In any business there is always that moment of truth when a new product or service hits the market - that moment where a company’s new baby meets the customer and the market goes crazy for it. At least that’s the plan.

But most of us have also experienced a moment when the company offering and the market don’t jive and the launch fails. These failures don’t generally find their way into the pages of HBR or the Wall Street Journal – they just fade away (along with someone’s career). The first one for me was a product called Scale Blaster. The customer had a need and the company had a solution but they just couldn’t get  matched up. Standing on the sidelines, it was frustrating seeing the product implode.

Strategic marketing can greatly increase your chances of a successful launch. Trouble is few businesses excel at strategic marketing. Indeed, most struggle to differentiate between "strategic" marketing and "tactical" marketing but there is an important difference. While both are needed for product success you have to get the strategic marketing right first. Take a look at the visual below.

The big difference is timing and responsibility. Strategic marketing is where the company is tasked with figuring out what the market wants in the first place so they can design a product or service connecting customer’s needs and desires with the new product and service design. Many believe this discipline is a dark art. It’s not. Let’s call it getting the function right before you go to market. There is a science to it that’s important to understand, otherwise new product development is left to guess work and luck. Strategic marketing also includes the competitive landscape, establishing sustainable competitive advantages, and foreseeing changes in the marketplace. Strategic marketing uses the tools of marketing but it’s actually everyone’s responsibility.

Tactical marketing kicks in only after a product is developed and is ready to come to market. Tactical marketing is the "sexy" part of marketing. This is where the company figures out how to emotionally connect their product or service with their customers to maximize its lifetime value. Importantly, tactical marketing always assumes there is already a good product or service in place. If the tactical marketing (messaging and distribution) isn’t done well, great products and services either fail or take much longer to reach their potential. Tactical marketing is the marketing department's responsibility.

Here's the thing. While many believe tactical marketing is the most important, if not sole type of marketing – it’s not. And while technology is always changing how we develop new products and how they are brought to market, the process is still the same today as ever.  Design and develop / Launch / Gain market acceptance. And whether you are the Mad Men in the 1950’s designing advertising for black and white TV or designing Websites, social media, or customer retention campaigns today, these are all examples of tactical marketing where everyone one assumes there is a product or service already developed and worth selling.

What’s missing is the strategic marketing – that part of marketing that captures the voice of the customer and the competitive landscape.   Strategic marketing incorporates that into the design of future products. This kind of marketing is often ignored by business schools, engineering schools and scientific programs. New product development has always been a crap shoot, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s not a dark art and the skills can be learned by anyone.

To up the chances of success, novel enterprises are employing the tools of strategic marketing to better understand the needs of their customers. Tools like Conjoint analysis, Perceptual mapping, Portfolio planning are used to capture the voice of the customer and guide product development. The sooner this is done the better chance a team has of creating something customers will actually value. Let's take a moment to review…

1. Strategic marketing incorporates the voice of the customer into the new product design process and is best started early.

2. Tactical marketing assumes a great product is already developed.

3. We need both strategic and tactical marketing, but strategic marketing always comes first. Get the product right – then go to market.

Strategic Marketing shouldn’t be left to the marketing department…. it’s everyone’s department! Make 2023 the year to learn the tools of strategic marketing and increase your business’s chances of success.