Marketing is War! Marketers must be prepared for the future, whatever it brings.

Oct 21, 2024 by Mark Baines Category: Knowhow, Marketing

The medieval Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu, in his book The Art of War, said ‘Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.’  

This is as true of marketing as it is of war – in fact to quote the great marketers Al Ries and Jack Trout Marketing Warfare; in this case they were thinking of how to ‘win’ in your competitive environment.

Military history is riddled with countries and generals who won the battle but lost the war, and one of the reasons for this is that they have tactics for the battle but not a strategy for the whole war. We see this on the news all the time – we can only guess at what Putin’s strategy is!

 

Starting with strategy

Similarly marketers can create a great social media or advertising campaign which wins the battle for hearts and minds – aka distribution network or retail shelf space – but then fails in the long run because they don’t know what to do next. And what they do eventually do is not integrated with what they have done before. This is why strategy is important. 

Sadly most marketers are so focused on delivering the tactics that they overlook the strategy. The result, like in war, is a campaign of tactics which are not integrated and are bound to fail as customers and prospects get confused by all the noise and different messages. They are not thinking of their strategy or of what they are trying to achieve with their tactics, and the long term gets lost in short term survival and reaction to the latest trends, more important departmental requests, bullying personalities, etc etc. 

It’s also important to win the war with competitors by looking ahead: I have to stress the value of predicting what might be coming next and scenario planning as the frequency of Black Swan events (eg Covid) is obviously increasing. This will give you a head-start on your competitors. 

Some of the areas where this is most likely to happen are: 

  • Environmental (eg climate crisis and all matters pertaining to ESG and CSR) 
  • Mass customisation (eg 3D printing) 
  • AI and machine learning 
  • Wearables and implants, robotisation and drones, autonomous driving, etc etc. 

Customer centric

I also have to stress the vital importance of ‘customer centricity’. As marketers we all know how important this is but it is increasing in importance as markets become more competitive and purchasing habits become more sophisticated. If you’re going to win the war this is essential.  

For example, in consumer markets Heinz Tomato Ketchup abandoned the glass bottle and produced the squeezy plastic upside-down bottle; in Business-to-Business (B2B) office designers started designing offices and furniture that their customers actually liked, rather than just tolerated. 

Companies like WARC, Euromonitor and Mintel  all publish free and reliable data on consumer trends, which means a marketer’s strategy will be anchored in evidence, not guesswork. This is something marketers overlook at their peril if they want to win the war! 

In fact research shows that only 30% of consumer companies are customer-centric. Even though a massive 60% of these companies are likely to be profitable. Not to mention that it is the principal driver of sustainable growth. Maybe it is the difficulty of implementing it that is putting marketers off: the whole company must buy into customer-centricity if it is to truly work – from the boardroom down to the shop floor – and this can be a challenge in B2B companies where marketing is generally not valued so highly. 

 

Conclusion

My top-tip is that as a Marketing Manager, you need to think like a founder, not a caretaker; act like you’re marketing for a start-up, not an established brand. So you’re not playing to play but playing to win. It’s that ‘war’ thing again! 

In marketing for B2B companies it’s slightly different. Research shows that only 5% of potential buyers are in the market for your product at any one time. Therefore the communications must take a more nuanced approach compared to the marketing of consumer products. Driven by a clear understanding of the ‘need’ of different members of the decision-making unit. As well as what they will be looking for when purchase-time comes around.  

These days all markets are highly competitive. Your gain is a competitor’s loss, and vice versa. You don’t go into battle without a long term plan, and you don’t implement tactics without an effective strategy. 

 

My thanks to CIM and Caroline Cook of the Brand leadership Group for much of the information in this article. 

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