Strategy vs. Tactics
Tactics to improve business are often confused as business strategies. Tactics, however, are individual actions, which determine results on a micro scale. Strategy, on the other hand, consists of higher level planning and takes into account all the factors involved in business such as market strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. At the macro level, it is the joining together of various tactics to harmoniously achieve a business objective.
The Force-Multiplier Effect
A term used in the military, a force multiplier is a factor that dramatically increases (hence “multiplies”) the effectiveness of a group or unit. As an example, marketing activities can be combined to become a force multiplier. Rather than depend on one or a few major tactics as stand-alone marketing activities, a business combines the efforts of all to achieve an even greater result. Several combinations can be seen commonly such as the pairing of a billboard advertisement with a website URL, the pairing of online marketing and telemarketing, the pairing of direct mail and telemarketing, and so on. A business doesn’t have to limit itself to just a pair of tactics and can expand it to include four or five different tactics.