Marketing Tactics: the Medium or the Message?

Marketing tactics often get judged by the visible parts: the headline, the brochure, the email design, the video, the event booth, or the social post. Those pieces matter, but they can distract from the basic mission of marketing: getting the right message to the right people.

Ask yourself a practical question before spending another dollar on creative work: is the problem really the message, or is it the medium carrying the message? A clever slogan sent to the wrong audience is still waste, while a plain offer sent to a well-qualified prospect can create real momentum.

What Are Marketing Tactics?

Marketing tactics are the specific actions, channels, and campaign methods a business uses to execute its marketing strategy. They follow the marketing strategy in the marketing and sales plan section of your business plan, turning broad goals into the practical work of reaching prospects, presenting an offer, and measuring response.

You do not have to look far to find very complex and verbose definitions of marketing. Typically these definitions are filled with meaningless platitudes and clichés like “proactively adding value.” A more simple, practical, yet worthy definition describes marketing’s basic mission: getting the right message to the right people.

That definition keeps marketing tactics in perspective. A tactic can be direct mail, paid search, organic search engine optimization, pay-per-click campaigns, email, trade shows, referrals, webinars, radio, or a sales presentation. The tactic is the medium. The message is what the prospect hears. Good marketing requires both, but the medium must be chosen because it reaches the people most likely to buy.

How Do Marketing Tactics Fit With Marketing Strategy?

Marketing strategy defines the target customer, market position, business goals, budget, and offer. Marketing tactics put that strategy into action. Before choosing the medium, a company should understand its likely customers, buying behavior, and competitive position. The SBA’s market research guidance is a useful reminder that customer and competitor research should come before channel selection.

Although tactical marketing is about the message, focusing too much on the marketing message can cause you to lose sight of marketing priorities. A lot of expense and creative effort are put into crafting eye-catching visuals accompanied by just the right phrase or slogan. But does it really matter how great your message is if it does not reach the right people?

Whether to think of marketing as an art or a science has been a recurring question. Though semiotic scholars may disagree, there is an indefinable artistic slant to creating great content, as there is to the intuitive feel of knowing what works and what does not. Even a marketing veteran, however, can have trouble predicting what message will be effective. Selecting and employing the method that carries the message should not be left to chance as well.

How Should You Set Priorities for Marketing Tactics?

Consider the marketing tactics of a direct mail campaign. What is the most important component of your direct mail effort? Is it the list used, how creative the enclosed content is, or the offer that is made? Many small to medium businesses lacking direct mail expertise or experience use a backward approach.

They spend lots of time, effort, and money on creating attractive content like a colorful letter and a glossy brochure. Then they spend few resources obtaining the right list or crafting an offer that appeals to the audience. They have their priorities confused.

There is an old rule of thumb used by experienced direct mail professionals known as 60-30-10. Sixty percent of direct mail response is a result of using the right list. Thirty percent of responses are because of the offer. Only ten percent of responses are due to the creative content in the package.

That is not to suggest you can send out sloppy, unprofessional content. It does mean that an inordinate amount of effort is frequently put into crafting creative and appealing content, which matters very little if you are not mailing it to the right people. The same logic applies to digital channels. A paid search campaign, an email sequence, a trade show booth, or a social media campaign can all fail when audience fit and offer fit are weak.

How Do You Select the Best Marketing Tactic?

A consultant worked with a client on improving their sales cycle process. The client was about to start a direct mail campaign to drum up some business. This direct mail effort, as well as participating in a few trade shows, was going to use up most of their marketing budget.

As the consultant interviewed the client, asking pertinent sales and marketing questions, it became clear that using direct mail campaigns made little sense for them. The client operated a niche business that sells “build to specification” specialty equipment, so buying a good list of prospects was very difficult, especially a list of thousands that are typically needed to achieve the numbers required for a direct mail campaign.

Plus, the client described an expected 5% response rate in order to achieve their goals for cost per lead and cost per sale. Not realistic numbers by most direct mail standards. Even more interestingly, when asked where most of their current leads came from, the client responded “from the Internet.” While the company had a decent web page, they put almost no effort into actively using search, paid search, or other measurable digital channels to generate leads or increase sales.

For a niche business like theirs, where prospects can be hard to find, putting more effort into Internet marketing made much more sense than a direct mail campaign. In the current environment, buyers frequently use search and specialized online research to find products and services that are difficult to source locally. In this instance, the client should have used a substantial part of the marketing budget to ensure potential customers could find them easily through organic search engine optimization and pay-per-click campaigns.

The company recognized the good advice, and they shifted tactics in order to get more value from the marketing budget. The lesson was not that direct mail is bad or that digital channels are automatically better. The lesson was that the best tactic depends on where qualified prospects actually look, how they evaluate alternatives, and what offer will move them to respond.

What Should You Monitor After Choosing a Tactic?

No matter which marketing tactics make sense for you to employ, the same principles apply. Create a clear and reflective plan that includes setting realistic goals that align with the overall business goals and strategies. Be aware of the impact on the marketing budget, and pay attention to important ratios such as cost per lead, cost per sale, response rate, conversion rate, and revenue by channel.

Marketing claims also need discipline. A creative message can be persuasive without becoming careless, but advertising and promotional claims should still be truthful and supportable. The FTC’s advertising and marketing guidance is a useful baseline for keeping claims grounded while campaigns compete for attention.

Understand where the priorities are and then apply the money and effort accordingly, as the 60-30-10 rule suggests. The most creative radio spot ever made will not be effective if it is not heard by the right audience. A polished landing page will not recover a weak offer. A well-designed trade show booth will not fix poor follow-up.

Do some research and reflect on how theory and recognized best practices can be applied through tactics that make the most sense for your business. Use the Plan-Do-Check-Act process approach to create a coherent plan, measure the results, analyze what they mean, and make the appropriate corrections.

The Bizmanualz Sales & Marketing Procedures Manual applies the Plan-Do-Check-Act approach to several aspects of marketing, including Marketing Planning, Marketing Tactics, Sales Operations, and Sales and Marketing Administration.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Are Marketing Tactics?

Marketing tactics are the specific channels, campaign actions, and promotional methods used to execute a marketing strategy. They include choices such as direct mail, paid search, email, trade shows, referrals, and content marketing.

Why Does the Medium Matter in Marketing?

The medium matters because it determines whether the message reaches the right audience. A strong message delivered through the wrong channel can waste budget, while a clear offer delivered to a qualified audience can perform well.

How Should a Business Choose a Marketing Tactic?

A business should choose a tactic by matching the channel to its target customer, offer, budget, buying process, and measurable goals. The best tactic is the one that reaches qualified prospects and can be monitored for cost per lead, cost per sale, and response quality.

What Is the 60-30-10 Rule in Direct Mail?

The 60-30-10 rule is a direct mail rule of thumb that attributes most response to the quality of the list, then to the offer, and then to the creative package. It reinforces the idea that audience and offer often matter more than design polish.

How Do You Know if a Marketing Tactic Is Working?

A marketing tactic is working when it produces qualified leads or sales at a cost and quality level that supports the business goal. Track response rate, conversion rate, cost per lead, cost per sale, and revenue by channel, then adjust using a Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle.