The above graphic is from CB Insights. They identified a trend that consulting is dying because Strategy is no longer deemed important. It is all about tactics and short term results. Personally, I have seen that.
Tactics need a strategy. Tactics are the arrows in the quiver. Strategy is the technique, the goal, and more. A company needs an over-arching Business Strategy for a number of reasons: Culture, sales and marketing.
Culture: Some of the best cultures produce the best services – Netflix, Rackspace, Amazon. Culture is everything. How you hire. Who you hire. Who you reward. What you sell. How you sell. How you deploy. How you service customers.
Sales: Selling doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Salespeople need the USP (Unique sales proposition). They need a service they believe in. They need a company that will stand behind that service. They want more than that (leads, comp, testimonials, more), but at a minimum they need these things.
Marketing: The Brand. The Message. The avenues to get the message out. There’s even more than that – like content, collateral, Buying Persona, Targets – but at a minimum you have to have a message and an avenue to get that message out. The Tactics are getting the message out. The strategy is about what to say and to whom (at a minimum).