Strategic Marketing versus Tactical Marketing

The difference between Strategic and Tactical Marketing

1. Strategic Marketing vs Tactical Marketing Which is Better ? 

2. Infographics of strategic marketing Many people use the word strategy very commonly, politicians talk about it, religious leaders talk about the strategy to outclass the communal elements in society, Police needs to have a strategy to curb theft, goondaism or burglary in an area. In simple terms, strategy marketing is a plan to achieve a target or a goal – it could be achieving more sales volume in rural areas it could be getting more women votes in the Assembly election or it could be emerging number one in cosmetics market and so on.

3. Infographics of tactical marketing To gain women votes, politicians may distribute sarees for free in an area, to emerge the leader in cosmetics industry, a company may spend heavily on mass media campaigns and sponsoring beauty pageants. When strategy and tactics combine, the net result could be an upward shift in demand for the product, more brand awareness, more sales volumes achieved. Or a company may adopt competitive pricing to stay ahead of the others in industry or to achieve maximum sales volume.

4. Who comes first? tactics or strategy? it is strategy or the marketing plan that has to come first, followed the tactics. However, it is not to belittle the tactics part of marketing. According to Jim Joseph, marketing expert and author, tactics are important in the sense that it connects with the customers and motivates them to buy.

5. Strategy comes first Most countries have a Planning Commission just as in India which identify the long term goals of developing infrastructure, resources, housing, raising employment, raising educational levels of poor and rural people. For companies, developing a marketing plan or strategy is the first step to get noticed in the market place. Unlike a business plan, a marketing plan is developed with the intention of winning and retaining customers. It also spells out the tactics and tools to achieve it Both strategy and tactics require a broad understanding of the target audience, their taste and preference and motivation to buy products apart from understanding the status of the industry, the company’s status and that of the competitors.

6. Strategy planning process The 5 process of strategy planning

7. Market share and strength of the company How much of the market share you have in the industry and how you fare against the competition is vital for making a marketing plan. A comprehensive SWOT analysis (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats ) are required to do a situation analysis. Market strength refers to number of your brands in top five selling category, weakness could be a saturated market or a lack of experienced people in marketing and sales.

8. Market share and strength of the company

9. Market share and strength of the company

10. Identify the target audience A marketer should be able to clearly identify the target audience for its products and services. It should be defined in terms of demographics age, sex, family, income, lifestyle levels among others. Are they conservative or traditional, do they have higher disposable incomes and motivated to spend more? Are they business class, salaried and at marginal income levels?

11. Long term marketing goal should be defined A marketing goal can be attain number one position in geography or with respect to a particular brand or it could be to achieve more sales. But it is very important to specify in quantitative terms, say 10 or 25% increase in sales.

12. Marketing Communication strategy to be developed Once the product has been developed and target audience have been defined, the next step is to devise marketing communication strategies to reach the target and persuade them to act. It could be through mass media advertisements, social media campaigns (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Reddit). Then marcomm strategy outlines the tactics to be undertaken to achieve the objectives and the execution of the tactic brings the desired impact on the product and in the market.

13. Create a marketing budget At the outset whether it is a start-up or an established, creating annual marketing budgets is of paramount importance. A mix of newspaper, television, social media, banners may be required to develop the brand and achieve more sales. It is very important to keep the margin on sales as a barometer of how much should be spent on advertising promotion. In industries with thin margins, spending too much on advertising may not be the desired tactic. Effort should be taken to keep marketing costs within the budgeted costs or else it may be difficult to get finance approval.

14. Tactics-Everything revolves around the 4 P’s It was once believed that if you knew the four P’s of marketing you knew everything

15. Pricing the basic tactic Pricing is the basic tactic adopted by the companies to attain their objectives. However, it is also the most complex of the tactics to be pursued by marketers. Too high a price could dissuade buyers away from the product and get attracted to competitive offers while a price that may be perceived as too low may cause buyers to doubt its quality and value. Contrary to popular perception, price is not calculated on the basis of cost plus a reasonable profit. It is based on the brand image created in the consumer minds and a level the market is willing to bear.

16. Pricing the basic tactic According to experts, pricing as a marketing instrument is difficult to leverage effectively as it involves decision making horizontally and vertically within an organization. Pricing tactics are usually made on the basis of supply and demand, its elasticity and other parameters. Price elasticity refers to a percentage change in quantity demanded in response to a change in price upward or downward.

17. Strategy vs. tactical pricing marketing

18. Product dynamics Sometimes the product may have to be altered or abandoned and a new product developed in view of the competition. Mosquito repellents in India were initially smoke coils which caused breathing problems for many people and also littered the place with the ash. Thereafter, companies started to develop liquid repellents that worked on electric current by slowly discharging the liquid and smell driving away mosquitoes.

19. Place and geographical targeting Most products are sensitive to geographies and cultural differences. What sells in the rural market may not appeal to the urban market. Low priced cars may be more suitable for emerging markets than developed markets while places with extreme cold, humidity and hot conditions require different kinds of products specifically for that region

20. Promotions and the changing technologies Marketing promotion involves communicating the brand message to the consumer through mass media, email campaigns, social media, hoardings, banners, taking part in events, trade fairs. Marketing communication activities are part of the marketing strategy to achieve certain long term objectives of branding, achieving more sales, more market share, or related objectives

21. Promotions and the changing technologies The millennials were those born in the US between 1980 and 2000 have a different mindset towards buying, spending and consumption patterns. They comprise 79 million people with a purchasing power of $170 bn a year. This group are more disposed online, social media and mobile technologies. Therefore, more effort needs to be taken to address this target group. What sets apart Millennials from boomers and Gen Xers are they tend to share everything with friends online. Therefore, brands can capitalize on that behavior by giving Millennials positive customer experiences to share a tweet about the company or let others know they have bought your product.

22. According to Mikal E Belicove , GSOT- goal, strategy. Objective and tactics are the best ways to conceptualize a marketing plan. A goal is a broad primary outcome while strategy is the plan, objective is the measurable step and tactics are the tools and techniques used to implement the strategy. Any marketing strategy will not help unless both strategic marketing and tactical marketing are employed in combination. The pre-requisites for a successful campaign are knowing the status of the company vis-as-vis competition (market share), developing marketing communication and understanding the target audience. With a proper understanding of all the above factors any campaign may end up to be a failure not able to achieve the objectives.

23. Strategic marketing is vital for achieving long term goals of the company and those only adopting tactical marketing on an ad hoc basis risk the possibility of not able to convert potential leads. Disruptive technologies, recessionary market conditions, new competition from other industry verticals and competition within the industry are all factors that could impact the fortunes of brands and hence marketers need to be constantly on their toes to stay ahead. No marketer would be wise enough to ignore the inbound marketing strategies now in vogue thanks to rise in internet penetration, websites, blogging and search engine optimization (SEO) techniques.