Review: “Marketing Warfare” byAl Ries and Jack Trout

The premise of this book is that Marketing is analagous to Warfare.  The field of battle is not a physical terrain instead it is the prospects mind.  It emphasises the idea that the prospects perception is the most important thing which you are “fighting” for.

The battle, the corporate war is the focus of this book.  How and Who your company should attack from a marketing perspective.   The authors challenge many “common sense” ideas that companies even today hold to be true.

Companies believe that with “better people” you can overcome any obstacle.  The authors expertly counter this thought

Any student of statistics would laugh at this belief.  Sure it’s possible to put together a small cadre of superior people.  But the larger the company the more likely the average employee will be average.

Others still believe that the all logical consumer will look for the better product and because the company thinks it has the best product they will be victorious.  They consider the “fact” that their product is the best to be truth.

What is truth?  Truth is the perception that is inside the mind of the prospect.  It may not be your truth, but it’s the only truth you can work with.  You may have to accept that truth and then deal with it.

The authors model “Marketing Warfare” off of Carl von Clausewitz, a Prussian military historian who wrote some of the quintessential books on war.  The authors use four styles of Marketing Warfare.

• Defensive Warfare
• Offensive Warfare
• Flanking Warfare
• Guerrilla Warfare

Each style is exceedingly powerful for when you are using it in the right situation.  “What’s good strategyfor a leader is bad strategy for an also-ran, and vice-versa.  So it’s important to constantly ask yourself what position you occupy in the marketplace before you apply strategy.”

Just to briefly cover some of their content I’ll go over what Leaders should be doing and then the small company that has no chance of being the leader.

Defensive Warfare

• Only the market leader should consider playing defense.

They related this to the battle field being a hall.  Only once you own the hill can you make an attempt at defending it.  The “best” part of this is that if you are not the leader you must make your own hill and become the leader in it.

• The best defensive strategy is the courage to attack yourself.

Making your own products or services obsolete with new ones will allow you to beat the competition.  It may cut into profits but it is better for you to make your own product obsolete than have someone do it for you.

• Strong competitive moves should always be blocked.

The competitior can cover if someone else makes a move.  The leader has the momentum to “always be right”.  If someone makes something first you should make something similar.  People will still attribute the development to you since you are most salient in their mind.

Guerrilla Warfare

• Find a segment of the market small enough to defend.

The authors discussed the “principle of force” where it is vastly important to have sheer numbers on your side during your fight.  A number they gave was you should only go into a fight when you have the odds stacked in your favor 3 to 1.

• No matter how successful you become, never act like the leader.

Many “large” companies have a great deal of employees servicing their other employees.  Their only purpose is to assist the sales force.  Smaller companies do not have such things as “career paths” or “organizational charts” and that’s a strength!

The lean organization is not just a tactic to put a higher percentage of the force into the battle itself.  It also dramatically improves teh “quickness” of a guerrilla to respond to changes in the marketplace itself.

• Be prepared to bug out at a moments notice.

Here’s where the advantage of flexibility and a lean organization really pays off.  A guerrilla can often take up a new position without the internal pain and stress that a big company goes through.

The beauty of being a guerrilla is that they can move quickly in a market and switch their strategy.  Now it must be kept in mind that you should not fall into the line-extension trap.  When switching gears do not change your position so abruptly as to cause confusion in the prospects mind.

The book was published in 1986 but its case studies are not so weak as to significantly show its age.  Cola, Computers, Burgers, all of which are still heated battles.  The authors provide insight into their own experiences and show what has worked in the past from their consulting.

I would like to see an updated version with more case studies of each different warfare style and up-to-date information on current events such as how did Dell supersede IBM as the Business Computer provider?  Was it a flanking maneuver (An uncontested area was attacked, the small business computer) or was it a full offensive strike (a weakness was found in IBM, what was it)?

If you are looking to think of Marketing in a brand new way without focusing on psychology or too much into the minds of consumers this is where you will find a good start.  The slugfest that is corporate warfare is definitely an art which you must know the rules to be successful.

Tags: Al Ries, Book Review, Jack Trout, Marketing, Markting Warfare, Positioning