The terms “strategy” and “tactic” may often be confused. Truth be told, there’s not a whole lot of difference between the two, but the difference is important, especially for marketers. 

A marketing team should have an overall strategy – the necessary activities to reach business goals and vision. Tactics are the steps taken to achieve the strategy. These are some characteristics of marketing strategy:

• Think “competitive advantage.” You can have a strategy to be the top provider of healthcare in your city, region or state, but if you have not defined the tactics to be used to achieve that strategy, you likely won’t be very competitive.
• Define resource allocation. Deciding where your limited resources should be allocated will help to guide your strategy.
• Define your long-term objectives and vision. Set specific targets to point your efforts forward and use for measurement of your efforts. The tactics you select should assist in moving your business in the direction you have chosen.
• Priority markets, audiences and products defined by marketing strategy. Use segmentation, targeting and positioning to develop tactics for best communicating with your audience(s).
• Define positioning of the brand. After obtaining data on your audience – characteristics, preferences, behaviors – your strategy should guide you to specify how you want your brand to appear to competitors.
• Define how branding will be used to engage your audience. Determining message architecture and tone is part of positioning your brand.
• Determine martech needs over the long term. Most organizations can’t procure or implement martech products in a short period of time. Thus, it’s necessary to look at the long-term needs so that technology can be procured and implemented over time.
• Guides governance and control of tactics. Tactics used to run a business tend to happen organically, but the strategy these tactics support needs to be defined and communicated to all involved so that the most appropriate tactics are being used.