feature article

The Danger Of Jumping To Tactics

By Drew Jones, Manager, Creative Services

Imagine this: You go into your doctor’s office with a mild cough and fever. After waiting patiently in the treatment room, the doctor comes in, introduces himself, takes a cursory look at you and immediately orders open heart surgery.

You’ve got a problem, right? Right.

All too often, business people jump to conclusions and start to either solve a problem that doesn’t actually exist, or to solve a problem without considering the full range of treatment options. This is often the case with marketers.

Ideally, every marketing tactic (and business decision, for that matter) should be a response to a specific objective. But we routinely encounter marketers — agencies and clients alike — who, in their rush to “do something,” jump to a tactical level (“Lets run national radio”) without solid goals and strategic objectives.

This is often a case of “having seen this before” or assuming that just because Client A and Client B have the same symptom that they have the same disease. Resisting this impulse can often yield some surprising results that reap huge rewards.

So consider approaching it this way...

STEP 1: Begin by finding a marketing partner that fits your company’s unique needs.

STEP 2: That partner should conduct a complete assessment of all customer and distribution channel touch points. By looking closely at each contact point, they should be able to gain a solid understanding of what’s working, what isn’t and where any holes in the process might exist.

STEP 3: Work together to diagnose your issues and opportunities.

STEP 4: Recommend treatment. This usually includes marketing strategies and tactics, but may expand to include accounting practices, sales model changes, etc. “Often times, we have to look a client in the eye and call their baby ugly,” said Heather Weaverling, Trilix Media Director. “It’s not always a comfortable conversation, but we feel it’s our responsibility to give them the good news and the bad.”

After completing this short process, you can confidently move forward. And even if your initial assumptions were proven out, they’re often colored with some small but profound details you learned throughout the process.

By not rushing to tactics, we’re confident you’ll make more informed decisions, have a better understanding of how and why you’re spending marketing dollars, and transform the way your team thinks about business.

After all, that’s the key. Thinking first. Doing second.

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