Sun Tzu famously said “tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat”.

Tactics are things like running Facebook Ads to a Webinar. Something that's been all the rage for the last few years and that seemingly every online course on winning clients is based on.

What the courses usually don't tell you is that Ad costs have more than quadrupled in the last few years. And conversion rates from webinars have plummeted too.

Tactics have a limited lifetime. As more people use them and clients become used to seeing them, they become less effective.

But principles are enduring.

The key principles behind the Ad to Webinar tactic are actually quite simple. First is going direct to your ideal clients. And second is building credibility and trust through high-value content.

Those are the same principles that underlie the direct mail tactic used by Bruce Henderson in the 1960s. He mailed copies of his thought-leadership directly to senior executives in large corporates.

That simple approach grew Boston Consulting Group from a one-man-band to the world's leading strategy firm in a decade.

Tactics change. Principles are enduring.

Of course, we need tactics to implement our strategies and principles. But don't get wedded to tactics, because they don't last forever.

And make sure you understand the key principles that make those tactics work. That way you'll be able to keep your marketing up to date and avoid following fads that won't deliver for you.

What are some of those timeless principles underlying effective marketing?

This is a starting point based on where we focus in Momentum Club:

• Finding and focusing your efforts on the ideal clients for you that are “hungry” for your products and services
• Building deep understanding of their needs and what will motivate them to buy
• Creating a powerful Unique Selling Proposition that will set you apart from your competitors and make you the obvious choice to work with
• Building compelling “attraction assets” to get high potential clients knocking on your door
• Tailoring your marketing tactics to the specific type of business you're in (e.g. strategy consulting to big pharma, leadership coaching for mid-sized businesses, etc.)
• Using “value in advance” to nurture relationships and build credibility and trust so that clients are ready to buy and selling become superfluous

In truth, the specific principles don't matter so much.

What's important is that you master a good set of principles and then apply them through your tactics. Don't start with whatever tactics happen to be flavour of the month or what some guru says is the “one best way”.