Strategic and Tactical Marketing
发布时间：2004-05-11 00:31:46 热度：1847
Marketing is defined differently by various groups and the
term is used loosely on many occasions. To avoid lengthy
academic discussion about what marketing is and for the
purpose of demonstrating ideas, we can use an analogy to
explain marketing.
Business is like a starving person looking for food. Of
course he can sit out somewhere and wait for food to come by,
or he can go out and look for food. He will probably starve
to death if he waits, and therefore human nature drives him
to the latter process.
The person then has to decide what kind of food he wants to
look for, rice, meat or others. Through his knowledge
accumulated over years, or through talking with others who already have their food, he understands that this is springtime
and the rice is not yet mature. However, he also understands
that deer, rabbits and all kinds of livestocks are
available. Consequently, he decides to look for meat
rather than rice. Through this process, he has finished
an important part of strategic market decision--market
validation and segmentation process.
Then he turns around and thinks: “ I can catch ten rabbits
but that is still not worth the meat of just one deer. With
the same time and energy spent, I will get a lot more for
hunting deer.” So, he decides to hunt for deer instead of
rabbits. Through this process, he has finished another
important part of the business decision process— aligning
skills and resources with market segments, another important
aspect of strategic marketing process.
Although this happens naturally for a man with experience, his knowledge about where to go and what to do is part of the
market knowledge. Using his market knowledge, he made his
strategic marketing decision—what market he is targeting
(meat instead of rice), where to target (deer instead of
rabbit) and how to target the market.
Once the strategic marketing is completed he then moves on to
tactical marketing. Rather than wasting time and energy
running after the much faster deer, he puts bait in the field to attract the deer. Similarly, the successful businessman uses tactical marketing to attract potential customers. This
process is known in daily business practice as
“promotion.”
Tactical marketing continues until the deer finally shows up. From then on, all he has to do is harvest—a process that we
call “sales” in business. This process is a continuation of the marketing process although it is quite different. Sales
are the process to capture the intended target after the
target has been identified.
I have seen many times that businesses mix marketing with
sales. Although closely related, marketing and sales are
very different in terms of objectives, functions and
execution. Despite these differences, in reality, many
businesses have their marketing and sales combined in one
department, sometimes run and executed by the same
personnel.
This arrangement is troublesome because, as can be seen from
the above analogy, marketing sets the directions for the
business while sales executes the marketing plan. Many of our companies focus only on sales and have done little in
marketing. Furthermore, if the companies did perform some
marketing, most were focused on tactical marketing. Strategic marketing decides the direction of the business while tactical marketing attracts the potential buyers.
This analogy is only a simple tool to demonstrate the concept
of marketing. In real business, there is much more to
marketing than in the analogy. In the next article, we will
talk sales. The major points are:
· Relationships between marketing and sales
o Marketing vs. sales
o Using intuition vs. using data
· Relationships between sales and operation
o Sales driven or technology driven
o Customer demand vs. what operation can deliver
· Building a professional sales force
o Direct vs. channel
o OEM vs. own brand
o Human resource development
o Professional Sales management
§ Incentive and motivation for the sales team
o Professional sales skills
§ Handshake
§ Image
§ Presentation skills
§ Reading a buying signal
o Professional sales development and training
· Legal aspects in global market places
· Suggestions to our vendors
About the author: Peter Chen, a business consultant specialized in the optical industry, has an extensive experience in
business development, marketing, sales, and strategic
planning. Peter worked on projects with companies like
Deutsche telecom, Sun Microsystems, Newport Corporation, as
well as numerous start-up companies and venture capital
cases. Peter was Sr. Manager/Sr. Analyst at RHK covering
optical component. He was also the Asia Pacific Rim Sales
Manager at Newport Corporation prior to pursuing his own
consulting career.
Please contact Peter at Peter.chen@apaclinks.com for inquiries.
term is used loosely on many occasions. To avoid lengthy
academic discussion about what marketing is and for the
purpose of demonstrating ideas, we can use an analogy to
explain marketing.
Business is like a starving person looking for food. Of
course he can sit out somewhere and wait for food to come by,
or he can go out and look for food. He will probably starve
to death if he waits, and therefore human nature drives him
to the latter process.
The person then has to decide what kind of food he wants to
look for, rice, meat or others. Through his knowledge
accumulated over years, or through talking with others who already have their food, he understands that this is springtime
and the rice is not yet mature. However, he also understands
that deer, rabbits and all kinds of livestocks are
available. Consequently, he decides to look for meat
rather than rice. Through this process, he has finished
an important part of strategic market decision--market
validation and segmentation process.
Then he turns around and thinks: “ I can catch ten rabbits
but that is still not worth the meat of just one deer. With
the same time and energy spent, I will get a lot more for
hunting deer.” So, he decides to hunt for deer instead of
rabbits. Through this process, he has finished another
important part of the business decision process— aligning
skills and resources with market segments, another important
aspect of strategic marketing process.
Although this happens naturally for a man with experience, his knowledge about where to go and what to do is part of the
market knowledge. Using his market knowledge, he made his
strategic marketing decision—what market he is targeting
(meat instead of rice), where to target (deer instead of
rabbit) and how to target the market.
Once the strategic marketing is completed he then moves on to
tactical marketing. Rather than wasting time and energy
running after the much faster deer, he puts bait in the field to attract the deer. Similarly, the successful businessman uses tactical marketing to attract potential customers. This
process is known in daily business practice as
“promotion.”
Tactical marketing continues until the deer finally shows up. From then on, all he has to do is harvest—a process that we
call “sales” in business. This process is a continuation of the marketing process although it is quite different. Sales
are the process to capture the intended target after the
target has been identified.
I have seen many times that businesses mix marketing with
sales. Although closely related, marketing and sales are
very different in terms of objectives, functions and
execution. Despite these differences, in reality, many
businesses have their marketing and sales combined in one
department, sometimes run and executed by the same
personnel.
This arrangement is troublesome because, as can be seen from
the above analogy, marketing sets the directions for the
business while sales executes the marketing plan. Many of our companies focus only on sales and have done little in
marketing. Furthermore, if the companies did perform some
marketing, most were focused on tactical marketing. Strategic marketing decides the direction of the business while tactical marketing attracts the potential buyers.
This analogy is only a simple tool to demonstrate the concept
of marketing. In real business, there is much more to
marketing than in the analogy. In the next article, we will
talk sales. The major points are:
· Relationships between marketing and sales
o Marketing vs. sales
o Using intuition vs. using data
· Relationships between sales and operation
o Sales driven or technology driven
o Customer demand vs. what operation can deliver
· Building a professional sales force
o Direct vs. channel
o OEM vs. own brand
o Human resource development
o Professional Sales management
§ Incentive and motivation for the sales team
o Professional sales skills
§ Handshake
§ Image
§ Presentation skills
§ Reading a buying signal
o Professional sales development and training
· Legal aspects in global market places
· Suggestions to our vendors
About the author: Peter Chen, a business consultant specialized in the optical industry, has an extensive experience in
business development, marketing, sales, and strategic
planning. Peter worked on projects with companies like
Deutsche telecom, Sun Microsystems, Newport Corporation, as
well as numerous start-up companies and venture capital
cases. Peter was Sr. Manager/Sr. Analyst at RHK covering
optical component. He was also the Asia Pacific Rim Sales
Manager at Newport Corporation prior to pursuing his own
consulting career.
Please contact Peter at Peter.chen@apaclinks.com for inquiries.
