Marketing Strategy vs. Tactics
Know the Difference or Lose the Game
Strategy and tactics get thrown around like synonyms — but they’re not. One is the plan. The other is how you fight.
If strategy is the war plan, tactics are the battles. Confusing the two is how teams end up busy but lost. More content. More ads. More tools. No progress.
Smart marketers know when to zoom out (strategy) and when to zoom in (tactics). That’s what this page is about.
Strategy = The Why
Tactics = The What + How
Strategy:
Sets direction
Defines success
Focuses resources
Says no to distractions
Example: “Dominate organic search in the enterprise SaaS space within 18 months.”
Tactics:
Are specific actions
Support strategy
Can change often
Sit across channels
Example: “Publish weekly comparison pages targeting high-intent keywords.”
Chess, Not Checkers
Let’s use a classic metaphor.
In chess:
Strategy = control the center, protect the king
Tactics = forks, pins, combinations
You can win a tactical skirmish (like boosting email open rates), but still lose the strategic game (like failing to grow your market share).
Spotting Strategy-Drift
Here’s how you know you’re stuck in tactics without strategy:
Campaigns don’t connect: You’re running things in isolation. No shared north star.
You’re chasing metrics that don’t move the business: Pageviews up, revenue flat. Oops.
New channels pop up without a plan: You launched a podcast because someone said “we should.”
Team feels busy, but unclear: Everyone’s working hard. Nobody knows what matters most.
Good Strategy Is Boring
That’s right. It’s not always shiny. Great strategy is often simple, focused, and a little repetitive — but it works.
Here’s what good strategy sounds like:
“We’re focusing on category ownership in X.”
“All brand messaging points back to Y.”
“We’re pausing channel Z until ROI improves.”
Example: Strategy + Tactics in Sync
Let’s look at a high-performance marketing scenario using OGSM:
Element: Objective = Become the top-recognized brand in remote team software
Goals = 5M site visits/year, 50K leads, 20% brand recall
Strategies = Own the async collaboration narrative, dominate SEO + community spaces
Tactics = Weekly founder blog, monthly webinars, Reddit engagement, comparison pages
When strategy is clear, tactics have purpose.
When strategy is missing, tactics become noise.
How to Align the Two
- Start with the objective — What are you trying to win?
- Map the landscape — Who are you up against? Where are you strong?
- Pick your battles — What channels, content, or plays give you edge?
- Measure tightly — Tie every tactic to a strategic outcome.
Ready to apply this in a real setting? See how an SEO agency used this model here: