Projects Are Not Strategies

In order to see the discrepancy, we must first define a strategy. A strategy is an overarching plan—a road map to ensure that all individual marketing efforts have a focal point and goal. Typically that goal has a measurable outcome, such as increased revenue or increased client retention.

Simply put, projects are tactics—not strategies. Unfortunately, people using the two terms interchangeably, so there is a lot of confusion about the difference between the two. Tactics are narrowly focused on reaching specific and measurable objectives. These can include Web sites, newsletters, advertising, etc. Done correctly, projects like these advance a company's overarching communications strategy—the "big picture"—the overall plan for how a company will achieve its organizational goals and objectives.

Yet, companies often call a project like a new Web site a "strategic project" as an excuse to avoid the very hard work of coming up with a strategy. Sometimes they think that just by completing a series of self-contained projects, a strategy will magically emerge. What they end up with is a bunch of completed projects thrown together, but not in any way that makes sense.

For example, a company may want to build brand awareness with a new Web site design. Even though they complete the project successfully, the problem emerges when they want to tackle another project down the road, and find their website design can't be translated well to another medium.

When projects are tackled without the guidance of a larger strategy, not only does it confuse the issue, it wastes money and sets the company up for failure. There is no substitute for strategic planning. Strategies must exist outside and above any particular project. A project makes sense only when the goal, plan, and metrics are pre-defined.