Connect business goals to choices and practical work.
A useful strategy makes trade-offs visible: who the business will serve, which problem it can solve and what it will leave aside. The plan names people, resources and review points. Tactics can change when evidence changes without requiring the business to rewrite its goal each week.
A practical example
A fictional repair company decides to help existing customers plan seasonal maintenance. Its plan assigns a service-page update, a reminder and a review date. Sending the reminder is one tactic. Counting messages sent says little about whether customers can book the right service.
Definitions in this topic
10 connected terms. Follow a comparison when two ideas are easy to confuse.
- Buyer persona
A working representation of a type of buyer, based on stated evidence and assumptions rather than a claim that every buyer behaves alike.
- Customer journey
A working description of the steps, questions and interactions someone may encounter before, during and after choosing a service.
- Marketing budget
The money and internal resources a business allocates to agreed marketing work over a stated period.
- Marketing plan
The actions, responsibilities, timing and budget used to put a marketing strategy into practice.
- Marketing strategy
The choices connecting a business goal, intended customers and a reason to choose the offer.
- Marketing tactic
A specific action used to put a strategy into practice.
Also called: Tactic
- Service offer
An explanation of the work a customer can buy, who it suits, what it includes and where its limits sit.
- Target audience
The group of people whose situation your offer is designed to serve.
Also called: Audience
- Trade-off
The work or promise a business leaves out when it chooses a direction.
- Working hypothesis
An idea you plan to check, rather than a fact you already know.
Keep the distinctions clear
An audience is a group the work is meant to serve. A persona is a working representation of a type of buyer. A customer journey describes possible steps and questions. None substitutes for checking assumptions against actual conversations and behavior.
Put the ideas to work
The strategy guide explains how to choose a manageable direction. The local-business article applies that thinking to service information, discovery and contact routes.
- A marketing strategy before a channel list
Build a practical marketing strategy around an audience, useful offer, proof and review process before choosing channels or adding more activity.
- A local discovery plan for a service business
Market a small business locally with accurate business details, useful service pages, honest reviews and a clear way to make contact.
Sources & scope
Still Matter’s working definitions connect these ideas to small-business marketing. The sources below support the named methods and technical distinctions; the examples are fictional. Practical planning descriptions are our editorial guidance.
For the applied explanations and their full source notes, use the guides above.