Tactics Vs. Strategies

By Eric Ruth

I was absolutely riveted by the [first] war in Iraq. I spent many nights staying up so late to watch war coverage, I fell asleep on the couch.

Besides the engrossing elements of watching us kick ass in Iraq, there is much to be learned about the critical elements of marketing your business, by listening to the military “color” commentators and the talking heads.

One of the most insightful comments I heard recently came from Fred Barnes, Executive Editor of the Weekly Standard.

He was in a round table discussion with a couple other members of the press. They were debating why a recent poll indicated strong American support for the war, but simultaneously indicated Americans thought the war was not going well.

One of the people in the discussion made the comment that Americans perceived the war was not going well because now it appears Saddam was not killed in the initial attack, some American service people have been taken hostage, we are having difficulty controlling some cities and towns in southern Iraq, the infantry advance seems bogged down outside of Baghdad, Iraqi television is still on the air and much of the Middle Eastern and international press coverage is negative against the coalition invasion.

Fred rebutted, saying that in five days we have taken control over two-thirds of Iraq, lost only a handful of Americans to enemy attack (although each loss of life is tragic), totally control the air, have protected much of the Iraqi oilfields, completely decimated Iraqi command and control and are poised to seize control of Baghdad.

In essence, Fred pointed out, those who say the war is going badly do not understand the difference between TACTICS and STRATEGY.

Yes, there have been some tactical mishaps, but our overall strategy is working brilliantly.

According to Fred, many people do not see the forest for the trees. I agree.

It’s this focus on the occasional tactical problem, as opposed to focusing on the overriding success of the military strategy, that causes knee-jerk, negative reactions.

The STRATEGY, which encompasses various tactical maneuvers, is sound. We are quickly achieving our objectives. But because of the almost real-time reporting that’s occurring, many people react negatively to the occasional TACTICAL mishap.

We are a culture that has become accustomed to getting what we want when we want it.

This sometimes obscures or skews our perspective.

But if you listen to the older generation of Americans, particularly the wise and seasoned veterans of other wars, they will tell you that, yes, we have had some breakdowns, but all-in-all, we’re kicking ass and taking names.

They counsel patience, because the goal is just, the overall strategy is sound and most of the tactics will deliver the results we want, if America is patient and remains committed to success.

WAR GOAL: Victory, capture or kill Saddam, liberate Iraqi people, remove weapons of mass destruction.

WAR STRATEGY: Control the skies, the south, west and north, box Saddam in, force mass surrender of Iraqi troops.

WAR TACTICS: Quick strike to decapitate regime (didn’t work), pinpoint bombing to decimate command and control (worked), secure southern oilfields (worked), secure port at Um Qasr (worked), rapidly deploy infantry and cavalry northward (worked), control southern city of Basrah (didn’t work), and all the other tactical maneuvering the coalition forces are doing as part of the overriding strategy.

Hang in there if you’re not yet seeing how all this applies to your personal training business. I promise to do my best to tie it together so you “get it.”

Another interesting comment I heard came from General Alexander Haig, the former Secretary of State in the Reagan Administration.

When asked if he sees any problems with the coalition strategy so far in the war against Iraq, Genreal Haig commented that, in his experience the way to win wars is through the application of “maximum violence.”

He went on to explain that he understands President Bush is reluctant to apply maximum violence because he wants to minimize civilian casualties and avoid completely decimating Baghdad.

Unfortunately, however, this less than maximum violence strategy is putting coalition forces at greater risk and extending the life of the tyrannical regime of Saddam Hussein.

If we applied the doctrine of “maximum violence,” with our firepower we could have already flattened Baghdad and captured or killed Saddam.

But at what cost?

Anyway, that question addresses a debate that I don’t want to get into right now. What I want you to focus on is General Haig’s doctrine of maximum violence.

You see, effective marketing is rooted in military doctrine. Effective marketing is all about having a goal, a strategy for achieving that goal and tactics for implementing your strategy.

