Marketing Warfare

Summary

The authors of this book Al Ries and Jack Trout believe that marketing is war and that each company should view it as such. No company can win the war without adopting this philosophy and planning as such. It is simply not enough to do the best market research and attempt to provide their customer with the products they want without regard to what their competitors are doing. Every company should become competitor-oriented to remain successful.

Companies will need to clarify their strategic planning; they must learn how to foresee how their competitors will react and remain one step ahead at all times by outwitting, outflanking or over-powering the other side. As well they need to determine their position in the market in which they service in order to remain competitive by selecting the most appropriate strategy for going to market and succeeding.

Key Concepts

• Principle of force

• Principle of defense

• Competition

• Battleground

• Four marketing strategies

• Strategy and tactics

• Marketing general

Student Analysis

The principle of force is simply stated, the large companies always prevail over the small companies. It is not about being the largest company, hiring the best people, having the best product. The small company can prevail if they use the research they have gathered to understand what product or area they should focus on and focus on that area.

The principle of defense puts the smaller company at an advantage when using the element of surprise which catches the larger company off guard since typically they ignore the warnings signs or did not take the actions of the smaller company seriously. As in war, the element of surprise can cause unexpected casualties.

The new era of competition puts companies at a disadvantage if they set and publish deadlines for success. It is in their best interest to be vague about marketing strategies. As in the analogy of war avoiding hand to hand combat which ends in more loses and...