Successful Blog

Here is a good place for a call to action.

  • Home
  • Community
  • About
  • Author Guidelines
  • Liz’s Book
  • Stay Tuned

The Connection of Strategy to Tactics

May 3, 2013 by Guest Author

By James Ellis

In a previous post, I suggested that strategy was the achievement of our intended purpose in a given context. Strategies can’t be plans or just “smarter thinking” because that relies too much on a specific context. Context changes every second, so a plan that relies on it is doomed.

However, achieving an intention is a vague and perhaps even dubious sentence. It’s all well and good to say you’ll achieve an intention when you don’t have to say how. That’s where tactics come in.

The word “intention” is probably the most important because it allows you to align all your tactics to help you achieve that goal. Or, more interestingly, all your reports to determine the right tactics on their own.

We live in a world where you might have access to a digital specialist, a media specialist (a digital media specialist, maybe), a social specialist, a content specialist, an even specialist and a PR specialist. This world exists because each one of those ideas is a full-time gig requiring a lot of specialized knowledge. No one person can do it all. Not even you. So you need to lean on these experts to help you achieve your intention.

But you can’t just tell these specialists what to do. Remember, they know their jobs better than you know their jobs (that’s why you pay them). So you have to help them understand your intention (strategy) so they can build out tactics.

This feels scary. You are entrusting others to achieve execute strategy. But that’s the only way to achieve your success in the face of such a specialized world with so many interconnected moving pieces.

Why do this instead of just getting them all in a room so you can make a plan? When, aside from the sheer cost of that meeting, that plan will be almost impossible to implement. Remember, your own staff will constitute your context. Implementing a media plan will change the context and affect the plan. Even if you can lay all those moving pieces out, what are the odds that they all execute perfectly? What happens when your live event gets pre-empted or changed because of forces outside of your control? That might render your own plans worthless or even counter-productive.

Managing the strategy still gives you a higher-level view of the situation. You can see that things are shifting and relay information to the rest of the team.

You can’t rely on planning for every contingency because you will never anticipate them all. Instead, focus on your intent, relaying it to your staff, and let them make decisions. They are your experts. A plan locks players in place, without giving them the flexibility to deflect losses or take advantage of unforeseen opportunities. For example, when your social expert sees an opportunity to newsjack a story and build more buzz, You can’t have built a plan around that. And you’ll have to react quickly to take advantage of the opportunity, so bringing the full team together to change the plan around will be the same as throwing money away.

This is why building your team is crucial. Your job isn’t to do their job. Your job is to help them achieve your goal.

Author’s Bio: James Ellis is the Director of Digital Strategy at FLIRT Communications. His latest book, Google Analytics for Small Business is currently in beta. He’s giving away discounted copies if you are willing to help make it even better.

Filed Under: Inside-Out Thinking, Strategy/Analysis Tagged With: bc, planning, strategy, tactics

What is Strategy? Ask a Two-Year Old

April 26, 2013 by Guest Author

By James Ellis

I wish I didn’t know so many people, in places of influence and power, who didn’t know what strategy was. Too often, it is a word used in place of words like “plan” or “tactic.” Some people just use it as a placeholder for the idea that we shouldn’t make a decision instinctively, but to stand back and think about it for second.

This isn’t what strategy is. Strategy could be summarized as “the achievement of our intended purpose in a given context.” MBA words, all of them, but it’s actually pretty simple.

Strategies can’t be a plan, because a plan depends on the context (place, players, situation, your level of motivation, the motivation of your staff, your resources, the position of your competition, etc). All of these things shift at a moment’s notice, so a plan that depends on any of them is doomed if anything changes. Your “strategy” to enter the email service market went up in smoke when Google announced Gmail. The context changes, and so must your plans. Thus, a plan is not a strategy.

Strategies can’t be tied too closely to tactics, because those need to be selected closer to the moment of execution. Like a plan, too many things change. Your “strategy” to launch your product in Boston was great… until last week. Thus, a tactic is not a strategy.

Your strategy is the achievement of an intent. You want to be a challenger in a specific market. You want to be the number one player in that market in five years. That’s a mission or goal. How you achieve that goal is your strategy.

You want to see strategy in action? Watch a two-year old try and get a cookie off the counter. Watch them look at the field of battle, sizing up the height of the counter. Then they look for mom; how far away is she? Can she hear me? Is she distracted? They have a plan. Halfway through executing that plan, mom comes back in. Plan paused. The context has shifted. The plan won’t work. (At this point, how many companies would keep working on the plan, knowing full well it was doomed?)

A new tactic is demanded to achieve the goal. Crying? Maybe. Asking sweetly? Possible. Wait until the field is clear? That could take too long. Throw a toy to the ground and make a mess, causing a distraction? Yes. Boom. Cookie.

That’s the execution of a strategy. It evaluated many tactics, using the one that worked in that context. In a larger organization, where the selection and execution of tactics is selected by lower divisions, things only work when there’s a central strategy to align with.

I highly recommend The Art of Action by Stephen Bungay, the first book that looks properly at strategy as it originated in military thinking, and how it has evolved into how we make smart business decisions. (Don’t let the word “military in that sentence spook you: it’s a great read, even if everything you know about war strategy comes from watching the War Room scene in Dr. Strangelove).

