So you can execute...but what's your strategy?

A few days ago, I came across this great post from Valeria Maltoni on her blog, Conversation Agent. The post discusses the importance of execution. In fact, her intro sentence pretty much summarizes the post perfectly: “There's no amount of marketing budgets or number of social media networks you can throw at a product if what you're doing is executed poorly.” I absolutely agree with that sentiment.

But here’s my question. What if what you’re executing – the campaign itself – really isn’t that great in the first place? As PR-Squared mentioned in their recent “Uncampaigning” post, “even if you enjoyed their clever launch into the Social Media sphere, when was the last time you visited skittles.com?” Sure you can execute something and execute it well, but what if, in the long run, your lack of strategy does nothing more than create some momentary excitement.

Enter Seth Godin.

Although his post “Challenging convention” isn’t solely focused on this exact topic, an applicable assessment from him regarding the reason behind changing something just to change it is this: “Sure, you could invent a new kind of handshake or a new pricing structure. But if it catches on, do you win? Is it at the core of your business model?”

In my mind, that’s a great example of execution without strategy. Sure you can execute a plan. But what is the purpose of that plan? Why invest the hours in an attention-grabbing effort if the eventual results aren’t a part of your campaign’s core focus? If you aren’t utilizing a strategy, how do you even know what that core focus is in the first place?

To conclude, I’ll leave you with this example of execution without strategy…

In a recent Wired.com article titled “Homebrewed CPU Is a Beautiful Mess of Wires," they share the story of a man who, over an 18-month period of time, custom-designed and built his own 8-bit computer (think early Atari level capabilities) by meticulously connecting 1,253 pieces of wire to a wire-wrap board. It makes for a fun story and his creation will be featured at a “do-it-yourself technology” expo, but after putting all that work into this project (think "campaign" if it makes more sense), this is his closing thought:

“Why did I do all this?” he says. “I don’t know. But it has been a lot of fun.”

Although it may be ok for a guy working on a fun project in his spare time, it’s not ok to take that approach with clients who are paying you to execute with a strategy in mind (maybe along the lines of that aforementioned Skittles.com 2-day campaign). So make sure that when your next big idea or concept pops into your head, you take some time to plan a strategy around it before you execute. Your clients will thank you.

What do you think? Is execution the key to success? Is strategy the only way to make sure things are done right? If you think it’s a combination of the two, which brands or companies do you feel have done a good job of making both of them work in conjunction? Share your thoughts in the comments section below (preferably with a strategy behind them) or hit me up on Twitter at @mikebilleter.

(Editors note: This post, written by me, was originally featured on my work blog over at http://www.thedeepbench.com/. Just so you know.)