In this article, I want to offer a top-down approach to understanding operations, plans, goals, strategy, objectives, and tactics from a business perspective.

I’ll begin by briefly defining each term. Then I’ll touch on the recursive nature of operations. And last, I’ll list some common Digital Marketing Strategy templates.

Brief Definitions

These definitions are brief and oversimplified. I’m not aiming for rigor, but rather to aid in giving the reader a big-picture understanding as fast as possible.

Operation: coordinated actions to resolve a situation (My adaptation of Military Operation in Wikipedia). Consists of a plan that employs tactics to meet objectives.

Plan: a detailed series of steps.

Strategy: a summary of a plan.

Objectives: a detailed goal. Specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and time-bound outcomes (Based on the SMART mnemonic).

Goals: a summary of an objective usually indicating whether to increase or decrease some metric.

Tactics: a summary of a series of tasks.

Task: a piece of work to be done.

The recursive nature of operations

Operations are recursive in that they are plans inside plans, inside plans.

Take business operations for example.

Let’s focus on marketing.

A business operation can be layered in the following way:

• Business
  • Marketing
    • Digital Marketing
      • Content Marketing
      • Search Engine Marketing
        • Search Engine Optimization
        • Sponsored Link Optimization
      • Social Media Marketing
      • Email Marketing

At each level, you have an Operation.

The business has plans and objectives.

Marketing has its own plans and objectives to help the layer above.

Digital marketing too. And so on.

Common Digital Marketing Strategies

These digital marketing templates are pretty generic but are useful in helping you formulate your Operations.

Each business is different, so you’ll have to work out details of the plan and objectives.

Situation	Got a product or service but low budget to promote it
Operation	Hustle and wear many hats
Strategy	Look for free marketing opportunities
Goals	Collect 10 testimonials. Reach 100 fanatic followers.
Tactics	Word-of-mouth referrals. Try new social media platforms that are growing fast.

Situation	Feels like you’ve tried everything, and business never picked up.
Operation	Go back to square one
Digital Strategy	Give one last look at the 7Ps and 7Cs of marketing, if you still cannot find ways of improving, pivot.
Goals	Reach out to 50% of your customers and survey their satisfaction with your product or service. Post surveys on Social Media.
Tactics	Customer Satisfaction Surveys. Audit your business prospecting and sales processes.

Situation	Business plateau. Business slowing down?
Operation	Explore opportunities and identify inefficiencies
Digital Strategy	Find ways to innovate vertically. Explore horizontally.
Goals	Track the number of tasks, sprints, epics, and projects completed.
Tactics	Upgrade your Digital Marketing team. Hire new talent. Purchase better software. Streamline processes. Automate processes. Improve team collaboration and communication.

Situation	Business is booming
Operation	Montgomery Burns
Digital Strategy	Market Domination
Goals	Rank 1000 or more keywords on the first page of SERPs.
Tactics	Search Engine Marketing. Search Engine Optimization. Social Media Marketing. Email Marketing

Situation	You are pioneering a new market
Operation	Pontification Proclamation
Digital Strategy	Raise Brand Awareness
Goals	Get published in 10 high-profile publications. Reach 100 brand mentions per month.
Tactics	PR. Brand Strategy. Content Strategy. Influencer Marketing.

Situation	Your competitors are doing well but you are not
Operation	Lash out at your marketing team, I mean have a discussion with your marketing team
Digital Strategy	Educate your marketing team.
Goals	Hire a digital marketing consultant. Complete workshops with your marketing team.
Tactics	Marketing Audit