“If you find yourself saying, ‘I just need to get the word out,’ you haven’t done the hard part. What you’ve done is waited for a miracle.” – Seth Godin
Entrepreneurs love tactics. They want step-by-step guides, hacks, and blueprints. But what if the obsession with tactics is actually keeping you stuck?
In a recent conversation with Tim Ferriss, marketing legend Seth Godin made a bold claim: most entrepreneurs don’t understand the difference between tactics and strategy. They focus on the short-term—how to get more clicks, more customers, and more sales—while ignoring the long game that actually leads to lasting success.
So, what’s the difference between tactics and strategy? And how can you shift your focus to build something meaningful instead of just chasing the latest trends? Let’s break it down.
Why Entrepreneurs Obsess Over Tactics
Tactics are appealing because they feel like immediate solutions:
- “Follow this 5-step marketing funnel.”
- “Use this viral content strategy.”
- “Post three times a day for engagement.”
But Seth Godin warns that this mindset is flawed:
“Most people, because we’ve been indoctrinated to have a job, want tactics instead [of strategy]. I could do much better if I was peddling tactics, but I’m not.”
In other words, people don’t actually want to build something—they want shortcuts. They want quick wins without committing to a long-term vision.
Tim Ferriss added, “I spend a lot of time thinking about these constituent parts, but I haven’t necessarily explicitly woven them together into something that combines into strategy.”
This is where most entrepreneurs go wrong. They collect tactics, hoping they will add up to success, without realizing that real growth comes from having a strategic foundation.
The Power of Strategy—And Why It’s Different from Tactics
So, what is strategy? According to Seth Godin:
“It’s a philosophy of becoming. I don’t think it’s a set of tactics. I don’t think it’s about winning in the short run. I think it’s about being very clear about the change we seek to make and who we seek to change.”
Strategy defines the game you’re playing. Tactics are just moves within that game. The difference is massive.
Take Google vs. Yahoo, for example:
- Yahoo’s strategy was to keep people on its homepage, believing the web was a “dark and nasty place.” It packed its homepage with 183 links to keep users inside its ecosystem.
- Google’s strategy was the exact opposite: help people leave as quickly as possible by giving them the best search results.
Seth Godin explains why this mattered:
“Marissa Mayer built the most profitable marketing engine of all time by making sure, fighting for years, to make it so there’s only a couple of links on the homepage. That was built into the strategy, which is, if you’re leaving Google, we’re doing something right.”
Google understood that its long-term success didn’t come from trying to keep people stuck on its site. It came from making itself indispensable.
Yahoo, on the other hand, was obsessed with short-term wins—getting people to click more links, stay longer, and generate ad revenue. And that’s why it lost.
Entrepreneurs Who Play the Long Game Win
The biggest problem with a tactics-driven mindset is that it’s short-sighted. Entrepreneurs who obsess over the next viral trick or social media trend fail to build something lasting.
Meanwhile, the most successful entrepreneurs think in decades, not months.
Jeff Bezos understood this better than almost anyone. In Amazon’s early days, investors pressured him to focus on profitability. But instead of chasing short-term wins, he stuck to a strategy that prioritized long-term growth.
As Seth explained:
“Jeff said, if I don’t establish the conditions for Wall Street to send us the investors we want, our stock price will be zero in five years. So the only way to get to five years from now is to do this today—even though it feels expensive—because compared to the alternative, it’s really cheap.”
Google took the same approach. Sergey Brin once told Seth:
“We don’t want people to use Google for the first time right away. We want them to use it for the first time later so it’s better by the time they get there.”
These companies understood that the future version of their business was more important than immediate profits. Their strategy wasn’t about short-term metrics—it was about positioning themselves for long-term dominance.
How to Shift from Tactics to Strategy in Your Business
If you’re tired of chasing random tactics that don’t move the needle, here’s how to shift toward a real strategy:
1. Ask Bigger Questions
Instead of asking, “How do I get more leads?” ask:
✅ Who is this for?
✅ What change am I creating?
✅ What long-term systems do I need to build?
2. Stop Looking for Quick Wins
Success doesn’t come from the next marketing hack—it comes from committing to a process over time. Tactics change, but your core strategy should remain stable.
3. Think in Decades, Not Months
As Tim Ferriss put it:
“The simplest way to have a competitive advantage is just to have a longer time horizon.”
Instead of worrying about what works today, ask yourself: Will this still work five years from now?
If your business feels like a constant struggle, it’s probably because you’re playing the wrong game.
Seth Godin makes it clear: success isn’t about finding the perfect tactic—it’s about defining your long-term strategy and sticking to it.
The real question is: What game are you playing? Are you chasing short-term tactics, or are you building something that will last? Let us know in the comments: What’s one strategic shift you can make today to focus more on the long game?
