Mobile Marketing: An Hour a Day

Draw the Line Between Strategy and Tactics

People love to say, “Think outside the box!” That's all well and good, but you can't think outside the box until you define the box. That's what strategy is, defining the essential elements of your approach to doing business. Here's an analogy we believe nicely illustrates the difference between strategy and tactics.

Say you want to build your dream house. The floorplan you draw to define the house—the layout of the upstairs and downstairs, the location of the kitchen and bathrooms, and the like—is the strategy. The blueprints that define the specific details of the house such as the electrical plan, plumbing, placement of appliances, finishing details, and so forth are the tactics. If you went right ...