Ep. 122: Strategy vs. Tactics & How to Use Both for Growth

If you've felt like you're doing a lot of work week after week but it isn't really moving the needle forward in the way you'd like, it could be because you're focusing too much on tactics, and not enough on strategy.

Both are important but sadly the online world tends to push tactics heavily, while strategy often gets overlooked. This is typically because people can have lots of questions about a specific tactic, thus making it fairly lucrative to sell info products that explain it.

What ends up happening though when you don't have an overall strategy behind what you're doing, is that you end up spinning in circles, doing busy work, without big results to show for it. Then it appears as if the tactic is flawed, so you find a new one, learn it, try it, and the cycle keeps repeating. This clearly isn't sustainable, but the antidote is strategy!

That's why in this episode I explain both and how to put them together so you can get to your goals faster and with more ease.

Links:

Rebellious Success: http://rebellious-success.com

• Want to read a transcript of this episode? Click here!

  Hey there. Welcome to the podcast today. I am chatting all things strategy versus tactics. So if you've ever felt like you're doing a lot of work week after week, but it's not really moving the needle forward in a way that you would like it could be because you are focusing too much on tactics and not enough on strategy, but good news.

  This is fixable, even though this you're not certainly not alone. This is very, very common and it's awesome. Not hard to fix. So that's the good news. Both are actually really important, but sadly, the online world tends to push tactics heavily while strategy often gets overlooked. And this is typically because people can have lots of questions about a specific tactic, thus making it fairly lucrative to sell info products that explain how to do that thing.

  So for instance, Like having a Facebook group, right. To like, for your, one of your like marketing avenues, there can be a lot of questions of like the ins and outs of, you know, getting it set up and choosing a topic and getting people there and what to post and all of that without necessarily figuring out like, Hey, is this even the right.

  Strategy for you to be using a and B like once you have it set up and everything, like, what is your strategy? Like, not just like post, you know, every Wednesday poster wins, but like, how are you actually going to be driving people to other things like your list, your paid offers. So, what ends up happening is when you don't have that overall strategy, you spin in circles, you're end up doing busy work without big results to show for it.

  And then it appears as if that tactic is flawed. So you go find a new one, learn it, try it. And then this vicious cycle just keeps repeating. This is obviously not sustainable, but the antidote is strategy. So in this episode, that's why I'm going to be covering both. Um, so you can kind of see the difference between the two and how to utilize both effectively.

  So I don't know about you, but my husband and I really love to eat. We love to cook. We love food. We love, uh, you know, hanging out with our friends, like entertaining. We're not like my husband's much more introverted than I am, but like for our close friends, we, we really love to do that. And several years ago, uh, we had a group of friends.

  They were people we knew through the Navy when my husband was in the Navy and we were all in upstate New York. And we, um, we were a group of. I think it was, I forget now if it was four or five couples, but we formed this thing that we called fancy food club and we would meet, uh, I believe it was like every four to six weeks and different, a different couple would host.

  Every time and it was supposed to be this way for us. Cause we all liked food. We all like cooking and I'm like wine, like the whole, the whole shebang. Um, and it was a way for us to try out new recipes and new techniques and just have really intentional time, um, outside of work that everyone could get together.

  Hangout and some really good friends of ours, we would always joke because like they would make the most incredible food and they like really would push the limits of technique, which was really cool. Like they got a sous vide machine before. That was even something that was like popular. Very well-known.

  Um, they would try like a lot of, they were really into like molecular gastronomy. So they bought all this equipment and try that out. And it was really, really cool. They had a great idea of what the menu was going to be, but they didn't have a good strategy. Right. They were so focused on learning these tactics or these techniques that.

  Like we would just show up and we would just, they would be like, oh, sorry, like we're, you know, behind or like things are mass, whatever. And we're like, yeah, yeah. Like we know we were expecting it. Right. We're just going to crack open some wine and hang out and like, please put out, you know, a cheese board or something for us.

  So we're not starving while we're waiting for you to like, finish what you're cooking. Um, but we, you know, we would always kind of like lovingly poke fun at them that their dinners were

  delicious, but like, it was kind of chaotic. Right? So to host a great dinner party that like, if, if you could tell by this story, right, you, you don't just need techniques.

