what these terms mean and how they will improve your efforts.
Objectives: An objective is a high-level achievement. The simpler the better, like “Improve customer loyalty” or “Grow our market share.” They can also be mountain-tops of company success: “Make our brand a word of mouth success story.” They could be trying to solve a nagging, systemic problem or doing something big, like entering a new market. Objectives are a rally point for leaders who manage day-to-day efforts: “Will the idea being pitched to me help us reduce our churn?” or “Will this project help us develop a new market?” Objectives sit at the top of the strategic plan, and an ideal plan has no more than a handful of them.
Goals: A goal is anything that’s measured. Goals can be revenue, profit margin, members in a community, certifications delivered, etc. Goals determine how you fulfill an objective. Multiple goals can, and should, support a single objective. A goal of “customer satisfaction rating of 75%” can support multiple objectives like “become a word of mouth success story” and “deliver best-in-class service.” A goal is based on numbers.
Strategies: A strategy is a way to describe a series of tactics, or very specific actions. In sports strategy is often described as an action: Play man-to-man coverage. The commonality is action performed by a team or group of people. Each strategy description begins with a verb to signify that something is being done. Example verbs include: create, hire, develop, launch, etc.
Tactics: A tactic is a very specific action. In our framework, a tactic might be “create a new website” or “redesign our collateral system to serve a new market.” Each tactic has an owner who may rely on the work of multiple people in direct or dotted-line reporting relationships to make the tactic work. Tactics are best, too, when they are preceded with a verb. Specificity is the driver to improvement.
Decide on your company’s Objectives, Goals, Strategies and Tactics for 2010 using the above top-down methodology as a framework. Clarity is key so be careful not to blend each type of planning into one another.
LiveWire Marketing, a Denver marketing firm, works with large corporations, smaller companies and everything in between. Founded 11 years ago, this team of senior-level talent continues to drive results for its clients. LiveWire has successfully completed a diverse set of projects including brand development, name creation, marketing strategy, social media initiatives and integrated marketing campaigns. To learn what LiveWire Marketing can do for you call 303.221.1912 or email info@LiveWireMktg.com.
LiveWire Marketing, a leader in Denver advertising.