Lowering the cost of acquiring a new customer through conversion optimization.

Economies of scope (lowering costs by spreading risk across various product lines).

Harnessing the power of economies of scale (buying in volume).

Developing systems to streamline operations.If this is your strategy every tactic you utilize, or move that you make, should fall in line with increasing your customer volume and decreasing your costs. Low cost is self explanatory and is the strategy utilized by companies like Walmart or Southwest. Do you know how you plan on winning in your respective marketplace? There are two fundamental strategies to consider – low cost or differentiation (Niche). Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.īefore thinking – How can my business use Facebook, or “X popular social network” (or any tactic for that matter) take a step back and ensure that your overall strategy is defined. This brings us to Sun Tzu’s First Strategy Lesson… Sun Tzu Strategy Lesson One Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. These tactics can be extremely valuable when in the hands of the right craftsman, but not so effective without an overall strategy behind them. Utilizing SEO, Social Media, or blogging are all tactics. In regards to business, too many times people focus on tactics without having a proper overall strategy in place. Sun Tzu often wrote about the importance of strategy and the wisdom that he shared is still extremely applicable today whether you’re referring to business, sports, or military endeavors. Sun Tzu was a Chinese general and philosopher who lived over 2,000 years ago and is most known for writing the Art of War. One influential figure that I have written about in the past in my “ Lesson on Communication” post was military strategist and philosopher Sun Tzu. I am a big fan of studying history and the great leaders, philosophers and strategists of the past. Having a well founded strategy is necessary to win the battle for your customer’s attention, and win the war within your respective marketplace.

Furthermore consumers are constantly bombarded with marketing and advertising messages from every direction from companies competing for their attention. The world has gotten much smaller with the birth of social networks, social bookmarking websites, search engines, email and other communication mediums.

Sun tzu quotes