The word strategy comes from the ancient Greek stratēgia (στρατηγία), meaning ‘the art of the army commander’.
As you can tell, the context in which the word originated is purely military and belongs to the study of how to wage war 💣.
It is no coincidence that the first treatise on strategy (still considered a valid text on the subject) is titled ‘The Art of War’; it is a military treatise written by Sun Tzu between the fourth and fifth centuries BC.
Below is a famous quotation from this work explaining the relationship between strategy and tactics:
Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat. – Sun Tzu
To understand tactics and strategy, we must start with the objective: they exist only if there is an objective to achieve and are inseparable from it.
Whether it is winning a war or gaining market share, having a clear objective is essential.
Definition of strategy:
A strategy is a plan of long-term guidelines for action that chart the direction towards an objective.
Whereas:
Tactics are the set of techniques used to execute the specific actions defined by the strategy.
Strategy has a longer time horizon and is less specific than tactics. It is important to provide general guidelines because tactics change over time.
Tactics can take forms and approaches that may seem illogical to someone who lacks the overall picture.
The following video shows an example: in this board game, where the objective is to win the game, each individual action is a tactic that takes the game in the direction defined by the player.
Strategy can apply to any field: sport, careers, private life, business, and so on.
Certainly the best-known and most widespread field is marketing.
In marketing management, the highest strategic level (strategic marketing) defines which markets and audiences to target and what promise to use to position yourself in the market.
Depending on the area of marketing, there will be sub-objectives (inherited from the overall strategy) with their own dedicated strategies: for example, social media, retail outlets, online and offline advertising, and so on.
In linguistic terms, we can speak of strategy until it coincides with tactics: for example, making banners a particular colour is a tactic that could form part of the advertising strategy of communicating the brand's identity.
Whatever the area of marketing, we have seen that objectives come before strategy, followed by analysis.
Only after the analysis can we draft our plan.
The stages of marketing management are therefore: objectives, analysis, strategy, action and control.
Be careful not to underestimate tactics: today, strategies are very similar and easy to identify, and often the difference lies in execution.
Valuable execution comes from technical expertise in the sector and creativity that enable us to overcome difficult situations or challenging tasks.
One of the greatest visionaries of the last century said:
Vision without execution is just hallucination. – Henry Ford
I like the sporting metaphor of someone who wants to reduce their waistline and starts doing sit-ups (tactics).
The wrong solution for their objective!
A good personal trainer 💪 will explain that cardio exercise is needed to lose weight and that there are no exercises that allow you to lose fat in one specific area.
To succeed, strategy and tactics must work hand in hand.
Objectives and marketing strategy
No wind is favourable to a sailor who does not know where to go. – Lucius Annaeus Seneca
A good strategy starts with a clear understanding and vision of the objectives.
At the foundation of every company, large or small, is the definition of the objective, which then intersects with the Vision, Purpose and Mission and strategy follows from these.
It often happens that people, in good faith, focus too much on the tool (tactics), losing sight of the objective, or choose the wrong solution.
This happens often in digital marketing: everyone thinks they are a coach 😂 because they browse the web. The reality is simple but also complex: anyone with expertise in a subject has a responsibility to guide the solution, starting with the fundamental question:
what is the objective?
On a personal level, the power of setting goals has an even greater impact!🚀
If you pay little attention to defining your goals, you end up following the crowd and adopting standard goals (or working towards other people's).
How to improve strategic thinking
Are you more tactical than strategic?
To find out, ask yourself how often you consider the ultimate objective you want to achieve and why you are doing what you do.
Understanding where we are and at what level we are acting is the starting point for training our strategic thinking.
A good exercise is to organise your thoughts to get an overview and look at everything from above (upframing), avoiding getting bogged down in detail.
Personally, I love and follow the advice in this quotation:
Never consider the details before you have understood the whole! – Samuel Johnson
For example, if we are studying a new field, such as the Metaverse and virtual worlds, let us draw a diagram or a mind map to understand all the elements involved and take a bird's-eye view of the phenomenon.
Or, before an important meeting or event, spend some time reflecting on what you have worked on, what the key outcomes of that meeting might be and how they fit the broader objective.
