Tactics vs. Strategy: A Very Simple Introduction

In the last two years, I have had the opportunity to chat with many struggling writers and authors. These conversations have confirmed something that I have known for a very long time: An increasing number of authors and writers struggle to promote themselves successfully because they do not know their audiences. They have no clue who their ideal readers are.

I have done many things in my professional career. For almost a decade, I worked a social media coach, helping indie artists (including authors), solopreneurs, and small business owners to leverage the power of social media to market themselves better. I would like to continue doing that via Vocal, among other things.

That is why I have decided to start publishing occasional social media / marketing tips here. I look forward to reading your feedback and hope you will find those posts useful.

Today, let us start with a very important topic: Tactics vs. strategy. These two words are often mistakenly used to mean the same thing.

A strategy is a method or plan of action created to achieve a major goal. A strategy presents your objectives and mission statement based on short, mid and long terms, and offers one or more solutions to a stated problem (experienced by a specific audience).

A strategy answers specific questions that will allow you to successfully sell your books or any other products you have created.

(Yes, you read it right. The moment when you release a book for sale, it becomes a product. So you have to treat it accordingly. And anybody telling you otherwise is actually doing you a disservice.)

A strategy is not something you do once and forget. It is not a one-size-fits-all thing. What works for one author and one book may not work for you or your next book. You need to create a plan that factors in things like your ideal readers, their needs, their questions, their favorite bookstores, their preferred book formats, etc. It also has to be flexible enough to be adjusted when need be — or at least once a year.

If you ask around for pointers, you will find all sorts of advice. For example, some people will tell you not to be specific when creating your strategy. I beg to differ. It is very important to create a detailed strategy. It is one of the only ways to remain focused.

A detailed plan is especially important when writing your objectives. Pay careful attention to the words you use. Saying that you want to sell 1,000 copies of your book in three months does not mean the same thing as reaching 1,000 potential readers within the same time frame. The former is all about selling and the latter implies connecting with people. While you might end up getting the same results, the techniques you will use to reach those results are very different.

That is when tactics come into play.

Tactics are subsets of a strategy, every action you take to achieve the goals outlined in your strategy. Examples include:

• a short Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest / Instagram campaign
• a newsletter blast
• a press release
• a series of blog posts
• a blog tour
• a giveaway
• a book cover reveal
• a book trailer
• a series of short videos on TikTok
• a series of radio / podcast interviews

The list is far from exhaustive, of course! There are tons of tactics you can use to ensure that you will market your book successfully. Be bold, try as many ideas as possible and see which ones work best for your current book. Keep those that did not work for later, though, as they may be effective for another release!

That's it for today! Thank you for reading!

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Cendrine Marrouat is a writer, photographer, podcaster, blogger, anthology editor, and the co-founder of Auroras & Blossoms and A Warm Cup of Cozy. She has authored and co-authored more than 40 books, including The Train: A Short Story (2023), In Her Own Words: A Collection of Short Stories & Flashku (2022), After the Fires of Day: Haiku Inspired by Kahlil Gibran & Alphonse de Lamartine (2021), Rhythm Flourishing: A Collection of Kindku and Sixku (2020), Walks: A Collection of Haiku (2019-2020), and In the Silence of Words: A Three-Act Play (2018).

Cendrine's work has appeared in many publications. She is the creator of the Sixku, Flashku, Sepigram, and Reminigram; as well as the co-creator of the Kindku, Pareiku, Vardhaku, and Hemingku.