Warfare marketing strategies
(Offensive, defensive, flanking strategies)
Is marketing a warfare?
Marketing Warfare. The marketing concept states that a firm's goal should be to
identify and profitably satisfy customer needs. In Marketing Warfare Al Ries and Jack Trout
argue that marketing is war and that the marketing concept's customer-oriented philosophy is
inadequate.
Marketing warfare strategies
Are a type of strategies, used in business and marketing, that try to draw parallels between
business and warfare, and then apply the principles of military strategy to business situations,
with competing firms considered as analogous to sides in a military conflict, and market
share.
Objective Marketing warfare strategies
To find niches in the marketing space rather than the creating of products that directly
compete against the competition.
The use of marketing warfare strategies
Strategy is the organized deployment of resources to achieve specific objectives, something
that business and warfare have in common. In the 1980s business strategists realized that
there was a vast knowledge base stretching back thousands of years that they had barely
examined.
'Marketing Warfare', Al Ries and Jack Trout argue that there are four
possible strategies for fighting a marketing war:
1. Defensive Strategy
2. Offensive Strategy
3.Flanking Strategy
4.Guerilla Strategy.
Defensive marketing warfare strategies: -
They are used to defend competitive advantages; lessen risk of being attacked, decrease
effects of attacks, strengthen position. Defensive Warfare Marketing Strategy This tactic is
used only by market leaders and established companies that want to protect their brand. As
the name suggests, the market leader aims to defend their position, therefore this strategy is
not appropriate for secondary businesses in the field.
Example; when Coca-Cola altered the taste of their drink and produced the sweeter-tasting
New Coke to match Pepsi, their defense strategy backfired as it undermined its brand and
upset its core customer base.
Offensive marketing warfare strategies: -
They are used to secure competitive advantages; market leaders, runners-up or struggling
competitors are usually attacked. Offensive marketing warfare strategies are a type of
marketing warfare strategy designed to obtain an objective, usually market share, from a
target competitor. In addition to market share, an offensive strategy could be designed to
obtain key customers, high margin market segments, or high loyalty market segments.
Offensive marketing is used to put best products, offers and promotions directly to challenge
the opposition. Examples of this could be McDonalds v. Burger King or Coke v. Pepsi.
Flanking marketing warfare strategies: -
They operate in areas of little importance to the competitor. a competitive marketing
strategy in which one company attacks another in a weak spot, commonly by paying
maximum attention to either a geographic region or a market segment in which the rival is
under-performing.
The best example of a flanking strategy is Volkswagen's Beetle with General Motor's big
cars. Volkswagen outplayed General Motors by introducing Beetle by flanking technique.
When aiming for a new distribution channel, the company can support it by implementing a
flanking marketing strategy.
Guerrilla marketing warfare strategies: -
Attack, retreat, hide, then do it again, and again, until the competitor moves on to other
markets. Guerrilla marketing is an advertisement strategy in which a company uses surprise
and/or unconventional interactions in order to promote a product or service.
Guerrilla marketing is an advertising approach that borrows the concept of “guerrilla”
warfare, or the element of surprise, to communicate with target audiences. This form of
marketing relies on unconventional and inventive displays to elicit wonder or shock and can
be especially effective for driving publicity.
Guerrilla marketing tends to be cheaper than traditional marketing, relying on smaller, more
localized brick and mortar strategies like:
Graffiti. ...
Stencil graffiti. ...
Reverse graffiti. ...
Stickers. ...
Undercover marketing. ...
Flash mobs. ...
Publicity stunts. ...
Treasure hunts.
The principle of marketing warfare
1.Defensive Warfare
Defensive warfare only applies to the market leader. Evaluate your place in the
market, so as not to make a mistake with the choice of strategy.
Principles of Defensive Warfare
1.Only the market leader should consider playing defence . You need to assess
yourself objectively. Many companies consider themselves leaders. But in reality,
this is not the case. The buyer decides who is the true leader. It is the company that
first pops up in the minds of consumers and which is associated with its product
category that is considered the leader in its industry. You can deceive your
competitor, but in no case do not deceive yourself. Look objectively at the situation.
