Marketing is Like Warfare According to These Authors - Book Review

Al Ries and Jack Trout Strike Go Nuclear with This Marketing Book.  

If you liked Positioning, your going to love

Marketing Warfare, written by Al Ries and Jack Trout. They are not the first to suggest that marketing strategies and terms in the modern world of business can be compared to battle strategies and terms from history. However, they have taken the details of the idea to a new level, and have related their hypothesis to various product wars from the past.

Ries and Trout start from the basis that in order to successfully win the marketing war, entrepreneurs need to shift their efforts from being “customer-oriented” to “competitor-oriented.”

In the aftermath of World War II, the leading companies became customer-oriented.  The marketing expert was in charge and the prime minister was marketing research.  But today every company is customer-oriented.  Knowing what the customer wants isn’t too helpful if a dozen other companies are already serving the same customer’s wants.  American Motors’s problem is not the customer.  American Motors’s problem is General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, and the imports.  To become successful today, a company must become competitor-oriented.  It must look for weak points in the positions of its competitors and then launch marketing attacks against those weak points.

Ries and Trout go on to illustrate real marketing stories of success utilizing this tactic.  Although this book was published in 1986, it remains a favorite among business people specifically in the marketing business, but it’s principles can also be applied to marketing for any company.  

The chapters briefly described below demonstrate how this book is not written like a business textbook; rather, it approaches the issues the way you, the business person, would expect them to be addressed: in a practical and intriguing way.

• Marketing is war: Introduction to the concepts of warfare strategies and how that can be applied to marketing.
• 2500 years of war: Introducing marketing people to some of the world’s most historic battles.
• The principle of force: The principle of big fish eating little fish, big companies eating small companies.
• The superiority of the defense: No military commander would seek to battle an opponent with the odds stacked against him, and how this applies to business marketing today. 
• The new era of competition: Learning the language and strategies from the military.
• The nature of the battleground: Marketing battles aren’t fought on an actual battlefield, but in the minds of the prospect.
• The strategic square: There are four ways to fight a war, and knowing which type of warfare to fight is the most important decision to be made.
• Principles of defensive warfare: Defensive strategy is for a marketing leader, with 3 key principles to be followed.
• Principles of offensive warfare: The primary principle in this approach is to find the weakness in the leader’s strength and then attack at that very point.
• Principles of flanking warfare: The most successful marketing results have been a result of flanking moves.
• Principles of guerilla warfare: How small companies can survive among the giant competitors.
• The cola war: A closer look at the Pepsi vs. Coke strategies.
• The beer war: The process of consolidation in the beer business, and how smaller breweries should be concentrating their forces together. 
• The burger war: Examining the marketing warfare between McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Burger King.
• The computer war: How big name computer companies can fail when trying to fight a battleground they don’t own.
• Strategy and tactics: Strategy should follow tactics and start from the bottom up, not from the top down.
• The marketing general: The key attributes for marketing generals include flexibility, mental courage, and boldness.

What is your marketing strategy?

Is it working? 

Are you getting the results you want 

Or

Are you in need of a better "battle" plan?  

You will also want to read How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success.

Business Strategies vs Goals. Why You Need Both!

Most Companies Don't Set Goals - Almost None Create Strategies 

Strategy Defined

What is a strategy?  How does it compare with or relate to a Goal?  Which comes first, a goal or a strategy?  Can you run a business without a strategy?  Without Goals?  Is this post about an academic issue that only applies to Apple and Boeing?

In my last post I laid out the basics of goal setting.  It is a pretty big deal to really sit down and figure out what matters to you personally, and what your major goals are for your business.  Some folks are afraid to do this.  Some just can't seem to find the time.  Some seem to feel that goal setting is not important.  I make the claim that goal setting is the most important thing you will ever do in the marketing success of your enterprise. 

In case you have set your goals, what next.  I know that for me, there is a tendency to immediately go into action.  But going off half-cocked will undermine much of the benefit of having set goals in the first place.  Do I mean by this, that if you set goals, but don't follow through with strategy and tactics, then don't bother to set the goals in the first place?  Not even close!  Goals are the most important, then strategy, then tactics. 

Back to the original question:  What is a strategy?  A strategy is the meat on the bones of the goals.  It is the how of the what.  Each goal should be taken individually from the top priority to the least.  How can the company most effectively use the resources available to it to accomplish the goals.  If the goal is to achieve an increase of 20% in sales, how will the company do that.  Possibilities could include a larger territory, new products, increased prices, more sales units or dollars per invoice, more dollars per client per year, more expensive products, more sales people, etc. 

An evaluation of the choices should result in realistic approaches.  If there isn't much money to spend, then it might be better to increase prices or work to increase the average ticket, neither of which requires any expense.  However, it is important to also measure the likelihood of success of each strategy as you determine which to follow.

At this point you might have a sheet of paper or a spreadsheet with a set of goals, and each of those goals has a list of strategies under it.  You might also include a dollar amount that can be invested in each. 

Hopefully you can see that this process is anything but academic.  If you think it is, tell me in the comments.

Read next:  What is a business tactic?  After the Goals and Strategies, You Need the Tactics

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Marketing Secrets Tutorials - Logistics Review - Key Stuff You Need to Properly Market Your Company in 2012

Marketing Secrets: The Fundamentals of Great Marketing

Take a quick test of your business leadership skills.  How do you come out on these four?

Thus far in our series of 101 Marketing Secrets from a Serial Entrepreneur, we have built the case for goals, strategies, tactics and seven of our top ten recommended logistical considerations.  If you have not been following this series, and would like to start at the beginning, you can find all 27 (as of 9/3/2012) on http://www.Help4SmallBusiness.blogspot.com

The seven logistical items we have covered thus far are linked below.  Are these elements controlling you or are you controlling them.  Are you proactively evaluating and planning for adequate provisions for the battle, or are you marching into war hoping you'll find ample supplies of critical materials, equipment, and other resources along the way?

1. Having enough money matters!  A lot.
2. Suppliers are more important than customers
3. Lost our lease is more common that you think.  Facilities
4. Employees are a necessary evil OR your key to long term success
5. Time is relentless, unyielding, precious. Count it
6. You and your employees have limited time and energy.  Plan accordingly
7. Your family is a logistical consideration.  Unhappy families kill businesses

There are three more logistical consideration coming in the next three days.  You might want to subscribe to this blog to catch those tutorials, and the 71 additional marketing ideas, methods, secrets, and tips that will follow over the next 74 days.