If you want to achieve your goal, you must have a strategy for doing so, and you must use smart, tactical maneuvers to implement your strategy.

Can a single tactical maneuver, a single application of a marketing method, result in the achievement of your goal?

Probably not.

The first tactical application of the war, the massive attack on Saddam’s bunker, was just such an attempt.

The hope was that we could kill Saddam, his sons and many of his cronies with one pinpoint bombing strike.

It was a brilliant tactical maneuver. And it almost worked.

But too many things have to go right in order for one tactical application to work in achieving the goal.

That’s why I work so hard at teaching you an abundance of different tactics you can use to implement your overriding strategy and achieve your financial goal.

But what I think many of you may not understand is that tactics alone, when separated from an overriding strategy, can only provide small victories.

It is the doctrine of MASSIVE ACTION: the application of numerous tactics within a sound strategic framework that I teach. And this is a derivative of General Haig’s doctrine of maximum violence.

Implementation of one tactic here (like doing a 3-step letter sequence to an upscale neighborhood) and one tactic there (like doing a one-time endorsed mailing) can bring you a couple new clients and a solid return on your investment of marketing dollars.

Or not.

Sometimes, regardless of how good your tactic – the particular marketing application (like a postcard mailing, an advertisement or press release) – you may get poor results or no results at all.

That’s a bummer. It can be de-motivating.

And if you do not have a solid strategic objective, keeping your eye on the big picture, you will likely think that marketing just doesn’t work.

You will be myopic. You will be like those people who think that just because we have incurred casualties, have not killed Saddam and have encountered stiffer resistance than expected, this war is not going well.

That is not accurate. And it’s self-defeating to adopt that mindset.

A successful marketing strategy incorporates numerous and varied marketing tactics. And marketing, in general, is a consistent process of testing and refining tactics to achieve your strategic objective.

If you are relying on one marketing tactic, no matter how brilliant it may be, without developing a broader strategy, it’s just like the first decapitating attack we attempted against Saddam; the odds of it achieving the goal are definitely not in your favor.

For the sake of illustration, let’s assume your GOAL for August 2008 is to have 30 billable hours of training time each week at $50 each, equaling $1500/wk in active income, and passive income of $1000/wk from other sources. That’s $2500 per week or $130,000 per year.

Now, with that goal in mind, what is your plan, your STRATEGY, for achieving that goal? And what TACTICS, what marketing methods, will you implement inside of that strategic framework?

GOAL: $2500/wk by August 2007

STRATEGY: Strategy, like Unique Selling Proposition, is dependent on many unique factors of YOUR business, so I can’t define exactly what your personal strategy should be. However, I will tell you what it should be in GENERAL terms.

Your general strategy should be the building and nurturing of 4 databases (lists).

Customer/client list – the list of everyone who has ever purchased anything from you. In addition to all contact and personal info, this list should also include:

How this person came to you (source).
Type of purchase (product or service).
Date of purchase.
Amount paid.
Has this person referred to you?
Date of last contact.

Prospect list – the list of everyone who has ever expressed interest in your services or products but has never purchased. In addition to all contact and personal info, this list should also include:

Date lead was generated.
How you got this lead (source).
Has this person referred to you?
Date of last contact.

Joint Venture list – the list of everyone who is now, or could become, a JV partner or endorser. In addition to all contact and personal info, this list should also include:

Date you added them to list.
Type of business.
Has this person referred to you?
Date of last contact.

Media contact list – the list of every local and national media contact who can help you build your business. In addition to all contact and personal info, this list should also include:

Date you added them to list.
Type of media.
Date of last contact.

The biggest mistake I see personal trainers (and all businesspeople, for that matter) making is:

THE LACK OF A LIST-BUILDING/NURTURING STRATEGY!!!!!

Notice I said “building/nurturing.” It’s not enough to just add names to your list. You MUST establish and nurture the relationship by staying in regular contact.

Your lists = your livelihood.