2.The best defensive strategy is the courage to attack yourself . The leader should
not wait for the competitors to attack him. He must always keep his finger on the
pulse. To do this, it needs to attack itself by releasing its products or services with
improved features. If the leader does not take any steps, a new player will definitely
come sooner or later, who will try to win back market share. Attacking yourself may
not bring quick profits, but doing so will win you over in the long run.
3.Strong competitive moves should always be blocked. If, after all, the leader
missed the moment and the competitor attacked him with a new product, then there is
still room for move. We must act quickly. The authors advise in this case to copy the
steps of the competitor, until he had time to consolidate his position.
2.Offensive Warfare
In an offensive war, companies are strong enough to conduct sustained attacks on the
leader.
Principles of Offensive Warfare
1.The main consideration is the strength of the leader’s position . №2 and №3
companies should monitor all the actions of the leader. The main thing here is not to
make a mistake and not to start tracking your achievements and results. Because in this
case, you shift the perspective and start acting as if you are a leader, and such a course of
thought, based on the experience of other companies, will not bring you success. The
leader has a position in the minds of buyers, so long as you do not change these
positions, you will not be able to win the fight. Only after the positions of the leader
crack, you can try to replace them with your own.
2.Find a weakness in the leader’s strength and attack at that point. It is in the
strength of the leader that we should look for the weak spot, not where he is weak. If you
focus your efforts on the weaknesses in the leader’s position, it will most likely not
work, since the leader has enough funds and resources to cover these gaps. But if you
can find the bottlenecks in the leader’s power and use them to your advantage, then you
will have a chance to achieve the desired result.
3.Launch the attack on as narrow a front as possible. To wage offensive war, you
need to focus on one thing. Choose the most promising product or service and attack.
Don’t waste your efforts. If you attack in several directions at once, you will lose your
advantage, as you will have to be distracted, you will spend more resources and time.
3.Flanking Warfare
Flanking warfare in marketing is a bold and risky operation. A big game with big
stakes. A game that requires careful planning of actions by the hour and by the day.
Principles of Flanking Warfare
1.A good flanking move must be made into an uncontested area. In this type of
war, it is not necessary to create a new product or service, but you must offer the market
something exclusive in the existing product or service. You have to stand out. The buyer
must consider it a new product category. This approach in marketing is called
segmentation. To make a real flanking attack, you need to be the first to take the
segment.
2.Tactical surprise ought to be an important element of the plan. The element of
suddenness is very important when conducting a flanking attack. This is your advantage.
Often marketers forget about this. To insure themselves, they start conducting market
research and testing, thereby losing valuable time. Competitors do not slumber; they are
always on the alert. If they find out about your plans, then you will lose your advantage.
3.The pursuit is just as critical as the attack itself. If your product has become a
success, then you need to consolidate this success. Don’t stop. Companies often make
mistakes and continue to devote time and resources to products that do not make a profit.
Leave them, focus on the profitable product. The best time to build a strong position is at
the very beginning when the product is new and the competitors have not yet figured out
how to act.
4.Guerrilla Warfare
The key to a marketing war is to adapt your tactics to your competitors, not to
your own company. With the help of guerrilla warfare, small companies have a
chance to thrive in a world of huge corporations. The guerrilla reduces the
battlefield to achieve superiority in strength.
Principles of Guerrilla Warfare
1.Find a segment of the market small enough to defend. Classic guerrilla strategy:
focus on a niche or market segment that you can protect from the industry leader. A
segment may be small geographically, in terms of sales, or in any other way, as long
as it is difficult for a larger company to attack it. The difference between flanking
warfare and guerrilla warfare is that a flanking attack is conducted near the leader’s
position to take away a part of the market from him. It is typical of guerrilla warfare
to find such a small segment to become a leader on it.
2.No matter how successful you become, never act like the leader . Leaders often
become clumsy because of their large size. To make a meaningful decision, you need
a lot of coordination and passage of different levels of obstacles. The too complex
organizational structure does not allow them to be mobile. The guerrillas must
remember this and take advantage of it. They should not create the same structure;
their staff should always be at the centre of events to be able to respond quickly to
market changes.
3.Be prepared to bug out at a moment’s notice. Don’t be afraid to lose the war. It
happens. In this case, you need to take the right actions to return. The guerrilla has no
extra resources to spend on a deliberately losing plan. The partisan must be able to
use his flexibility and jump to a new market quickly if there is an attractive
opportunity.
