1. IT’S NOT THE TACTIC
It’s THE STRATEGY
Bob LeDrew

2. Bob briefly
• Principal Consultant, Translucid Communications
• Journalism, PR and social media for nearly 25 years
• First PR blogger in Canada (April 2003)
• Career Highlights: Writing speeches for national TV
audience; contributing to crisis strategy @AlgonquinCollege;
teaching @AlgonquinCollege
• Passions: language, strategy, measurement

3. Today
• It’s not the tactic -- it’s the strategy
• Why strategies fail
• When there is no strategy
• Developing a strategy that will work
• Measuring strategies and tactics

4. What is strategy?
• The direction and scope of an organisation over the long-
term
• Alternative chosen to make happen a desired future
• plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal
• an elaborate and systematic plan of action
• The means by which objectives are consciously pursued
and obtained over time.
• Long-term action plan for achieving a goal

5. What is it really?!
Bob’s (borrowed) definition:
An idea designed to
empower people

6. Idea designed to
empower people
Designed -
Idea - not a grabbing out of a
tool, not a toolbag is not
tactic strategizing
Empower - to People - Key players
give power to don’t buy the strategy +
people feel empowered = fail

7. Elements of good strategy
• Concise
• Not comprehensive
• Clear
• Integrated evaluation
• Goals, not tactics

8. Concise
• 20 page strategies are right up there with mission-statement
pamphlets for read counts
• Too often, too many words, too much detail leads to
boredom, avoidance, or lack of flexibility

9. NOT comprehensive
• No strategy can cover every eventuality
• Strategies that try to do so will fail

10. Clarity
• Strategies should follow the same rules as news releases
and other articles.
• The better the writing in the strategy, the better the strategy

11. Integrated evaluation
• A strategy without a measurement component is a strategy
that can’t succeed
• Measurement doesn’t have to be expensive

12. Goals, not tactics
• Starting with the tactic distorts the goals
• Starting with the goals allows you to choose the tactics

13. My strategies
• Objective - 1 sentence expressing the opportunity you’re
chasing, the negative outcome you’re preventing
• Background - 3-4 bullets
• Strategy - summary sentence
• Tactics - what you’re going to do
• Resources - what you’ll need
• Evaluation - using methods that relate to the tactics
AND the objective (10% of budget)

14. Measurement
• Measure outcomes, not outputs
• Measurement is only useful when it’s USED
• Commit to studying and learning from measurement

15. Social media opportunity
• Social media can let you measure engagement, not just
views or clicks
• Must-use tools:
• bit.ly or other URL shortener
• Google analytics
• FB insights
• Youtube stats

16. Social media challenge
• Backlash
• Inauthenticity
• One-way versus two-way communication
• Trust, engage, share

17. Case studies
Dell - direct2dell, Ideastorm
Camp Okutta
Maple Leaf foods vs. XL foods

18. Resources
Strategy
• http://iabcstore.com/eccommplanning/
• http://www.casestudiesonline.com/
• http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/rural/facts/03-033.htm
Measurement
• Http://kdpaine.blogs.com
• http://alanchumley.wordpress.com
• http://www.mediamiser.com/

19. Questions?
Bob LeDrew
http://translucid.ca
613.869.2148 / @bobledrew