Strategy Before Tactics, What It Means and Why It Matters

If you've ever played sports or been part of a competitive team, you know what it's like to face an opponent who seems to know every move you're going to make before you even make it. For a game like chess, preparing for a match with a well-thought-out strategy is the difference between winning and losing.

What do the best chess players and award-winning marketers have in common? They know their moves before they make them, and approach each and every effort with a strategy-first approach. A master chess player would never enter a match without a plan, knowing how each move sets up the next and can adapt to new inputs from their opponents. They have a holistic view of the board, see many moves ahead, and often know the psychology of their opponent from years of experience and hours of research. A truly effective marketing strategy follows this same methodology. If your focus is only on the immediate move then you’ll never be able to do anything but react. At SyncShow we often say to be wary of "whack-a-mole marketing", where you move from tactic to tactic without a unified, documented, and well-planned strategy. The chess player who moves pieces just to take their turn will inevitably fall to the player who plans out their strategy and makes their opponent play the way they dictate, forcing them to react to a well-thought-out strategy. That’s not to say mastery of tactics or moves on a chess board aren’t required, but they’re table stakes to success — indicators and supporting efforts of success, not success itself. 

Let’s talk about what it takes to create a cohesive strategy and the pitfalls of mistaking raw activity for strategic effectiveness.

Define a Goal

Before you start any marketing effort, you need to know what success looks like. Goals can be revenue-based, they can be awareness-based, they can be perception-based, or any other single or combination of measurable expectations that drive defined business outcomes. Sophisticated organizations will have their goals and objectives well-defined within their space. Not surprisingly, most often the definitive goal for marketing is tied to revenue. When a defined revenue goal is outlined, a good marketing department will be able to map that number back to the lead level, where they often have a formula that takes the goal metrics, understands their ratio of lead to closed/won revenue, and ties it further to the average deal amount. In this way, a well-informed marketing department knows that on average X number of leads into the pipeline equals Y dollars of revenue earned — and, as often is the case, revenue expectations are time-bound, so marketing departments can break down leads by quarter, month, week, or even day if lead volume allows for that level of tracking. The trick then is getting those qualified leads in the door and measuring efforts against a tangible metric over time. 

Without a defined goal and a unified understanding of what success looks like, how will you know what direction is the right direction? This seems an obvious point, and many companies we work with speak in goal-oriented terms, but if you can’t put on paper with no more than a line or two of text what exactly a successful marketing engagement looks like, you don’t have a defined goal. Too many companies come to us saying they “need marketing”, which is often true, but these conversations usually arise from a concept that they need marketing as a box to check, and therefore as an expense to incur, as opposed to starting the conversation by saying, "I need X business outcomes and I see marketing as one of the ways to achieve this". That change in phrasing moves a company from thinking of marketing as a "thing to be done" which is a thought without vision, to thinking about marketing as a means to a business end, which now opens the door to strategic ideation and opportunity. Once your goal is well articulated in metrics and business impact, you can dedicate efforts toward that outcome and know, in real numbers, if you’re on track or off track and what to do about it.

Know Your Audience

The concept of "Know Your Audience" is a fundamental principle in marketing and business that has stood the test of time. It's not just about knowing who your customers are, but also deeply understanding their motivations, challenges, and aspirations. Before taking action with the hopes of achieving your defined goals, you first have to understand your audience — after all, it’s their needs that will get you to your goal, not the other way around.

Not all prospects are the same, and the more you understand your audience the more easily you can speak to them. Seeing your audience as a monolith or going after paychecks and a pulse for potential buyers, is not a strategic approach designed for winning. Instead, understand who buys from you and why. To do this, start with audience segmentation of your ideal customers.

Audience segmentation involves dividing your target market into smaller, more manageable groups based on various factors. Demographics such as age, gender, income, education, and location can provide valuable insights. Psychographics, which encompass lifestyle, interests, values, and attitudes, help you understand your customers on a deeper level. Behavior graphics, such as purchase history, usage patterns, and brand loyalty, reveal how customers interact with your brand. Firmographics, like demographics for people, are sets of characteristics relevant to businesses and include information like size, industry, location, and revenue.

Customer journey mapping is another essential tool. By identifying touchpoints, you can understand where and how customers interact with your brand. Understanding their pain points helps you address their challenges and frustrations. Additionally, determining decision-making factors reveals what influences their buying decisions.

Empathy and customer-centricity are key to building strong relationships. Putting yourself in your customers' shoes allows you to truly understand their needs and desires. Active listening demonstrates your commitment to their concerns, while prioritizing their needs ensures that their satisfaction is a top priority.

Tailored messaging is crucial for effective communication. Speaking your customers' language involves using language and terminology they understand. Addressing their concerns directly shows that you value their problems and offer solutions. Highlighting the benefits of your product or service demonstrates how it improves their lives.

Data-driven insights are essential for making informed decisions. Leveraging analytics allows you to track customer behavior and preferences. Conducting research through surveys, interviews, and focus groups gathers valuable insights. Using data effectively guides your marketing strategies and ensures they are aligned with your audience's needs.