  You don't just need the good ones. You need the overall strategy, right? You need to take into account any factors that might hamper the outcome. Right? So if you, if the key is, is that you want a really fun time with your friend and you want everyone to be enjoying themselves and have good conversation.

  And all of that, some things to take into consideration would be like food preferences, allergies, you know, does somebody have to bring their young kids with them and you're going to need. You know, do something and have something ready so that the kids can eat and then go play, right? Like there are these different things that you have to take into account to plan the menu.

  And then once you know what you're going to make for east each course, you need to think about how much time you need for each course and what can be prepped ahead of time. Then you can obviously shop for the ingredients and the wine or stuff for mock tails, whatever you're going to have, but you need.

  That, that big plan. Right? So now if the event is on a Saturday night, you might actually begin prepping as early as like the weekend before, depending on the menu, depending on what you think. You know, if there's like, um, things that you need to pickle or like salad dressings that you can just whip up really quickly.

  Right? When you have time, you can do that. And then the day before you might start prepping the veggies or marinade meat or chilled wine, whatever. Right. It's just, it's part of this larger strategic plan. So that everything comes together well at the same time and the dinner party is a success. So then the day of comes and you're going to use individualized cooking techniques or tactics to relate this back to you, uh, to business.

  And you're then you're going to be preparing all the food using those techniques. So one thing might be braised while another is grilled. You might choose to shift a nod, the basal while you julienne the carrots and you might even aerate the wine or Flamborough the dessert, right? So those are the actual hands-on techniques.

  So you need to know how to do those techniques, but you also want to be sure that you don't have to skip straight to dessert because the main core still isn't done and everyone is starving. Right? So let's say you were going to serve creme brulee. And so you made it the day before and now you're like trying to cook the meat, but.

  Take into account that it was going to take four hours and you didn't get it in into, you know, all of that. And you're like, people are starving. You're like, okay, well I'll just throw some sugar on the top and like torch it. We'll just, Brulay it like each, each your dessert right now, because the meat's not done.

  Right. Like if you're a group of friends, you know, it's, it's going to be fine. Probably it's not going to be, uh, the end of the world. Right. But it's not really. Uh, because, because you didn't do the, the time strategy, the big picture thinking and planning, it's not going to be the experience that you probably set out for it to be.

  So this is what happens in business. When we focus too heavily on one technique or tactic and not on the big picture vision of what we really want and I get it right? Like, so going with this analogy, don't worry. We're not going to like stay in this analogy forever. But in this analogy, it can feel like if you've never made a souffle before or, um, you know, something that takes a lot of like technique, of course, you're going to be really obsessed over not messing that up.

  Right. Because it's, it's hard whenever we learn a new technique. If it's something that we've never experienced before, it can be really. Scary. It can be daunting. We can feel like, okay, I need to research this to death and all of that. Right. But it's easy to get really myopic on that tactic without thinking about like, why am I doing this in the first place?

  So this is why so many people get really frustrated investing in course creation programs, especially because. They do all of the steps and then launched a cricket. So I've had this happen again and again, where I get on discovery calls with people, or I'm just talking to somebody and they're like, yeah, I went through this whole program and it told me how to like, you know, make the actual course itself.

  And it taught me how to like make the webinar. Um, but like, it didn't, it like omitted the fact that I needed to be audience-building the whole time in order to have a success. Launch. Right. So now they're like they've spent, you know, months creating that course, hosting the webinar, um, writing all the sales emails or, you know, from swipe files and things like that.

  But because they didn't have that big picture strategy. Then they're doing their, their webinar. Their conversion rates are fine, but maybe they only got three sales because they just didn't have enough people there to make the conversion rate really work in their favor, right. To hit there, hit their sales goal.

  And again, this is understandable because if you've never created a course before, and you've never done a webinar before, and you've never done a sales, you know, email. Um, sequence fo like for cart open cart closed, like all of that, like a sales funnel. Like if you've never done those, those things, it's a lot to learn.

