Understanding the difference between strategy and tactics is absolutely key to marketing success.

If you want more success, you need to start paying attention to and expand the things that give you the most leverage.

Here’s the simplest, most jargon-free definition of marketing you’re ever likely to come across: If the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying “Circus Coming to the Showground Saturday,” that’s advertising. If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that’s promotion. If the elephant walks through the mayor’s

marketing is the strategy you use for getting your ideal target market to know you, like you and trust you enough to become a customer. All the stuff you usually associate with marketing are tactics.

Crafting Your Offer

Direct response marketing is designed to evoke an immediate response and compel prospects to take some specific action, such as opting in to your email list, picking up the phone and calling for more information, placing an order or being directed to a web page.

before customer retention, we need to think about customer acquisition (AKA marketing).

By far the biggest leverage point in any business is marketing. If you get 10% better at marketing, this can have an exponential or multiplying effect on your bottom line.

Think of your business as a person. What attributes make up its personality? What’s its name? What does it wear? (i.e., design) How does it communicate? (i.e., positioning) What are its core values and what does it stand for? (i.e., brand promise) Who does it associate with? (i.e., target market) Is it well-known? (i.e., brand awareness)