Marketing warfare

Hi,

If you haven't already read it, grab a copy of Marketing Warfare by Trout and Ries. It is the easiest way to get a grip on grand strategy for marketers that I ever saw. The parallels between warfare and marketing are uncanny. We use the same language - campaign, tactic, strategy, attack, defend, etc. Military strategy is all about positioning your forces to outmanoeuvre the enemy. And in the final analysis, it is about brute strength - firepower. In most cases - all things being equal - "God is always on the side of the big battalions" (Voltaire) It stands to reason. If 10,000 soldiers are fighting 5,000 soldiers in an open field and they are killing each other at the same rate, there will be 5,000 left on one side and none on the other. LESSON: Never attack a bigger competitor front on.

Cheers!

Michael Kiely

Email responses


Angelo,

I am loving your pieces here on Warfare. It is inspiring me.

Fred

...........
Michael,

I started receiving your daily emails a couple of months ago -
great idea and your thoughts have definetly given me some new ideas.
Being that you are a marketing guru, thought I would throw my current
challenge and a few questions your way....
Customer Service Week is coming up in October (October 2-6), and a
designated group of us have to come with some ways to engage head office
and branches across SA & VIC in celebrating/promoting customer service
week.
There is a golf day planned and our company will offer a round of
golf/dinner to 4 of our employees. I need to come up with a way for
employees to win this prize.
We came up with the idea of nominating peers..."Tell us who you think
provides superior customer service and if you enter you win a
voucher"....but we have done this in the past with limited success.
Any suggestions or ideas of what we could to to get people to
compete/get involved for this prize, keeping customer service as a
theme?
Any ideas on how to engage employees throughout the week and keep
customer service at top of mind (although really, it should be at top of
mind ALL THE TIME!).
I recently read Ries' The Origin of Brands - great read!!! I will have
to check out your recommendation of Marketing Warfare.
Cheers,
Adrian
....

Adrian,

This thought flashed into my mind while reading your request:
Give the prize to the member of staff who can contribute the most revealing customer insight.This is rewarding several important behaviours:
Listening actively to customers.
Engaging customers in conversation.
Thinking deeply about their emotional life.

Your organisation gains the following:
A bunch of customer insights to share among your customer relations people and communications executives.
A message to your staff that customer intimacy is important.
A message to your staff that customer knowledge is important.

I believe the most powerful activity you can engage in is one that reveals customers as human beings that staff can empathise with.

Michael