The Art of War in Relation to Marketing

Introduction

Strategy in business - primarily marketing - is derived from military lexicon. For this reason, there is no better book to learn marketing strategy from than “The Art of War” by Sun-Tzu, written 2500 years ago. Its contents hold true for both military and marketing strategy, since both could be considered a war of the mind (Moore, 2003). Several things that can be learned from “The Art of War” in relation to marketing are: strategy and planning, surprise, innovation, flexibility, and competitive behavior.

Strategy and Planning

Strategy can be derived from the objectives of a company, while planning is required to implement the strategy. Both of these need to be done effectively; a gap in either of them will be problematic. In marketing, one must know oneself, know one’s competitor, and know one’s customer. If one knows these things, they have won the battle of the market (Moore, 2003). Sun Tzu believed that strategy was not planning in the sense of working through an established list, but rather strategy requires quick and appropriate responses to changing conditions in which one must be prepared for anything. In marketing, one’s competitive objective should be to conquer one’s competitors by strategy, not conflict; conflict may ultimately benefit no one (Sun-Tzu, 1998).

Surprise

Surprise is the most important element of an attack. The German word “blitz krieg” means, “attack with lightning speed” (Merriam-Webster, 2005). Catch the competitor unaware; their surprise will result in them taking knee-jerk reactions. It will compound their problems, which is to one’s advantage. Some examples of how to do this are: sudden price changes (increase or decrease), technological break through (innovation), or radical cost cutting through a BPR effort (Moore, 2003). “Know the enemy, know yourself- your victory will never be endangered” (Sun Tzu, 1998). If one thoroughly knows the strengths and weaknesses of their competitor, as well as their...