Business success starts with a clear vision, strategy and tactics, but what do each of these terms mean and how do they link together?
Your vision, strategy and tactics are essential company documents. Clearly articulating them can be the difference between building a well-oiled machine and piloting a sinking ship.
Vision – the heart and soul of the business
The vision is the heart and soul of a business. It is why you – as a business and as a team – do what you do everyday.
Every organisation needs a vision put down on paper so it can be shared with staff, stakeholders, and customers.
Your vision is often an emotional piece of company literature that:
- Sets out where you see yourself in the future;
- Articulates your hopes and dreams, yet is clearly achievable.
- Is a written succinctly and using general terms.
It describes what you want your company to look like. For example;
Nike -Bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world. *If you have a body, you are an athlete.
Ikea – To create a better everyday life for the many people.
Microsoft – We strive to create local opportunity, growth, and impact in every country around the world.
But the vision is just that – a vision, a mirage – it doesn’t tell you how to get there, but rather where you want to be.
This is where strategy and tactics come into play.
Strategy – how will I achieve that vision, and by when?
The company strategy is a document that starts drilling down into the goals you need to achieve to realise your vision.
Some example strategies might be: “To be on the first page of Google search by (date) , or “To build the second branch by (date)“.
There will be multiple strategies in place across the different areas of the business. For example, finance, operations, management, sales, marketing, customer relationship management, etc. This will flesh out how you’ll achieve your vision. It’s the roadmap to where you want to go.
These aren’t detailed tasks, yet – but they provide the building blocks for how you will achieve your vision and they leave room to implement tactics.
Tactics – achievable actions to take.
Tactics are the actions that show you how to achieve your goals by breaking it down into actionable items.
For example; “I want to be on page one of Google search by (date) by investing in SEO and promoting (number) keywords relevant to my business, investing in weekly advertising and including monthly 400-word blogs on my website”.
Tactics are meant to be tweaked as you go along, adapting to things like market conditions, new technologies or changed budgets.
Need help articulating your Vision, Strategy and Tactics?
Every company needs to set out a vision, strategy and tactics. They need to seamlessly work together while allowing room for tweaks as you bring the dream to life with solid execution.
Curious to learn more? Contact us to book a time to discuss your vision, strategy and tactics and let’s talk business!
