Earlier this week I wrote a post about what I think is a new and essential way of thinking about marketing strategy and tactics. The post, titled When Highly Engaged Meets Highly Networked, drew some immediate aha reactions of recognition from readers. (It might make some sense to read that post first if you haven’t yet.)

The primary thesis was the when highly engaged companies, ones the focus on networking, partnering, and relationship building merge those skills with highly networked tactics, such as constant content production, automation and social media participation the convergence produces a highly preferred company. Of course the opposite approach nets the same.

Some readers saw this as the answer to what they had been feeling, but couldn’t put a finger on, some saw it as a challenge that identified what was holding their organizations back. Some organization are definitely good at engaged and need help getting more networked, some are highly networked, but need more emphasis on engaging customers and prospects. The industry your business resides in may both dictate a natural way of doing business and an opportunity for growth.

I believe that while this convergence of models thinking may be hard for some firms to adopt and adapt to this at a completely strategic level, I do think that it presents a filter to start looking at how you do everything at a tactical level.

Here’s a prime example.

A highly networked business may naturally produce webinar content opportunities to educate prospects

A highly engaged business may naturally reach out to key partners to form formal alliance relationships for referral opportunities

Merged – a highly preferred business would create a series of webinars featuring it’s strategic network partners and further create a blog co-authored by each of the network partners as a hub for mutual support and search engine traffic for all partners.

So, while I believe this is a business strategy that can have overarching implications for everything from hiring to product development, you can apply its power by simply looking at individual marketing tactics and asking your self how to add convergence.

Photo credit: TheTruthAbout

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