The Difference Between Marketing Strategy and Advertising Tactics

I realized I often use interchangeably (marketing) strategy with advertising (tactics).

I am not alone.

Here is how I clarified this for myself. It might help you too.

You develop a marketing strategy when you start a brand. Then, you do tactics. Yes, you might do strategy again when things are really not working, but more often than not, you will continue to do just tactics.

Confess to it. Everyone around you is a tactics master; if you dig beyond the LinkedIn title, there are few brand strategists. If you work at Toyota or for Oreo in marketing, it's hard to say you are doing marketing strategy; you are doing (mostly) advertising tactics.

Marketing strategy is about considering the market you are addressing. Who will likely buy you more, what do they need, what do they miss, and how can you position your offer to make it stick? In the words of Seth Godin, positioning is a generous act offering people transparency of who you are and who you aren't. Then you need a damn' good product quality, a sourcing and distribution model that works over time, and only then can you start thinking about advertising. And that's mostly a tactic.