6/22/2014 Understanding Goals, Strategy, Objectives And Tactics In The Age Of Social - Forbes

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ENTREPRENEURS 9/27/2013 @ 11:55AM 34,142 views
Understanding Goals, Strategy,
Objectives And Tactics In The
Age Of Social
Comment Now
Theres an old adage about the weather thats gospel for mountaineers and
meteorologists alike: Theres no such thing as good or bad weather. All we
have is weather, and you have to be prepared for it good and bad.
Same goes for media and marketing. Theres no such thing as traditional or
new media, just as theres no such thing as traditional or social media
marketing. All there is media and marketing, and both have always been and
always will be in a constant state of tactical evolvement.
In fact, when people talk or write about social media marketing being a
discipline unto itself one requiring a unique skills set and understanding to
master all theyre really talking about is the last item in what I like to call the
GSOT. And unless you understand the difference between Goals, Strategies,
Objectives and Tactics (the GSOT), youre likely to dismiss anything else
there is to say on the subject.
So, for the uninitiated:
A goal is a broad primary outcome.
A strategy is the approach you take to achieve a goal.
An objective is a measurable step you take to achieve a strategy.
A tactic is a tool you use in pursuing an objective associated with a strategy.
Countless example of GSOT in action exist, including this one Ive just riffed
for Intels line of Core processors:
Goal: Make our Core PC microprocessors a category leader in sales revenue
by year X.
Strategy: Persuade buyers that our Core processors are the best on the
market by associating with large, well-established PC manufacturers.
Mikal E. Belicove Contributor
I help you make sense of the news that matters to you & your business.
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.
6/22/2014 Understanding Goals, Strategy, Objectives And Tactics In The Age Of Social - Forbes
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Reggie Bradford
Objective: Retain 70 percent or more of the active worldwide PC
microprocessor market, according to Passmarks CPU benchmark report.
Tactic: Through creative that underlies our messaging, leverage hardware
partner brand awareness to include key messages about the Intel Inside
program.
In this example, the suggested SOTs are among many that Intel could choose
when pursuing the goal of making its PC microprocessors a category leader.
Nowhere do you see anything about media, let alone social media. But if you
did and that would be because of the creation and pursuit of a sub-strategy
it would be nothing other than a tactic.
So why does any of this matter? Reggie Bradford, Oracles senior vice
president of product development discusses this to some degree in Avi Savars
brilliant new book, Content to Commerce: Engaging Consumers Across Paid,
Owned, and Earned Channels. Bradford says theres a mandate within
corporate America for organizational change, particularly within the halls of
marketing. In the book, Bradford discusses how he would approach building a
marketing organization from the ground up, taking into consideration to
necessity for social media play a more pervasive role at the tactical level:
I would make social the fulcrum of my
communications strategy: Social is how
the modern consumer has grown
accustomed to communicating. The social
platforms are where they turn for discovery,
research, peer-to-peer recommendation (a
force far stronger than other influencers
like advertising), and for follow-up
customer service.
I would use paid and other media to buttress the core social
strategy: Paid offers a way to amplify qualified, relevant content that is
desired and welcomed with open arms by the consumer. Paid media
strategies would be informed by what we learn about the brands audience
through our consistent interaction with them on social, thereby
maximizing the effect of every spend.
I would leverage owned channels first, then earned, then paid,
followed by events and PR: As the foundation of my marketing
strategy, I would put whatever financial and personnel resources were
necessary toward fielding and operating world-class Facebook pages,
Twitter feeds, Pinterest boardswhatever platforms are most appropriate
for the brand.
6/22/2014 Understanding Goals, Strategy, Objectives And Tactics In The Age Of Social - Forbes
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This article is available online at: http://onforb.es/178eu5a
2014 Forbes.com LLC All Rights Reserved
(Excerpted with permission of the publisher, Wiley, Content to Commerce:
Engaging Consumers Across Paid, Owned and Earned Channels by Avi
Savar. Copyright 2013 by Avi Savar.)
Bradford, who serves on the board of directors of the Social Media Advertising
Consortium and previously founded software-as-a-service (SaaS) play Vitrue
which he sold to Oracle for $300 million will be the first to tell you that in
many marketing departments today, social is the enemy of but this is the way
weve always done it. He writes that comfort zones are being challenged,
and indicates that the ability to pivot and stay in sync with the way todays
consumers want to interact and conduct business will be a significant
determining factor in which enterprises survive and thrive.
Hear, hear to that!
Taking Bradfords thoughts a step further, those organizations that
understand the GSOT and social medias place on it will be the ones best
positioned to evolve at the same pace as the appearance of new and
compelling tactics.