B2B Tech PR Firm Offers Tips On Crafting Marketing Plans with Solid Goals, Objectives, Strategies and Tactics
Correctly applying these within marketing and PR plans helps to better tie marketing to revenue
08.24.2009 – Arketi Group (www.arketi.com), a high-tech BtoB public relations (PR) and marketing firm, offers tips to technology PR and marketing pros on crafting goals, objectives, strategies and tactics that work.
All too often, in today's marketing and PR world, the terms goal and objective or strategy and tactic are used interchangeably to say the same thing. Plainly put, they are not -- and the resulting lack of precision can be problematic.
This is more than a semantic issue. This lack of understanding can cripple a marketing or Public Relations plan or, worse, make it totally void of value.
A properly organized PR or marketing plan supports itself like a pyramid. For each goal, there are objectives; every objective has strategies; and each strategy has tactics. A plan built in this manner has a true base of power. It is grounded in specifics. It speaks to executives. Most importantly, it clearly lets you know whether you are attaining success.
Constantly applying these terms as you construct marketing plans simplifies things and helps you better tie marketing to revenue. At Arketi, we use the following approach.
Goals
A goal is a "statement of being" for the plan. Often, one goal is enough. Marketing or PR plan goals should always be consistent with management goals, and they should be carefully crafted with the end result in mind.
A marketing plan goal might be "to increase the level of government funding," or "to expand our industry leadership." While the completion of the goal signifies the end of your plan, the objectives, strategies and tactics are the means to that end.
Objectives
Compared to the goal, objectives are more focused and specific, and the best-formulated objectives express results as measurable outcomes. Think in terms of the awareness, attitude or action that you hope to invoke. Often there are multiple objectives in support of a single goal. Meaningful objectives start with action verbs and have four parts; they:
- Identify a specific audience being addressed,
- State a measurable outcome,
- Set an attainment level, and
- Set a timeframe.
Strategies
Strategies are where the rubber meets the road. Strategies describe the diplomacy, psychology, philosophy, themes and appeals needed to meet your objectives. Rarely is one strategy enough to fully accomplish an objective. Likewise, it is not unusual for a single strategy to serve multiple objectives.
Strategies are more varied, and more creative, than objectives, so examples are more diverse. For instance, "execute customer communication efforts to find and merchandise true customer champions" and "implement stakeholder outreach programs to promote management's vision."
Tactics
Tactics are the specific tools you use to implement your strategies. News releases, brochures, media pitches, e-newsletters, blogs, Web sites, surveys, focus groups, and videos are just a few examples that spring to mind. It is the truly creative part of the plan's authors to decide exactly which tactics are needed to successfully implement the chosen strategies.
In Closing
A good marketing/PR plan is interlinked from top to bottom. Maximum success is dependent upon the plan's cogency. Without good tactics, a strategy will not successfully complete an objective, rendering the success of a goal limited.
A true marketing plan forces the authors to employ the right mix of experience with critical thinking. With this understanding of the key differences between goals, objectives, strategies and tactics, the end result is a plan that can be executed successfully.
About Arketi Group
Arketi Group is a public relations and marketing firm that helps business-to-business technology organizations accelerate growth through intelligent strategy, public relations, messaging, branding and demand generation. Consistently recognized by BtoB magazine as one of the nation's "Top BtoB Agencies," Arketi's core belief is that marketing generates revenue. Clients benefiting from this approach to BtoB marketing include Brand Velocity, Cbeyond, Flo Healthcare, Sprint, StatCom, Virtual Premise and Xerox Mortgage Services. For more information, call 404-929-0091 ext. 202 or visit www.arketi.com.
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- Arketi offers tips to tech PR and marketing pros on how to differentiate goals, objectives, strategies and tactics
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- A goal is a “statement of beingâ€
- Objectives are more focused and specific
- Strategies are varied and creative
- Tactics are the specific tools
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