Vaibhav Raj

MARKETING WARFARE

Marketing is war and that the marketing concept's customer-oriented philosophy is inadequate. Rather, firms would do better by becoming competitor-oriented

By Al Ries & Jack Trout

If a team simply identifies the goal line and moves the ball towards it without regard to the competing team, they most likely will be blocked in their effort. To win the game, the team must focus its efforts on :OutwittingOutflankingOver-Powering

your opponent

Marketing : A football game

This is the case in football, war, and marketing, according to Marketing Warfare

Because of the importance of the competition faced by the firm, a good marketing plan should include an extensive section on competitors.

Ries and Trout discuss four strategies for fighting a marketing war:Offensive StrategyDefensive StrategyFlanking StrategyGuerrilla Strategy

THE STRATEGIC SQUARE

When more than one company in a market offers the same kind of product.Company that takes extra ordinary efforts to gain more market share

against competition by directly attacking the competitors business plan, and taking away its market is actually described as the offensive marketing strategy.

i.e. Harley Davidson :They managed to comeback by concentrating on the unique features of its products

while pointing out what the competitors product lacked.

Offensive Strategy

Precaution is better than cure.Every time a new product is launched, four to five brands /

firms must prepare to defend their share of the market.Involve tactics like brand positioning, improvement in brand

features and price, advertising strategies and sales promotion campaigns

Defensive Strategy

This can be considered an offensive marketing warfare strategy.

It’s an attack on an area where the competition has yet to establish a strong position

Common Product Flanking Maneuvers:Low PriceHigh PriceDistributionProduct Form (Innovations)

Flanking Strategy

Mercedes-Benz utilized a flank against GM in the 1950s. They wanted, like GM, to hold onto the luxury market for automobiles, which at the time was dominated by the Cadillac brand. By purposely pricing their cars much higher than the Cadillac, combined with their marketing campaigns, they were able to present the Mercedez-Benz to the market as a superior automobile, clearly worth the premium price.

The guerrilla move is relatively small and differs significantly from the leader's position.

Guerrilla marketing is appropriate for companies that, relative to the competition, are too small to launch offensive or flanking moves.

Ries and Trout list the following three principles of guerrilla marketing warfare: Identify a segment that is small enough to defendBe ready to enter or exit on short notice.

Guerrilla Strategy

local retailers who win customers with offerings better tailored to the locale compared to the offerings of national chains

magazine is an example that targets small business owners who were not well served by publications such as Business Week.