We’re Talking about Tactics, Not Goals
Goals are Dreams. Tactics are Directions.
Coming up with a business or personal goal is easy. Creating and implementing a roadmap to execute that goal? That’s hard, smart work that propels you from point A to your goal.
We’re talking about tactics - breaking down your goals and strategy into actionable steps that are:
Easy to understand
Measurable and trackable
And manageable.
For a quick recap of goal, strategy, and tactic differences, you can access our free resource guide here.
“By failing to prepare, you prepare to fail.”
Tactics are the specific actions taken within your strategy to reach your goal, leading you to clear milestones and measurable results. At Local Union, we help businesses get from point A to their goal by developing a strategic roadmap filled with prioritized tactics.
Implementation becomes easy when you have clear, defined tactics that are pointing you to your goal.
So how do we do it? Before we start implementing, we break down every goal by creating strategy (the how) and underlying tactics (action items).
Goals, Strategy, & Tactics: How they Differ.
Let’s say you have a goal to grow your business by $10K. Great. You’ve done the work to determine that equals roughly 20 new customers (who spend ~$500 annually) or 100 individual purchases (~$100 average sale).
Your goal (objective): grow sales by $10K.
Your strategy (how): by gaining 20 new customers.
Tactics (action items): the actionable initiatives to get those 20 customers.
Examples of tactics could include:
Develop two online marketing campaigns to gain 5 new customers.
Improve in-store experience to recapture previous customers (communicate via email marketing campaign) bringing back 10 customers.
Launch referral incentive, targeting 3 new customers.
Partner with influencer blogger to highlight product, gaining 2 new customers.
Tactics must be Measurable and Actionable.
When we have a strong strategy that drives our goal, we can identify tactics to focus our attention that are measurable and easy-to-digest. We know we need to gain new customers so what exact steps are we taking?
Tracking and measuring results along the way means you can quickly pivot to make up for weak results. Not make your goal of 5 new customers with Tactic #1? You can make up for it in your next tactic. Increase your marketing spend for Tactic #2 to make up for those 5 customers.
As a mentor once told us… “A goal without a plan is called a wish.”
Breaking down your goal into measurable actions allows us to focus on what can actually move the needle (and avoids that overwhelming feeling).
Don’t work on what’s next, work on what’s right.
This methodology works for all of your goals in your business or your personal life - when you start breaking down the goal in terms that make sense, you have the power to figure out how to move the needle and see a path towards achieving your goal.
And don’t forget to check those tactics against your “Company Compass”; otherwise you might be wasting time focusing on distractions that aren’t moving your business towards it’s ultimate goal.