If you get just one thing from me, please, please get this principle of list building/nurturing. As you grow your lists, nurture your lists and make offers to your lists, your business, income and quality of life will grow and improve. IT IS A TESTED AND PROVEN SUCCESS FORMULA.

Now let’s look at some specific tactics (there are so many you can use, I will only list a small number here just to illustrate my point) for implementing your strategy and achieving your goal.

ACTIVE INCOME TACTICS:

Write and submit 2 new lead-generating press releases to all local media each week.

Monthly lead-generating target-farming to 500-1000 upscale homeowners within 5 mile radius of you.

Monthly print newsletter to your highest quality sphere of influence (SOI).

Bi-weekly email newsletter to your entire SOI.

Secure one new joint venture lead-generating endorsement each month.

Secure one lead-generating public speaking gig each month.

Monthly referral programming letter to past and present clients.

Quarterly dead client reactivation and referral stimulation offers.

Special offers tied to all major holidays.

Write and submit lead-generating articles to local media.

PASSIVE INCOME TACTICS:

Write and submit lead-generating articles for national publications.

Develop a lead-generating, direct sales web site.

Product sales announcements to email newsletter list.

Product sales announcements to print newsletter list.

JV endorsement product sales.

Lead-generating advertising in national publications.

Write and submit 2 new lead-generating press releases to national publications each month.

Write and submit one new lead-generating article to targeted web sites each month.

Affiliate programs.

Targeted direct mail to buyers of similar products.

All these tactics work to build and nurture your lists and DRIVE SALES of your services and products. They are in no particular order. And they are just a small sampling of the dozens and dozens of tactics I teach and illustrate in the products and coaching programs available at www.NetProfitExplosion.com

But I also teach you the STRATEGIES necessary for you to achieve preeminence and marketplace dominance.

Having effective tactics in your marketing arsenal is essential to generating “fast profits,” but the real freedom-creating money, the “serious net worth,” comes from understanding and applying an overriding STRATEGY for attaining your goals.

The point of all this is that marketing is a process, NOT an event. The “process” is your overriding strategy. Each “event” is a tactic you implement to achieve your strategy.

If you jump from one “event” – one marketing tactic – to the next, without a clearly defined strategy, your chances of ever really making the kind of money you want are severely diminished.

Strategic marketing IS the key to the vault.

Which brings me to my next story.

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The *Real* Secret To Info-Product Success
***********************************

Creating information products is pretty easy. Many people think there’s some “magic” to it. There isn’t. I created a new information product in less than three hours the other night. I’ll soon be selling it for $79.

I would imagine, based on my experience as an information marketer, that I’ll sell 200 to 500 units of this product in the next 12 months.

In three hours of work, I created something that will earn me $15,000 to $40,000 in one year.

If it is that successful, and I have every reason to believe it will be, I’ll then invest a couple of weeks to “bump” the package. To flesh it out, bulk it up, add more value to it and then sell it for $297 or more.

At that price point, I only need to sell 135 units instead of 500 to make the same $40,000.

That’s incredible LEVERAGE. And leverage is one of the amazing benefits you get from creating and selling information products.

But, as I said, there is no *magic* to creating products. It’s really pretty simple. The most important thing is to create something you know people will want.

So, if there’s really no magic to creating products, then the *real* secret to your success with info-products is the MARKETING.

Want to learn from one of the greatest information marketers of our time EXACTLY how he has created and sold over 30 different info-products, producing millions of dollars in profits?

Want almost 250 pages of HOW TO guidelines on product creation, and almost 200 pages of actual sample ads, sales letters, joint venture letters and more, that walk you step-by-step through the MARKETING of your info products?

Lots of people can show you how to create product. I will say that this “guru” teaches product creation better than anyone I know of. But his real forte, his real strength, is his ability to show you clearly and concisely exactly how to price and SELL your products.

And that’s really the bottom line, isn’t it? You can create the greatest product in the world, but if you don’t know how to MARKET it, how to SELL it, you’re S*O*L.

I’m referring to a product I offer called INFO MILLIONS. You can learn all about it by going to www.NetProfitExplosion.com

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