Sometimes, a client will come work with us looking for some quick bullet points of simple, easy to follow steps they can put into place to grow their business. While it’s understandable to want to focus on such tactics, if you really want to grow at scale, what you really need is a strategy.
What’s the difference between tactics and strategy? Tactics are, essentially, specific actions items you can implement. Things like hashtags to use, putting a call-to-action button above the fold, etc. They’re things you can do that can have an immediate and noticeable effect on your business.
Strategies, on the other hand, tell you which tactics to focus on, and which to avoid. It’s the blueprint that lays out precisely what you need to do to achieve your overall goal—whether that’s increasing your conversion rate, growing your organic social media following, or whatever else you have in mind.
That’s why it’s so important to define a strategy first, and then (and only then!) think about tactics. Someone who’s thinking about tactics first would, if they woke up and found themselves without a skeleton (just go with me on this one), ask their doctor what they can do about their skincare routine. Skincare?! You don’t have a skeleton! We have to address and prioritize dealing with the underlying issue first before we even worry about what to do with the skin.
This isn’t to say that tactics aren’t important — you can’t go anywhere without tactics. But tactics without strategy is not just wasted effort — it can actually be counterproductive. You could be focusing on the wrong thing, executing tactics that don’t ever get you closer to what you actually want. That’s why it’s so important to first take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Get your strategy in place, and the right tactics will follow.
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