Don’t Focus on Marketing Tactics at the Expense of Strategy

marketing strategy tactics

One of the hardest things to do—for any individual, organization, or business—is to define a vision and strategy. It involves diving deep into one’s strengths and weaknesses, while having a clear view of the market opportunities and threats. Talking strategy usually means dealing with uncomfortable realities, as well as risking disagreement with others.

It’s much easier to deal in tactics.

For example, we could have a very benefit-oriented conversation about the pros and cons of certain social media networks, and how to post effectively and engagingly on social media for marketing purposes. But that’s a fairly useless conversation if social media is later determined to be unattractive or unsustainable as part of your overall marketing strategy, given other tactics available to you.

However, tactics are seductive because they are tangible, and offer the feeling of improvement and progress. But what if that progress is taking you in the wrong direction?

My column this month at Publishers Weekly tackles how to reduce your marketing anxiety by getting clear on your strategy first.

Share on:
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

2 Comments
oldest
newest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
trackback

[…] Friedman follows a similar approach. In a recent article, she discusses why being mindful of a general marketing strategy is much more efficient than […]

Pranav Mishra

That’s a helpful reminder. Thanks.
‘Vision’ is the word one should stick to.
And one should form a vision after a thorough exploration of one’s abilities and where he or she stands in the overall scenario.
Sometimes, so much is going in the head, and it’s common to lose focus. Sometimes we try to over-market (specially social media.) These moves should be effective and not aggressive.

A nice, crisp and important article.