Compete Smarter, Not Harder: A Process for Developing the Right Priorities Through Strategic Thinking

CHAPTER 8

Setting Tactics in Today's Environment

The examples you've read throughout the book so far illustrate that it no longer makes sense to talk about the “4Ps” (product, price, place, and promotion) of marketing, now a very dated and antiquated concept. Today's environment is very different from the “push” approach of years past. Hence, this chapter focuses on the elements of today's markets that differ substantially from traditional legacy theories. A model that is much more relevant now is something we will call Five Points of Effective Tactics:

1. Points of positioning: unique and winning value propositions
2. Points in time: offering timing
3. Points of value: principles in extracting value
4. Points of access: points of customer access
5. Points of touch: customer touch as the embodiment of your strategy

Further, business models need to be reinforcing—the saying that you are only as good as your weakest link (or which wheel on the car is more important?) is so true in business. Let's briefly explore each of these in turn through the use of a true story.

The Story of the Whaling Ship Essex . . . Why What You Know May Be More Dangerous than What You Don't

The remarkable story of the journey of the 238-ton Nantucket-based whaling ship the Essex (that of Moby Dick fame) provides many ...