Strategy and tactic are two words often used when it comes to meeting goals. Although they seem similar, they have different meanings — at least when it comes to marketing.
Simply put, the word strategy is all about the direction taken to meet a goal. It is all about the thinking process.
Tactics, on the other hand, are specific activities and media channels undertaken to complete the strategy, like using Tatango for SMS marketing.
In other words, the difference between marketing strategy and tactics is that the former pertains to plans, while the latter is all about the activities that bring the plan to fruition.
In the world of business, marketing helps companies promote products, services, and brand awareness. Because of this, a marketing plan needs to prioritize strategic marketing first. After all, this broad, long- term goal talks about the directions that need to be taken for business growth.
Marketing tactics then follow suit, as they are things you need to do to solidify your competitive advantage.
Marketing Strategies vs. Tactics: Which Is Which?
Strategies and tactics complement each other. With the strategy alluding to the concept and the tactics pertaining to the actions, it’s essential to cover marketing strategies vs. tactics.
Strategic Marketing
To have a good strategy, you have to make sure that you understand your customers’ characteristics, i.e., demographics and purchase habits. You also need to be updated with the trends, as well as your position in the market.
These can help define your business goals, which are crucial for making the right strategies.
Strategic planning should involve these key elements:
● Mission statement, or the reason why the business exists
● Strategy objectives, such as market share, profit, and turnover
● Strategy audit, which shows where the organization is and if it was able to meet its goals
● Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of the business
● Departmental objectives, or the new goals each office might need to achieve
● Strategies, or the approaches the company plans might undertake to meet the goals
When you plan a digital marketing strategy, it’s not necessary to achieve everything all at once. It’s best to focus on something that will work to your tactical advantage.
A digital marketing strategy should also look through the long-term goals of the company. One example would be creating a new name or product.
It’s also important to consider advertising to different demographics or expanding the market share of the business.
Most importantly, a marketing plan should be referred to the financial department. It can help determine the feasibility of the strategies and whether the company has the money to push through.
In a nutshell, strategic marketing can be determined through the STP model:
● Segments
● Targets (the focus)
● Positioning, or what is needed to be attained. This can be achieved by a marketing mix (7Ps) that includes price, product, promotion, place, physical evidence, people, and processes.
Tactical Marketing
The difference between strategy and tactics is their scope.
A strategy is set for the goals, while tactics are the specific activities that can help you achieve your business goal.
For your tactic to be effective, you have to look at the profiles of your customers. You have to get all the vital information, such as your customers’ age, sex, location, educational level, and marital or parental status, to name a few.
Knowledge of specific demographics will help you pinpoint the best advertising tactic or media marketing to boost sales.
Taking the 7Ps into consideration:
● If your positioning strategy is to get exclusivity, your brand identity should look and feel dedicated.
● If you like to make the price of your new product more upscale, your tactic should not include selling your items on a discount website. Another option is not to offer bulk buys or credits.
● If you want your product to be a limited edition item, you should only stock a certain amount of goods on your website.
● If you want your promotion to be personalized, you should only do an exclusive website launch accessible only to a select number of people.
● If you want your place to be highly limited, you should only concentrate your branch in one location.
● If you want your people or ambassadors to be as upscale as your products, you should only hire well-groomed and well-versed employees.
Apart from considering the marketing mix, your marketing tactics should also include the following:
● Generating and following up on leads
● Building a website or social media profile
● Creating blog posts
● Placing real-life and digital ads
● Marketing promotion and sales
It also considers the set budget, so the employees who enforce the tactics don’t go way beyond the established cost.
Marketing Strategy vs. Tactics: Which Is Better?
To be frank, no one thing is better because both pursuits are dependent on each other.
Without a marketing strategy, you won’t have an objective to work on. Without tactics, you won’t be able to do the campaigns that allow you to meet your objectives.
In essence, both have to be present if you want your brand to succeed. So stop delaying, it’s time to implement your marketing strategy and tactics today!