Continuous learning and adaptation are essential in today's dynamic market. Staying updated on industry trends and customer preferences helps you remain relevant. Being flexible allows you to adjust your strategies as needed to meet evolving needs. Seeking feedback from customers provides valuable insights for improvement.

In essence, knowing your audience is about building a strong connection with your customers and delivering value that resonates with them. By understanding their needs, preferences, and challenges, you can create marketing campaigns that are more relevant, effective, and likely to drive conversions.

Define Your Value Proposition

Once you've established your goals and identified your target audience, the next crucial step is to define your value proposition. This is a clear and compelling statement that articulates the unique benefits your product or service offers to your target customers. 

A well-crafted value proposition is essential for effective marketing. It serves as a guiding star, ensuring that all your marketing efforts are aligned with your customers' needs and desires. Unfortunately, many organizations struggle to articulate their value proposition effectively. They may create generic or watered-down statements that fail to differentiate themselves from competitors. Alternatively, they may focus too heavily on their own features and benefits, rather than addressing the specific needs of their ideal clients.

To create a compelling value proposition, consider the following questions:

• What problem does your product or service solve?
• How does your offering differ from competitors?
• What unique benefits do your customers receive?
• How does your value proposition align with your target audience's needs and desires?

By answering these questions, you can develop a value proposition that resonates with your customers and sets your business apart from the competition. A well-defined value proposition will guide your marketing efforts, help you attract the right customers, and ultimately drive business growth.

Activate Your Channels

Normally, this is where we see companies start their marketing journey. They focus on channels like blogging, social media, conferences, trade shows, paid advertising, and a myriad of other channels and tactics without doing the strategic work outlined above. What we often see as an outcome is static and declining marketing metrics with sales quickly following. Knowing what your goals are, who you’re targeting, and what story you need to tell is incredibly critical to marketing success. Simply turning on a few ads and cranking out aimless blogs will not cut it in today’s marketing landscape. 

Use the understanding of who your audience is to craft messaging that resonates and drives them to action, overcoming their obstacles and making them the heroes of their own efforts. Activate marketing channels where your audience resides, getting your message in front of the right people at the right time and where they "hang out" online. And, measure your efforts against both industry benchmarks and internal goals to understand where pivots are needed, whether in channels activated or messaging employed. 

Too many agencies or in-house marketing groups focus on individual channels in which they feel comfortable, not necessarily where their audience is found. When you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail and you’ll continue to pound away at a tactic that isn’t returning results. Be sure to diversify your channel efforts toward those that have an impact on your goals and encourage your ideal audience to take desired actions that impact your company goals.

Reporting On Efforts & Using Data To Drive Decisions

Once you have your strategic plan in place and your proper channels and tactics are running with content targeting your desired audience, it’s now time to let data tell the story. Too often we see people stumble on this step. They spend time, money, and effort on a sophisticated strategy and then follow a “set-it-and-forget-it” approach. Watching your data come in after launch allows you to promptly pivot where needed. No matter how well-researched a unified strategic approach is, rarely is it 100% right the first time. Ensuring you have reporting metrics available to measure success against your goal is critical to strategic marketing and removes the ambiguity of results from your tactical channels.

When collecting data for reporting, it’s important to know how to distinguish between what matters tactically and what matters strategically. Each channel tactic usually provides a lot of raw data points, including items like impressions, clicks, rank, times, and a number of other metrics. With all this data, knowing what matters is what’s important. Yes, tactically focused metrics like keyword rank for an SEO tactic can give you data, but a page one keyword rank alone does not mean a purchase is made. Similarly, a like or a follow on social media does not put money into your account as a business leader — it may feel good to increase following, and it may indicate traction in awareness and audience building, but that is an indicator step at best, not a bottom-line impact. Keep in mind the bottom line and goal of your strategy. If your goal is revenue generation, then you need to track efforts against monetary results. Understanding leading indicators will provide a bit of foreshadowing to success, so keep an eye on numbers that generally indicate success is coming, but don’t hang your hat on them until your strategic goals are met through measurement. 

Once you have your data identified and monitored, you can start to make educated and informed decisions on their outcomes. Moving from
"gut feelings" of what you think works to analytics of what you know works, allows you to make informed decisions. Look at the important metrics and adjust your efforts as needed, but be sure to also look at the bigger picture of data-based results tied to your overall goals. Don’t get distracted by metrics that don’t drive you toward your goals — focus on what matters to you as a business and modify efforts to match.

In the realm of marketing, strategy reigns supreme. Just as a chess grandmaster meticulously plans each move, effective marketers must approach their campaigns with a strategic mindset. By defining clear goals, understanding their audience, crafting a compelling value proposition, activating the right channels, and leveraging data-driven insights, marketers create campaigns that deliver goal-oriented results. Remember, it's not just about executing tactics; it's about building a solid foundation of strategy that guides every decision, ensuring long-term success.