Books for startup strategist, Part Two : Marketing Warfare

2. Jack Trout and Al Ries : Marketing Warfare

Who are these guys?

They are living legend of marketing. They invented and described the concept of positioning in their book : "Positioning : The Battle for Your Mind". The book we are talking about, "Marketing Warfare", was written in 1980. In 2000, it was still in print and benefited from a reedition including authors' annotations.

Theory Sum-up

Trout and Ries do a powerful analogy that links marketing to war. They derive their principles from Clausewitz’s (a Russian general that fought against Napoleon) book on warfare. They assume that a company should market its products differently wether it is a leader, 2nd or 3rd, or new entrant in a market.

Main concepts

Their message is so clear that they could sum it up in the first 5 pages and it is instantly understandable by anyone. This is great work !

First comes the strategic square, this square is divided in 4 parts representing 4 different types of marketing warfare:

• Defensive: for market leaders
• Offensive: for No. 2 companies
• Flanking: for smaller companies
• Guerilla: for local, regional, or niche companies

Then 3 principles are given for each type of marketing warfare:

Defensive Warfare (for market leaders)

1. Only the market leader should consider playing defense.
2. The best defensive strategy is to attack (disrupt) yourself.
3. Strong competitive moves should always be blocked.

Offensive Warfare (for No 2)

1. The main consideration is the strength of the leader's position.
2. Find a weakness in the leader's strength and attack that point. (this ensure you will get a weaker response to that attack, because it is difficult for a leader to pivot around its greatest strength). This point is really an important one to understand and you should read Avis, and Coke/Pepsi examples in the summary link I recommend at the bottom of this post.
3. Launch the attack on as narrow a front as possible. (concentrate your resources)

Flanking Warfare (for smaller companies)

1. A good flanking move must be made into an unconstested area.
2. Tactical surprise ought to be an important element of the plan.
3. The pursuit is as critical as the attack itself. (do not throw all your resources in the first attack)

Guerilla Warfare (for local, regional or niche companies)

1. Find a segment of the market small enough to defend.
2. No matter how successful you become never act like a leader. (imitating your competition will only result in failure)
3. Be prepared to bugout at a moment's notice.

Be Competition Oriented:

The authors strongly believe that your strategy should not be "Customer Oriented" but "Competitor Oriented". In other words, you just don't care what customers think, anyway 12 other companies are already trying to serve their needs... You have to adapt your strategy to your  rank  on the market and to your competitors (this does not mean being a copycat !)

Additional information

• you can buy it here

I did not do an extended description of the book because you can find a really good summary of the book here. You should read it in order to have more details about each of the marketing warfare principles

Read part one on the Innovator's Solution here !