Strategy and Tactics: Knowing The Difference Is Critical For Your 2016 Revenue Goals

The 2016 annual SBI research report has uncovered a critical new finding.Strategic alignment is now critical for companies to hit their 2016 revenue goals. Over the next few weeks, we will be unpacking this discovery on the SBI blog.

Strategy and tactics go hand-in-hand in achieving strategic alignment for your organization. But too many companies are fuzzy on the difference between the two.

The buyer’s journey has changed. Approaching your marketing and sales strategy and tactics right is critical. The two are interrelated, as the figure below illustrates. Read on to learn how they intersect and use them to catapult revenue.

Strategy is doing the right things. Tactics is doing things right.

Tactics: Doing Things Right

Tactics involve doing things right. They are the actions you take within a larger strategy. The right tactics can make a strategy work – or cause it to fail completely.

Tactical initiatives include:

• Buyer persona research
• Content marketing
• Social selling
• Sales enablement content
• Key account nurturing

As you can see, there is a tactical option for any challenge. Where many companies go wrong is when they mistake tactics for strategy. A compilation of tactics is not a strategy. A tactics-based approach results in a reactive versus proactive organization.

Strategy: Doing the Right Things

Strategy involves doing the right things. The fate of tactics is sealed by strategy. Even with efficient tactics, an ineffective strategy will cause a company to die quickly.

A strategy is an operating plan. Effective sales strategies allocate sales resources to drive selling costs down and revenues up. Effective marketing strategies allocate resources efficiently to drive revenue.

Strategy is also systematized tactics. Without the right set of tactics, the strategy will be executed poorly. When the right tactics are systematized within the right strategy, organizations become proactive. They also excel consistently instead of experiencing yearly ups and downs.

Out of the two, strategy is more important than tactics. It’s better to be good at strategy than tactics. With the right strategy your company will survive or thrive.

The Effective Combination

As you can see in the figure above, there is a sweet spot. Effective strategy and efficient tactics make your company thrive. They result in a brilliant plan executed brilliantly.

Create an effective strategy and establish key tactics to execute it successfully. Make sure it’s strategically aligned with the other functional areas for the best results. Finally, establish accountability so each team and individual understands their contribution.

A Critical Next Step:

Every year, SBI produces a report of the latest and most important research. This year’s key finding is going to dramatically improve your marketing and sales revenue. If you take action on it.

We found that Strategic Alignment is the only way to systematize revenue growth.

What does this mean for your team? Our full report, How to Make Your Number in 2016, explains. You’ll also learn Strategic Alignment best practices and receive step-by-step guidance.