As the economy begins to recover, some companies will not be able to have a “return to business as usual” mentality. The recession has glaciated the business environment, forever changing the competitive landscape.Many industries remain transmuted by changing consumer behavior, loss of discretionary income, over capacity, and a myriad of other post-recession conditions.

In order to survive company leaders must begin thinking strategically. For some, this will include making drastic changes to their business model. For many family owned companies this may be the first time in decades they had to seriously consider repositioning their business, embracing words like reassess, reinvent and realign.

Business leaders unfamiliar with strategy development often confuse the creation of strategy with the tactical steps of marketing,resulting in a series of mismatched efforts lacking an overall plan. Before company owners invest in expensive marketing collateral they must first engage in strategic thinking to ensure their efforts and dollars spent are directed at the appropriate target. As you begin to reassess your company's business model begin with strategic thinking and them move onto the tactical marketing steps.

• Strategy is about the overall vision and goal of the company
•  It involves positioning an organization for sustainable competitive advantage
• A company's strategy includes decisions about which industries to participate in, what products and services to offer and how to allocate corporate resources
• Financial capital, human capital and other available resources must be considered in relationship to market opportunities when developing the strategy
• Strategy identifies who the company will compete against and how

Strategic Marketing

• Requires an understanding of your industry, especially emerging trends
• Requires an in-depth understanding of your target market, including the potential benefits customers seek from your product/service

Tactical Marketing

• Tactical marketing is simply an execution of your strategic marketing plan
• Tactical communicates the selling message though marketing vehicles
• Determines where the marketing dollars will be spent; such as electronic media, direct mail, trades shows, PR/Media placement