According to the latest stats in digital marketing, companies that choose to prioritize their marketing efforts above all other operations are 13 times more likely to see positive ROI. On top of that, it is estimated that 14% of small businesses fail due to poor marketing strategies and tactics.
What these figures show is that, despite a digital landscape that continues to evolve and change at an impossibly rapid rate, marketing (and arguably, more importantly, digital marketing) is still the number one “do or die” for businesses of any size.
But not all digital marketing is created equal, and not all marketing efforts to promote and grow your business will bring the stellar results you are looking for!
If you feel like your business has already done everything to optimize its lead generation process, content marketing strategy, and SEO to boost returns and brand loyalty, the fault might just lie in your marketing tactics.
It’s no secret that the marketing world is dynamic and ever-changing: Marketing trends fluctuate with the times, and what clients and customers are looking for can often change quicker than your team has time to reassess their carefully curated marketing strategy.
The key to catching up with the times, setting yourself apart from competitors, and getting ahead of that dynamic curve is to invest in an even more flexible tactical marketing plan.
In this article, we want to give you the tools necessary to start creating your own high-return marketing tactics, so that at whatever point your marketing strategy may be, you can adapt that blueprint to fit the latest trends.
Tactical Marketing vs. Strategic Marketing
We often hear about the importance of having a clear marketing strategy, but it’s not as often that we get to hear about the efficiency of a tactical marketing plan as a way to build a business from the ground up.
The difference between tactical marketing and strategic marketing lies in the chain of command: Strategy is king, but tactics decide how to implement your ideas.
Having a marketing strategy means having an overall direction to follow.
This is the point where you set your KPIs, where you decide what to promote, what messaging to use to get the essence of your offering out in the world, and what branding decisions will inform your content.
The tactical marketing plan, on the other hand, is all about action.
Whereas strategic marketing looks at the big picture and the objectives ahead, tactical marketing is focused on the week-to-week, day-to-day implementation process.
This is the reason why having strong tactics will generally result in better ROI: you can change your tactics at the same speed the trends are changing, while still following an overarching marketing strategy.
When dealing with digital marketing efforts, the questions you will ask yourself while creating a strategy will center around target audiences, branding, and concrete goals. Once you get to the tactical stage, you’ll be dealing with more practical decisions such as what marketing platforms to use, what content to create, what timeline to work with, and what roles and responsibilities need to be allocated to see the strategy through.
In short, if your tactical marketing has been leaving a lot to be desired, that might just be the reason why you’re not getting the returns you deserve!
3 Steps for Building a Tactical Marketing Plan
So, how can you be sure nothing is left unsaid and no stone is left unturned?
- Assess your marketing strategy
First, you’ll want to ensure your marketing strategy has everything it needs to work and inform your tactical operations:
Have you identified your target audience?
Have you identified your competition and singled out where you may be falling short, as well as where you may be winning?
Have you clarified your brand offer and pinned down exactly what words you’re going to use to promote it?
These are essential steps when figuring out the overall direction of your offer.
You should examine who your target audience is and, ideally, how your core audience could be split into smaller groups in order to deliver the most bespoke messaging possible. You should also carry out a consistent competitor analysis to understand what messages are resonating the most with competitors’ target markets and adapt what you learned to be unique and authentic to your brand’s mission. Finally, refine your mission statement and pin down what, exactly, makes your offer different and better from the rest — this is what great marketing is all about!
- Focus on the right platforms
It’s time to get your message and offer out in the digital world, and contrary to popular belief, throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks will not bring you the results you are after.
Your first task is to figure out where your main target audience and smaller target audiences may spend their online time.
Ninety-four percent of marketers use social media to market their offer, with lifestyle brands for younger consumers finding the ideal customer base on Instagram, B2B companies finding success on LinkedIn, and Facebook being the number one choice for content distribution for all businesses.
If you provide insights and original research as part of your branding, focusing on SEO blog content and email marketing will get you the best results. In fact, 83% of video marketers have found success on YouTube as their main platform for video advertising, the best choice for delivering product-related content.
The options are endless: Find where your target audience is and focus your marketing resources on those platforms first.
- Create bespoke content for your target audience
Now that you have a home for your content, it’s time to create valuable and persuasive content that will help you achieve your business objectives, whether you are looking to increase sales, drive brand awareness, or generate more leads.
If blogs and newsletters are your platforms of choice, identify how your overall message and offering can be presented to your target audience in the most engaging and convincing way for that medium (news clippings and original data research might work wonders for B2B companies, for example).
Working with expert copywriters and marketers, you will craft content that is entirely bespoke for different audiences, using calls to action when needed, and presenting your offer as the solution to the problems your audience is facing.
At the end of each campaign, you will analyze your results, compare them with competitors’, and adapt your future tactics to improve on what has worked and change what has fallen short — consistent growth guaranteed.
Realizing your vision with tactical marketing
Whatever your business objectives may be for the year or the following five years, having a strong marketing strategy and tactical marketing plan is the foolproof way to achieve them.
But you don’t have to do it all alone! Our team is dedicated to finding the best marketing solutions to give you the results you want, so you can focus on your passion and business growth while leaving the rest to the experts.
Get in touch today to bring your marketing efforts to the next level!
