Strategy vs Tactics
I was looking at an earlier article Strategy First that I wrote a few weeks back. Not sure if I clearly made the point so I felt a further discussion was needed. Writing these articles has been the biggest challenge I’ve ever taken on when it comes to how my brain works, being wired for visual and audio not written communication. These articles are like doing 100 sit-ups every Sunday so I can ski better. It has also been one of the most rewarding. Diving in deep into the problems and the breakthroughs I make weekly in the ever-changing landscape of digital marketing has been worth the effort.
Let’s get to it.
The difference between a marketing strategy and online tactics. I know the difference from experience but I realize that the majority of small business owners do not. Every weekend I lie in bed for an hour watching digital marketing and business videos. Yeah, I’m a total GEEK, and proud of it! I see time and time again digital marketers boasting “We’ll get you 100X more followers in 60 days”, “10X more posts for less”, and “We’ll get seen you on TikTok” which may seem like a good deal until you start to talk results. For example, 10K followers on Instagram will not do my BWCI marketing business any good and is not worth the time and effort, so pursuing the tactics it takes to achieve this goal is a waste of my time and resources. On the other hand, my son Josh Gold - A professional skier hitting the 10K mark was a mile marker worth celebrating.
Tactics - Creating and applying content to specific platforms in a way to achieve THE goal.
For example goals of:
Posting for brand awareness
Gaining followers
Directing Traffic - Clicks to the website
Online Purchases - Only small dollar purchases work here.
Strategy - Creating a marketing plan that spans content creation, delivery, and tracking.
A plan that is a roadmap for:
Defining THE goal. Do you need 10K followers?
Determine Who. Content creation with a unified clear message to your most valuable customer.
Delivery - Why and when to post on what platforms.
ROI - Tracking, is it working?
Lately, the area of Fine Art Marketing has been on my plate. I’m an artist and Fall is a big selling season for art. I’ve talked to a few galleries about how to approach Fine Art marketing. There is the usual posting about new artists and collections, which to me is tactics for their social feeds where strategy comes in is developing a conversation with buyers. I recommended to one gallery that the Fine Art Market has changed drastically in the past decade. There are so many new young buyers with incomes that can support fine art but have no knowledge of how, what, why, or when it comes to fine art purchasing. Becoming a trusted resource in Fine Art is the road their marketing strategy needs to be on in order to develop a solid customer base in the future. It’s the E-A-T Factor I spoke about a couple of weeks ago. Expertise, Authority, and Trust. In our saturated world of information, people need someone to guide them through all the noise. Be that voice.
Bottom line, yours will increase, if you know and understand the difference between marketing tactics and strategy. Plus the peace of mind you gain knowing that you are not throwing spaghetti at the wall to see if it sticks. I’m not saying there are no risks to be taken in online marketing, there are plenty, but having a strategy in place creates goals for your ROI and guardrails with speed bumps to alert you when it’s not working.
My new BWCI marketing message? Ensure the person you hire for your online marketing knows how to drive your car. Many know it’s a car, with a gas pedal. But do they know how to steer around a curve, where their brakes are if they hit a bump, and more importantly the correct road you need to be on to get to your destination? What your business doesn't need is someone taking your marketing out for a joy ride with your ad budget dollars.
If there is a topic you’d like to hear more about by all means comment below or direct message and I’ll do my best.
Nothing better than a good question to jump into.
Reach out for a talk over coffee or a hike I give information freely. I only ask to be paid when I do the work. tgold@bigwaterci.com
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Trina Gold
Master Creator