So what’s your strategy? And where’s your cookie?

—

Author’s Bio: James Ellis is the Director of Digital Strategy at FLIRT Communications. His latest book, Google Analytics for Small Business is currently in beta. He’s giving away discounted copies if you are willing to help make it even better.

Filed Under: Inside-Out Thinking, Strategy/Analysis, Successful Blog Tagged With: bc, plans, strategy, tactics

Our Top 15 Posts Ever

April 25, 2013 by Rosemary

By Andy Crestodina

Since the beginning, this blog has helped more than a million visitors learn hundreds of important lessons. You, the readers and writers, have shared your experiences and techniques through more than 1000 posts and nearly 100,000 comments.

In this post, we’ll look back the 1000+ posts on Successful Blog and review. All of these, of course, were written by our beloved Liz. Some of these were instant classics. Others were their own mini-viral events. Each is an example of great writing on relevant topics.

So here they are, the top 15 posts in the history of this website…

1. The How to Happiness – Top 10 Ways to Start Living Your Life

“You don’t need to get a life, you’ve already got one.“

2. 10 Reasons Readers Don’t Leave Comments

“It seems that we have the same secret reasons for not leaving our calling card. We want to leave our thoughts, but things get between us and that comment box.”

3. How To Make Your Dream Come True – Through Thought, Strategy and Action

“Wonders, wishes, and waiting without commitment are a whole lot of nothing happening.“

4. 5 Reasons People Don’t Get Hired and the Only 3 Questions that Count

“An interview or a client presentation is a test. It’s like an oral exam in which the subject is you.”

5. Ideas? 20 Questions to Kickstart New Thoughts

“Imagine you just landed on this planet. You’d have a passel of questions and a totally beginner’s view. The key is not to fix things, but to find new reactions to what you encounter.”

6. Are You a Writer? 7 Traits that Writers Have in Common

“Every person is struggling to find a meaning that makes sense. It’s not about money. It’s not about volume of work. It’s about meeting a self-defined goal of becoming a writer.”

7. How to Receive a Compliment Without Being a Self-Centered Idiot

“Focus on the speaker and the value of the speaker’s words. That guarantees your response will be graceful, respectful, and not about you.”

8. 25 Outstanding Links to Help You Write a Compelling Tagline

“How do you pack all of that promise into four or five simple words that will resonate with the folks you want to reach?”

9. Conan’s Good-bye: 10 of 10 in Leadership, Reputation, and Community

“Corporations, small businesses, every one of us could learn a lot from how Conan said good-bye. His words were the careful words of a leader delivered from the heart in a difficult situation.”

10. What Is Humility?

“The funny thing about humility is the second you think you have it, you don’t.”

11. The Problem with Writing… 25 Things to Know BEFORE You Write for a Living

“Writing communicates through across the world, through time, to people I have never met. It captures ideas, inventions, and information. It’s worth it to be even a tiny part of that.”

12. What Is a Social Community

“An online community isn’t built or befriended, it’s connected by offering and accepting. Community is affinity, identity, and kinship that make room for ideas, thoughts, and solutions.“

13. 10 Reasons Creative Folks Make Us Crazy

“What are the traits that creative folks have in common? Are we all creative? Is there anyone who’s not? Can I boost my creativity? Am I a creative freak?”

14. 27 Things to Know Before You Work in Social Media

“This is not a rant, simply a set of observations which are quite similar to the challenges of any communication-based, people-centered endeavor.“

15. 10 Ways to Live In the Moment Every Moment of Your Life

“Ever talked with a guy who’s passionate about his life? He doesn’t give one kind of energy during the hours of 8 to 5 and another when play time arrives. His moments are filled with enthusiasm and determination for being part of everything that he does.”

We hope you enjoyed this round-up. Hopefully, this was a discovery of some of the great posts you missed. Or perhaps it was a rediscovery of posts you read and loved. So many classics.

Feel free to reshare the greats. Better yet, leave a comment and tell us which of these you loved most …or perhaps which of your favorites we left out!

Author’s Bio: This list was compiled by Andy Crestodina, the Strategic Director of Orbit Media. Andy is on Google+ and Twitter.

Filed Under: Community, Content, SOB Business, Successful Blog, Writing Tagged With: bc, blogging, Community, strategy, Writing

Your Social Media Deficiency Could Be Costing You Business

November 7, 2012 by Thomas

What is your small business doing to set itself apart from the competition?

If one of your answers is using social media, a pat on the back to you. If you’re not using social networks to promote your brand, why are you being so resistant?

Despite a number of reports that indicate more and more companies are getting it when it comes to social media, there is still significant lag time when it comes to small businesses talking about social media and actually employing it.

During a small business summit held earlier this year, Godfrey Phillips, VP of research at The Business Journals, noted the following from a study based on 2,200 interviews of business owners and top executives of companies with less than 500 employees:

* Approximately 80 percent of small business owners and major executives indicated they are now using a social network, yet just 57 percent reported doing so in conjunction with their marketing strategy;

* LinkedIn was singled out as the site most utilized for business functions (50 percent) and the least when it came to personal use by those high up in the company (9 percent);

*  Facebook was rated the least used for business purposes (12 percent) and most utilized when it came to personal functions (30 percent).