  I still remember doing this for the first time. And like now do this whole process of like a webinar style launch. Like. Uh, do it all in a day probably. But I remember, I think it took me like a week of just like constantly obsessing over it and trying all this stuff. Right. It's, it's really a lot to learn and, but we cannot do it at the expense of the big picture strategy.

  It's the same thing. When we see, see real challenges or like those social media, um, content banks, these are not necessarily wrong. At all, cause you might be somebody who's like, I have a great Instagram strategy. I want to start adding reels as a tactic in the strategy or a special technique, but I really don't know how to create a reel.

  So I want somebody to help me and, uh, you know, for some people being encouraged and having accountability to get comfortable doing reels can be really. Helpful. And if you struggle with blank page syndrome, having a prompt to jumpstart your brain on like an Instagram caption or an email or something like that can be a real game changer.

  But again, if it's not backed up with why you're doing it, then you are going to end up doing

  so much more work and efforting so much more than you need you to get the result. You're after. So here is how we are going to flip this. When you choose to learn a new tactic or to implement a new tactic. And again, like all this time, as I'm saying tactic, I know sometimes the word tactic can feel like.

  Sleazy or slimy or anything like that, really? Like, instead of thinking of it as like a burrow marketing tactic or anything like that, like really just to give it back to the cooking analogy, it's just a technique. It's just a new, it's a new skill. It's a new little thing that you are doing that will get you closer to your bigger goals.

  So it's implementing a strategy with the tactic. So some questions to ask yourself, right? Why. Am I doing this? What do I hope to achieve with it? Right. So the end goal could be let's, we'll just go with like, real, like doing like a real challenge or learning how to do reels or, you know, wanting to do more real, something like that.

  The end goal could simply be learning something new. Maybe you are somebody who really loves learning new things. Right. So just could be that you want to learn something new. Maybe you just want to boost engagement on your account or like have fun. Right? Just have fun with your audience. Or you want to move people to a free resource or to a paid one.

  Right? So just think what, why am I doing this? What do I hope to achieve with it then think, who am I doing it for? And what do they need to hear? That will help me achieve. My goal. So if it's engagement, maybe you're like, I'm just going to make up funny stuff. Like it really is not going to have anything to do directly with my business.

  It's just going to be like, I want them to sh to see my personality and like the other things that I'm interested in and, or my values, like things like that. Right. Or if it was, you know, a free resource or a paid one, like, what are you going to be, uh, talking about in that. To help you achieve that goal.

  How does this align with the overall growth plan for my business? Right. So, and don't worry, I'm gonna, I'm going to actually like give kind of like a real world example of this in action. So if you're like, I don't, I don't know how to answer that. Right. Don't worry. I will get there. So how does this align with the overall growth plan for my business?

  Then you can ask, is there a simpler way to get to the same end? And lastly, how long will I give myself to implement this and how will I measure success and debrief for the next one? The next time this one is really, really, really important. So going back to the real challenge, so here is how this would play out.

  So instead of starting with the ingredients, which is the most common thing that I usually see, which are things like how to find the audio. How to best film them, how to add text overlays, how to do transitions, what should be in the caption, et cetera. We are going to start with the end goal. So here are those answers to those strategic questions.

  So why are you doing this? I want to get 40 people to download my new opt-in over the next 30 days. Okay. So that's 10 a week. Okay, on average 10 a week. Why, why are you doing this? Because the next month after you're going to host a free training that leads people into a new offer, and you want to build your audience up ahead of that launch.

  And you want to challenge yourself with something new to see if you like it. And if it actually gets. Results. So you've decided you are going to do two reels a week. That's what you're going to commit to for the 30 days. And then hopefully you will convert five people from each. So hopefully again, we want 10 new people opting in each week, so we can hit that 40 at the end of the month.

  So hopefully about five people from. Then think who is ideal for that? Opt-in what do they need to hear to take action? And I don't just mean go to the link in my bio to get the thing. What else do they need to hear so they can understand? Oh yes, this is for me. I want that. I need that. Cool. I'm totally going to go to the link in the bio and download it.

