6 (stunning…) Posts on Not Letting Strategy Fall Victim to Tactics

This weekend Matt Dickman, Paul Isakson, and Seth Godin wrote three excellent posts along the same vein that are worth checking out. We wrote a few similar posts recently, so I thought I'd aggregate them for your reading pleasure. Here's the theme:

Strategies should never be limited by the toolset. Yes, toolsets can inspire good ideas but, once again, we should start strategic planning by asking questions like,

“What will truly involve the user? How do we connect them with our brand? How do we connect with them? How do we improve their lives? How do we surprise them? How can we help them overcome their problem? How do we achieve our/their goals?”

The problem occurs when we start with tactics - when we start by asking questions such as, "How should we use Twitter?" As Godin puts it,

In my experience, people get obsessed about tactical detail before they embrace a strategy... and as a result, when a tactic fails, they begin to question the strategy that they never really embraced in the first place.

Enjoy the posts:

• When Tactics Drown Out Strategy - Seth Godin
• Want Better Digital Strategy, Ban Seven Dirty Words - Matt Dickman
• Fish Where the Fish Are...Or Not - Paul Isakson
• Ideas Should Drive Tactics. Tactics Shouldn't Drive Ideas - Josh Chambers
• Don't Let Tactics Supplant Creativity - Josh Chambers
• Establishing Your Brand's Message Before Jumping into Social Media - Anjali Merchant