How to Coach Yourself and Others Essential Knowledge For Coaching | Page 370

Tactics: Specific steps to be taken, by whom by when, and at what cost,
to implement a strategy, e.g. "Initiate discussions with PR firm on quality
promotion. Week of 8/16/04." This is where the detailed
implementation tactics reside and is the portion of the plan that provides
an executional roadmap combined with goalposts for performance
measurement.
Why it Matters
Simply stated, you can't plan accurately if you don't understand the
territory, its pathways and boundaries. That's ultimately why so many
plans are not worth much more than the paper they're written on.
Precise planning terminology forces focus in the planning process,
minimizing confusion as to planning direction. All parties are on the
same page, so to speak. It also necessitates thinking beyond today's
tactical need, a common weakness in many marketing planning
protocols. To that point, it seems that the most commonly committed
mistake is the confusion between "strategy" and "tactics." As the above
definition reveals, they are not inter-changeable. The mistake often
arises out of an imbalance between understanding the future and the
tactical process of getting there. There is also the issue of insufficient
accountability in the form of metrics and follow-up. The planning
process demands measurement of performance. Without that
measurement, accountability is denied, responsibility is skirted and
"learning from the experience" is lost.
All too often in the marketing process, failure arises from a lack of
planning and an unwillingness to do the preparatory homework. It's too
easy to justify the decision based on gut instinct and "been there, done
that" experience. For a small company, resource constrained in its
marketing support, that behavior is understandable, sometimes
inevitable. But it's a bad habit. For most, the advice is unequivocal. Every
major marketing initiative demands a plan; every plan needs a process.

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