Why can a loosely written tactic not be judged?
Tactics are where the money and the hours go, so a tactic written down loosely is a tactic that cannot be judged. "Do more on social" costs nothing to write and everything to do, and at the end of the month nobody can say whether it worked. "Three posts a week to the lunch offer, judged by lunch covers, two hours a week, for eight weeks" can be judged on the Friday count, and dropped or kept.
The hours matter as much as the dollars. The scarcest thing in an owner-led business is the owner's attention, and a plan that assigns twenty hours a week of tactics to someone with four is a plan that will not happen. A good tactic says what it costs in both.
What does a tactic need to say?
- What you will do, in one line a stranger could follow.
- The number it moves. Not the goal, the number under one strategy: lunch covers, repeat visits, enquiries, close rate.
- What it costs in dollars, and what it costs in your hours, each week.
- How long before it can be judged. Ads need weeks for the platform to learn; search needs months; an email can be judged on Wednesday.
- What result would make you stop it, and what would make you do more of it.
A tactic with those five things can be handed to anyone, run for its window, and judged without an argument.
What does one tactic from a plumber's plan look like? (example figures)
One tactic from a Brisbane plumber's plan, under the strategy "more emergency call-outs from the suburbs within 20 minutes of the depot":
| The tactic | |
|---|---|
| What | A Google Ads search campaign on "emergency plumber" and the six suburb names, sending clicks to the emergency page with the phone number at the top |
| The number it moves | Emergency enquiries a week, 6 today |
| Cost in dollars | $50 a day, about $1,500 a month |
| Cost in hours | Three hours to set up, then one hour a week reading the search terms and adding negative keywords |
| Judge it after | Four weeks. Google's learning period is the first one or two. |
| Stop if | Fewer than 10 enquiries a month at the four-week mark, or a cost per enquiry above the $87 a lead is worth in margin |
| Do more if | Cost per enquiry under $50 with the phone still being answered on the first ring |
At four weeks the campaign has brought 28 enquiries at $54 each. The tactic stays, the budget goes to $70 a day, and the next tactic under the same strategy, a Google Business Profile post each week, starts.
How do tactics work in CoraVision?
In CoraVision, the tactics are the steps in each project's action plan, and Cora teaches them one at a time on your screen, with the specialist for that platform taking over in pill mode. You mark each step done as you go, and the weekly check-in is where the numbers under each tactic are read.
Questions
How many tactics should be running at once?
As many as the owner's hours allow, and no more. A tactic the owner does not have time to do is a line in a document, not a tactic. Three to five a week is normal for one person.
When do you judge a tactic?
Not before its minimum window. A Google Ads campaign needs weeks for the platform to learn; a search change needs months. Judging early turns good tactics into abandoned ones.
What if a tactic works but the strategy does not?
Then the tactic moved its own number and the number did not move the goal, which means the strategy was chosen wrong. Keep what you learned about the tactic and pick a different road.