As you can see by the numbers, less than 60 percent of company owners and top execs not using social media as part of their marketing strategy means countless businesses are missing the boat. In fact, you could even say they are somewhat adrift when it comes to properly reaching out to current and potential customers.

So, you’re in charge of marketing your small business or doing just that for your boss, and social media still seems like a foreign subject at times, why should this matter be rectified?

The reasons include:

* Your brand needs social media – Given the fact that more and more consumers are using the Internet to browse for and purchase goods and services, you need to be alive and breathing social media. With a presence on the major social media sites, you can not only be promoting your brand, but also engaging with consumers, seeing what is being said about your business and staying up to speed with the competition. Not have a social media presence for your business in 2012 is akin to living in the dark ages;

*  Saving money on advertising – When you actively promote your brand on social media, think of the advertising dollars you can be saving. While there is a good chance you will still be doing some of the standard forms of promoting your company like print, and radio/television ads, social media is in essence free advertising. The time and effort required for social media advertising can prove a great return on investment (ROI) for the wise marketer;

* Customer expectations – While your business still may do a sizable portion of marketing via word-of-mouth, traditional advertising and being active in the community, social media exposes you to an infinite number of people who could be your next customers. The days of the customer waiting for you to come to them via catalogs, flyers, phone calls, etc. is in essence a thing of the past. Now, your goal is to market your business via different forms of digital marketing, including social media.

With all that social media has to offer your business, why would you avoid it in the first place?

Photo credit: blog.socialmaximizer.com

With 23 years of experience as a writer, Dave Thomas covers a wide array of topics from finding the right gutter guard for your home to starting a home business.

Filed Under: Marketing /Sales / Social Media Tagged With: bc, marketing, small business, social network, social-media, strategy

How to Drive Sales Using Pinterest

July 1, 2012 by Guest Author

by
Richard Franklin

cooltext443809602_strategy

11.7 million unique U.S. Users had hit the social site in January, making Pinterest, the fastest website to ever exceed the ten million marks. The aforementioned is a report published about the growing popularity of the social site. This user attracting site has now become a great platform for marketers to generate sales online.

Pinterest users publicize their favorite images, and can also manage the subject groupings into their interests, such as hobbies, travel, favorite foods etc. People make use of Pinterest to promote their personal passions. And now, businesses have ventured with the expertise of a social media marketing agency to use this new social networking platform to earn exposure for their brands.

How to Drive Sales Using Pinterest

Here are few factors that will encourage you to incorporate Pinterest in your social media marketing:

Referral traffic more than any other site

Business on Pinterest can earn benefits from winning referral traffic. It has been discovered in the studies that Pinterest brought more traffic to the sites in comparison to Google Plus, YouTube and LinkedIn.

“Is your content pinnable”- this is the first requirement of tapping the referral feature of the site. For monitoring the transferring frequency of your content to Pinterest, you can install “Pin it” button on your toolbar. Besides, you directly install a “Pin It” button on your site.

Detailed information with quickness

You cannot just get advantageous with the referral traffic but you can also know what audiences think about your product. Being a great source of consumer insights; make a quick keyword research to expose with the facts what audiences are discussing and sharing about the keyword. You can investigate about competitor’s activities, and can also compare the products and services. There is a category search on Pinterest to get the insights or follow the pinners to get exposed to the things that are trending.

Gather ideas and thoughts

From color palates to food styling and camera techniques to dressing; Pinterest has become a diverse platform when it is about fetching the innovative ideas and inspiration. Companies cruise the site to get inspired with new ideas and also get exposed to the trends.

People on the social site not just share to inspire but also share so that they can be established as a thought leader in their field.

Ground for recruitment

Pinterest’s benefits are also actively utilized by many HR departments to appoint top talent. After all, it has become a medium to associate with people over shared interests. Besides, companies are also using it to flaunt their unique culture by pinning the highlights of the employees. Companies have grown creatively with features of Pinterest.

Author’s Bio:
Richard Franklin is a social media strategist and wants to share his knowledge with people who are about to hire a social media agency for their businesses. He writes about latest trends used in social media companies. You can find Richard on Twitter as @AgencySEO.

Thank you, Richard! Will you be pinning this?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Buy the Insider’s Guide to Online Conversation.

Filed Under: Strategy/Analysis, Successful Blog, Tools Tagged With: bc, LinkedIn, pinterest, sales, small business, strategy

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4

Recently Updated Posts

How to Become a Better Storyteller

SEO and Content Marketing

How to Use Both Content Marketing and SEO to Amplify Your Blog

9 Practical Work-at-Home Ideas For Moms

How to Monetize Your Hobby

How To Get Paid For Sharing Your Travel Stories

7 reasons why visitors leave websites for ever



From Liz Strauss & GeniusShared Press

  • What IS an SOB?!
  • SOB A-Z Directory
  • Letting Liz Be

© 2025 ME Strauss & GeniusShared