You need a clear, efficient plan to thrive in the digital business landscape.
But where to start to create a business strategy? How to ensure it works?
Truth be told, there's no such thing as a success recipe.
But there are some best practices you can follow.
The first? Knowing the difference and relation between strategy and tactics!
For leaders and founders, this post will help improve planning and execution skills.
What is Business Strategy?
In the business landscape, a strategy is the big plan that helps you make decisions and take action.
It includes your vision, mission, values and goals, while also covering who you want to sell to and what makes you unique.
A business strategy answers what you want to achieve and why, making it a foundation of business planning.
But contrary to what some may believe, a business strategy goes beyond established names and tech giants.
There are also strategies for small business to thrive in their respective markets and delight their users!
Without a solid strategy, you might waste time, money and resources on unnecessary things.
What is Business Tactics?
On the other hand, tactics are the specific actions taken to implement your strategy.
Tactics show how you'll accomplish your goals and define the resources, tools, methods and timelines you'll use.
Furthermore, tactics answer the question of how you'll execute your plan.
These steps set short-term tasks and milestones for your context based on strategy and aligned with vision.
As the execution of your business plan, tactics give direction, accountability and measurement.
Without solid tactics, teams risk losing focus, momentum, and impact.
How to Define a Business Strategy?
Defining your business strategy may seem daunting, but it doesn't have to be!
You can start by asking simple questions to help you set a successful strategy.
Sounds easy enough, right? Here are some examples:
- Vision. An overview of your long-term goals: inspiring, ambitious and easy to understand. Google's vision is "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."
- Mission. Why your business exists and what you do to achieve your vision: clear, achievable, and important. Starbucks' mission is "to inspire and take care of the human spirit—one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time."
- Values. The ideas that help you make choices and take action: consistent, real, and important. Amazon's values are to keep customers satisfied, productive and successfully perform tasks.
- Goals. The goals you want to achieve and to measure them: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART). Netflix's objective for 2023 was to reach 40 million ad-supported users.
- Advantages: What makes your business different from your competitors: something you can keep doing, protect and make money from. Apple stands out from its rivals because of its product and service design, quality and ecosystem.
How to Define Business Tactics?
To define tactics, you can start by breaking down your strategy more manageable steps to help you execute your plan.
Here are some examples:
- Actions. The specific tasks to complete to achieve your goals.: clear, concrete and actionable. If your goal is to increase web traffic by 20% in six months, you could start by creating and publishing ten blog posts monthly or producing engaging videos, which you can easily fine-tune if you edit video online.
- Resources. The tools, materials, methods and people to perform actions: easy to use, dependable and effective. If your actions include to create and publish ten posts per month, you may need a Content Management System, a keyword research tool and a copywriter.
- Timelines. The dates or goals for your tasks achievement: practical, easy to measure and flexible. If one of your actions is to write and post ten blog entries every month, a deadline could be to have a draft by the 10th of each month.
- Metrics. The way to track and evaluate performance and results using indicators or measures: relevant, quantifiable and consistent. If you want to increase your website visitors by 20% in six months, you could measure the number of unique monthly visitors.
How To Combine Business Strategy and Business Tactics
Ensuring your business plan's strategy and tactics work together is crucial!
Otherwise, you risk wasting time, money and energy on things that don't help at all.
Let's say your strategy is to give your users a personal and high-quality experience.
If your tactics are focused on offering low prices and providing poor service, you won't get the results you want!
To align your strategy and tactics, follow these basic steps:
- Objectives. Your vision, mission, values and goals will be your strategic foundation. These are the compass that'll guide your decision-making and direction.
- SWOT. Look for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats to evaluate your situation and find potential risks and areas for improvement.
- Users. Understanding your target users, competitors and markets will help you find new opportunities and ways to stand out.
- Planning. Pay attention to research and work with a business data strategy to leverage helpful insights.
- Division. Dividing your plan into smaller parts lets you focus so you and your team ensure everything stays on the right path.
- Consideration. Think as many plan steps as possible before starting to stay organized and get things done.
- Measurement. Track your progress and results with dedicated KPIs for business prosperity.
- Monitoring. Closely monitor if there's the need to change your path based on what you've learned and what's happening around.
Why are Strategy and Tactics Important for Businesses?
A well-defined organizational strategy is crucial because it provides direction and purpose.
It also helps you identify your market, understand competitors and define your Unique Value Proposition.
However, a strategy alone is not enough: you need effective tactics to bring that comprehensive plan to fruition.
Strategies can be big and ambitious but might not become a reality without the right tactics.
The things that you do every day also pave the path for business success!
Ensure your tactics match your strategy and work together toward the same goal.
If you want to get founders' POV, check out Capicua Leader's thoughts on running a business!
Conclusion
Business strategy and tactics are two sides of the same coin.
While strategy provides the overarching plan, tactics are the actionable steps that drive progress.
By aligning them and fostering effective communication, businesses can optimize their chances of achieving long-term success.
Remember, strategy sets the stage, but tactics take center stage in pursuing business excellence.
There's no strategy without tactics, and there's no tactics without strategy!
If you're looking to grow with solid strategy and tactics, reach out!
