Every marketing discipline should be strategic
When I was working in the corporate world, I regularly had inquiries from companies that were hiring marketers. And, since I believe it’s important to be open to opportunities, I almost always met with them if it made sense. In one of those conversations, I shared some of my background and mentioned most of my experience is in content marketing.
The person I was speaking to sounded disappointed and said something about me not working on the strategic side of marketing.
This is a ridiculous notion. Every discipline of marketing is strategic if you’re doing it right. Every last one. Every discipline also has tactical elements. But if the strategy is missing, that's a failure of leadership in its view of marketing. If certain roles are treated as purely tactical, the marketing team isn’t going to perform to its full potential.
Marketing is one of the most important strategic functions of any business. When it's treated as a check box exercise, it's ineffective and it reinforces the too-often low value that is put on the work.
No business is immune to this mindset—it happens in large and small businesses.
Strategic marketing decides what’s right for the business
I once had a client with a service-based business who simply wanted to be on all the channels available, including social media. They wanted me to tell them in a 1-hour session how to use one of the social networks.
I told them I could help them with the tactical piece in that amount of time, but they're not going to get any value from using it if they don't have a purpose for being there beyond having a presence. I answered all their questions and told them my recommendation is that they not use social media.
A marketing strategy would have explored their goals, the market landscape, looked at their audience, how they’re getting clients, the opportunities in front of the business, and barriers to achieving the goals. Those insights would provide clarity about whether social media was even necessary. Because not every business needs to use social media.
The problem with executing on tactics with no strategic foundation is the results will likely be flimsy, non-existent, or unreliable. Without a strategy giving direction, it’s difficult to keep tactical work going. That client I mentioned? Their social accounts were abandoned after a few posts.
Strategic marketing avoids doing all the things with no plan or purpose
Many businesses that skip the strategy are looking for short-term wins to boost results now. But when you’re always looking for the quick wins, it slows down your ability to scale.
Even more important than results is being clear on what you actually need. The strategy is about working smarter, not harder. Tactically focused organizations practice what I like to call spaghetti marketing. They throw everything at the wall and see what sticks.
What a waste of time and energy when you can do the research in advance to determine what tactics are going to deliver the best results.
A strategy is more work up front, but the benefits in the long term far outweigh the extra work required.
You'll spend little or no time on tactics that don't benefit your business.
You'll have clarity and purpose in everything you do, which makes the work more fun.
You'll see better results because strategy ties the work to your business and marketing objectives.
I always say the most important question a marketer can ask is “why.” Nothing about marketing should ever be considered purely tactical. There should always be a reason, even if it's a simple as testing an idea.
Strategic marketing reduces the need for sales
This concept won’t be popular for the sales folks out there, but it’s the truth (and it helps make their job easier). The best marketing is crystal clear about who you help, the problem they have, how you help, and what’s different in your product vs the competition. When those pieces are authentically lined up, just imagine how easy it is to sell.
Good marketing primes leads to say yes. It answers most of their questions and gives them trust and confidence that your business is a good fit to fulfill their needs.
Doing this effectively means putting together a team of people from content to product to digital, design, and more who understand the strategy and how they contribute to the execution.
Tactical marketing is hard work
Have you ever tried riding a bicycle up a hill in a high gear? You peddle like mad and barely go anywhere. It’s a herky-jerky ride, too. When you realize you left the bike in the wrong gear, the steepest hills can mean you have to get off and walk that bike up the hill to get started going again.
This is exactly what building your strategy is: An opportunity to slow down and do the deep thinking about your business and the best approach to marketing to the audience you want to reach.
The best part of having that strategy in place? When you’re finally done, when you’ve crested that hill, you can get started on tactical execution informed by strategy. It puts you in the right gear so your business can fly.
This saying says it all:
“Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.”
If you want your business to move fast, it might be time to slow down. When everyone in marketing is operating from a strategic foundation, business growth will be more smooth and speedy.