  And how can you make it enjoyable for them? So this is where you can start to brainstorm the captions and the types of reels that you want to make, right? Do you want to make them fun, informative, engaging, whatever, whatever is going to work for you that will feel doable and achievable and will help you to get that reset.

  That. Result. So how can I make it simpler? Okay. Well, I could mention it in my feed posts as usual and in my stories, but I want to try this new thing. Right. I, I feel like I really want to learn how to do reels and at least test them out. Right. So maybe you still do feed posts, right? Maybe you still talk about it in your stories about your new opt-in, but you're still for 30 days.

  You're gonna try this out. Right. And then I will check it at 30 days and ask, did I get the result I was asking. If not, what did I learn and what could I do differently and ask herself, did I even enjoy it? Right. So maybe you have a special link that is just that you talk about just in your reels or something like that.

  So you can track it better. You can see where they're coming from and you get to the end of 30 days, you did your two reels a week. And you're like, maybe you're like, oh my gosh. Yes. I got 50 people. That was super awesome. And I loved it. It was really fun. I now I feel more comfortable, more confident doing it.

  I'm going to do more of these, right. Maybe not to every week, but I'm going to keep this up. Or maybe you're like, well, I got 20, but you know what? It was still really fun. And I got 20, so I'm gonna, I'm gonna keep that going right. Or you're like, I got 35 and that was great. Super close. It was 35 people I might not have had otherwise, but you know, I love it.

  I really, I just, I don't think that this is for me. And so maybe, maybe if I feel inspired every now and then I'll do one, but you know what? I'm proud of myself. I tried it, I gave it a shot. I did it for a little bit and I just, I just don't really think this is something I'm going to be doing regularly, but either way now, you know?

  Right. You, you didn't just try it once and then. Give up on yourself, you didn't like waste a ton of time learning how to actually do it. And then you're just like, oh, I just, I did. I posted too, nothing really happened. And now I'm frustrated because I wasted a lot of time. Right? You, you actually made learning that tactic worth it because you gave yourself enough time to actually see whether or not you got results.

  And whether or not it's something that you want to keep going with. Right. And this is really

  what I am passionate about in my rebellious success group program. Because a lot of times, you know, people who've been in business and they're making money, they're getting clients, but it still doesn't feel like enough.

  They it's, it's very common to, at this level start investing. And new one-off tactics, right? To keep growing, to keep making the, getting new clients, not feel like such of a fluke. Like it's not just like, I don't know. Sometimes people will just like book a discovery call or say they want to work with me, but I don't really know like how to make this happen more intentionally.

  And I feel like I'm just throwing spaghetti at the wall, trying all these different new things, but I can't really. Get like predictable profits. I can't get consistent clients. I, I just sort of have to take whatever comes my way and I feel really out of control. So in that program, we actually cover the essentials of growth strategies.

  So you can be more discerning when these new tactics come up. Right. So you actually know when a new platform like clubhouse or whatever, you know, the next new platform. Will be, cause I'm sure there will be another one. You can actually look at your big picture strategy and go, does this fit in with it?

  Does this feel like something I want to do? Is this something I want to try? And if so, how long will I try it for and what will be my strategy? So that I can actually make it worthwhile that I can actually make it worth my time. Or is it just a no or a not now. And instead, I'm going to double down on what I know already works.

  And you also get to try these new things in the safety of a container and have support around utilizing those tactics and that debriefing process. And again, you also get to. Uncover what you can safely ignore in your business of these new tactics that pop up all the time, because you will be able to build a strategic ecosystem around which tactics are best for you and what questions you can ask yourself to ensure that they align with that big strategic vision.

  Applications are open right now, if that sounds like you, and you're curious, and you want to check that out, go to rebellious, hyphen success.com. And if it sounds great, then I would love for you to apply. And as always, you can ask me any question you want, and I will give you an honest, no pressure answer.

  And of course, as I always remind people at the end of these episodes, I love to hang out on Instagram. I love to connect with my listeners. So if you are listening to this, I would love it. Like take a screenshot, post it in your stories, tag me at Eric consulting, or go follow me over there. If you aren't and send me a DM with like your biggest aha.

  Or take away from this episode and as always happy selling.