I recently joined a community site called, Tagged. Just saw a cool video on the site that I just have to share.If you guys were fans of Space Invaders, or know what it is, this video will put a smile on your face. Guaranteed!

http://video.tagged.com/?v=RfstNcMuz 

Imagine the amount of effort and co-ordination that goes into making this video!

In my previous post about Strategy Vs Tactic, I talked about the importance of having a strategy if you want to succeed in Internet marketing. In fact, having the right strategies are also very important when it comes to other areas of life.

Since this is an Internet marketing blog, I’ll just focus on that area in this post.I’m sure many of us, starting in our Internet marketing journey have bought “stuff”, me included. Stuff like eBooks, software, CDs, and coaching programs. We purchased these “stuff” thinking that they would further our cause in our online businesses.

What we’ve purchased are actually just a bunch of tactics, without having a clear idea of how we are going to put them all to work in setting up our online businesses. We buy them thinking, “Yeah, that’s really useful. I’m sure I need them in the near future”. Well, months passed and the CDs are still sealed in the original wrapper, the eBooks and software are still zipped up somewhere in the hard drive, the coaching programs are already gone and done with…but still no action!

Or maybe you’ve put some of the “stuff” to use in some un-coordinated fashion that leads nowhere.

Come on…I’m sure some of you are virtually nodding your head and understand what I’m saying! I’m guilty of some of that too!

Without a clear overall strategy on how we are going to build our online businesses, any new “stuff” that we come across will tempt us. And we will buy if the sales copy is good enough.

However, with a clear strategy, we will process each “next-best-thing” and see whether it fits into our strategy. It becomes clearer whether we need to invest more time to figure out whether and how this “next-best-thing” fits into our strategy.

To formulate your strategy, you got to have your goals and objectives set up. Each person’s goals are different and therefore, the strategy is different for each Internet marketer.

Take an inventory of all the “stuff” you have. Make a list of what’s in your possession. For instance, that web graphics package you bought, or that link cloaker software you purchased, or the eBooks sitting in your hard drive, or that eBay self-study course. List down every single item.

Get back to those goals and objectives that we had formulated and see how to integrate them into a plan to further your cause in Internet marketing. It’s the strategy that drives everything. Strategies set the direction of your actions and map out a path for you to navigate through it. The tactics are there to implement the strategy or strategies, as well as all the tools that you’ve purchased or obtained and the skills to use them. If you do not have the skills, learn them. Or if that’s too difficult or take up too much of your time, outsource the tasks.

So the next time you come across an Internet sales letter or attend an Internet marketing seminar, pull your hand-brake before you click the “Submit” button or hand over your credit card, and ask yourself these 3 questions:

1. Does this fit into my strategy and do I really need it?
2. If it does and I need it, do I have a similar thing already in my possession? (That’s why taking an inventory of your items is important)
3. If I don’t already have it, do I need it now?

To succeed in Internet marketing, you have to start thinking about your goals, objectives and come up with a strategy or strategies on how to stake your claim on a significant portion of the online money pie.

LeadsLeap, the people who provides a system for free contextual, PPC ads, has came up with a 9-page report on what LeadsLeap about and how to go about building a subscriber list.

Opt-in is not required. Just download by clicking the image below:

“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat”…said Sun Tzu.

Internet Marketing can be likened to be a battlefield where Internet marketers battle for the online money pie. There are many battlefields in the form of different market niches or segments in Internet marketing and the combatants are the Internet marketers in their particular niches. Since Internet marketing is like the battlefield, Sun Tzu’s statement above is very appropriate.

To expand on this statement, right strategy without tactics will lead to success…eventually. Tactics without strategy will bring on many actions that lead to…nowhere. In short, strategy coupled with tactics brings success.

2 other elements smoothens the journey in Internet marketing success. These are tools and skill sets. Tools such as software and programs enhance efficiencies while skill and ability to use these tools shortens and enhances the processes to reach success.

Strategy is like a road map, which shows where to go. To know where to go, you have to know your destination. This destination is your goal. So you need to know your destination (goal) in order to know which road map (strategy) to use. After knowing which road map (strategy) to use, you plan on the methods (tactics) to reach your ultimate destination.

You have to decide on the goals you want to achieve in Internet marketing and other areas of your life and quantify (put into numbers) it, along with the timeline you want to achieve them. This will enable you to break down your goals into yearly, monthly, weekly and daily objectives and formulate strategies on how you want to achieve your goals within the time period you set. Then, devising tactical methods with the tools you have obtained and the skills to use them, you reach your objectives set according to your strategies.

Without a clear strategy in place:

• you are merely using tactics as and when you come across them in the Internet, claiming to be the next best thing.
• you will be swayed by craftily-created sales pitches and buy any product without thinking how they would integrate with your strategy.
• you will not be able to focus on what you are supposed to do and be lead astray by the bombardment of the many, many email marketing campaigns that fill your ‘Inbox’ everyday.
• and its accompanying tactical methods, you are like a little lost sheep going where the grass seems greener, even if its an illusion.

So decide on your goals, quantify them and then break them into various objectives with timelines. Next, formulate your strategies and tactics on how to achieve those objectives. If all these are in place and followed, your success in Internet marketing is virtually guaranteed.

Easier said than done, but that is the challenge in this Internet marketing journey you have embarked, which is not a sprint but a marathon. Just like a real marathon, the right strategy and tactics applied with the dexterity in usage of the proper tools, brings you successfully across the finishing line of accomplishment. 

ps. Click for an English-translated copy of The Art of War by Sun Tzu