The strategy determines the tactic

It seems like every week someone asks me what digital tactic they should be using for their company when they already seem to have a tactic in mind. I quite honestly blame our industry for the confusion most marketing people and business owners experience. Every month the advertising industry crowns another tactic as king. In regards to digital we went from email marketing to SEO to social media to mobile apps to responsive design.

The problem is, quite often these tactics are discussed in a vacuum without a defined strategy. All marketing tactics should be leveraged only if a well defined strategy calls for it. If you are looking to create general brand awareness then a direct response effort may not be appropriate. Before you select a tactic, take a step back and think about what you are trying to accomplish. Determine who your target audience is, what you want them to do or learn and define what you key performance indices are. You can then decide if you should spend your time or money on that latest social media platform or pay-per-click effort.