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Strategic vs. Tactical Marketing


In much the same way that friendship is the least
appreciated aspect of love, marketing is the least
understood aspect of business. Marketing
strategies that work for Company A may not work for
Company B. Simple marketing tips, like trying to
explain why lime green walls are inappropriate from
a marketing and company positioning viewpoint
doesn't always sink into the thick skulls of some
neanderthal bosses. Attempting to explain to a
computer programmer turned software developer why
he needs a marketing and PR staff and fewer
programmers is mighty tough. The fact that IBM
seems to consist mostly of account
representatives, and that the millionaires behind
the pet rock craze made their money purely by
marketing, rarely carries the significance it
deserves.

Most businesses owners consider marketing to be
one or more of the following: hiring a salesman,
running an advertisement, a Yellow Pages listing,
joining the local chamber of commerce. These kinds
of business leaders have no overall marketing plan,
just a series of disjointed, nearly random actions
that may or may not work. The fact these businesses
got started and are still in business was probably
more a matter of luck and circumstances rather than
business skill. There's nothing wrong with luck and
circumstance, we all could benefit greatly by
receiving more of each, but after they help get you
on your way your business deserves better from
you.

To achieve maximum successful requires a
dedication to marketing in terms of time, resources,
people and money. It also requires an organized
approach. Marketing, simply because it is somewhat
nebulous, needs to have structure and organization
imposed upon it. When thus configured it can be
addressed in a businesslike and analytical fashion.

The first step to serious marketing is strategic in
nature. Block out hours of time to develop a
marketing strategy. Decide what it is you're selling,
what makes it unique and what message or image you
constantly want to communicate. Then develop a
marketing budget for each month. Be reasonable,
remember marketing should be 1/3 of your business.
Now explore what you can do with those dollars each
month. How can they best be spent? How can the
dollars and projects of last month be tied into this
month's marketing? How can we track the results of
those efforts? Finally, write it all down in a formal
marketing document you can refer to and follow for
the next several months. Do exactly what your
document says to do, don't get back into the habit of
randomly trying different marketing tools. If a new
marketing channel develops work it into your next
marketing document. Don't impulse buy with your
marketing dollars - stick with the program.

The strategic side of marketing is all talk and
planning. It's necessary, but it's just foundation
work. Unless you put the plan into action, it's just
words on paper. Strategic marketing is planning,
tactical marketing is doing. Tactical marketing is
writing those press releases, newsletters and new
brochures your marketing plan has assigned. It's
making those specified 10 cold calls per day,
designing that image building logo and running those
ads in the magazines. It's doing a mass mailout and
secondary mailout follow-up, and then writing
thank-you notes to the people that responded and
purchased your product.

Strategic marketing requires creative thinkers and
planners. Tactical marketing needs doers. Meanwhile,
someone else must be maintaining or building your
product, while still another person is seeing to all
the administrative chores (hiring, firing, buying,
accounting, etc.) running a business requires.

If you want to be an entrepreneur you must be
prepared to wear all those hats when you first
begin. Not everyone can or wants to do that. Yes,
being your own boss can be rewarding and exciting,
but sometimes just being an employee watching out
over only one aspect of the big picture seems very,
very appealing.

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