Summary: Marketing Warfare

Review and Analysis of Ries and Trout's Book

BusinessNews Publishing

• Publisher: Must Read Summaries
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9782511018002
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Advertising
• Index: Business

The must-read summary of Al Ries and Jack Trout’s book: “Marketing Warfare: How Corporations Are Applying Military Strategies to Business”.

This complete summary of the ideas from Al Ries and Jack Trout’s book “Marketing Warfare” shows how important it is for companies to stay ahead of their competitors in today’s overcrowded market. The authors explain how leaders can adopt military strategies to use in their operations in order to gain a considerable competitive advantage. By following their advice, you can use this approach to defend your business territory and conquer any competitors that threaten your position.

Added-value of this summary:
• Save time
• Understand the key concepts
• Expand your business knowledge

To learn more, read “Marketing Warfare” and start making use of military strategies to get ahead of the competition and gain loyal customers.

Summary of Marketing Warfare (Al Ries & Jack Trout)

MARKETING IS WAR

Main Idea

The principles that are successful in warfare between armies are a very effective analogy for the marketing battles between competing companies, products and services.

The same principles that are successful in war can be equally applicable to marketing.

Supporting Ideas

The strategic principles of warfare have been developed over the more than 3,000 years of recorded history. While weapons may have changed dramatically, the strategy and tactics of successful warfare never vary.

Like warfare, marketing has also evolved over time. In the early days, most marketing was production oriented - selling what was produced. (For example, Henry Ford’s famous “You Can Have Any Color You Want As Long As It’s Black” approach.) However, since World War II, marketing has become consumer-oriented. (That is, producing what the customer demands regardless of any other business factor).

But if every company is now consumer-oriented, how does a company become successful today? The answer lies in being competitor-oriented - to meet the customer’s needs better than any of your competitors do. In this situation, the principles of warfare are directly applicable - not in the physical sense that marketing losers are shot, but in the figurative sense that successful companies will prosper at the expense of the weaker companies.

In other words: marketing is warfare, the competition are the enemy and the prize is the money consumers are willing to pay for your products or services. Marketing is a conflict between corporations to satisfy human needs and wants.

Key Thoughts

“War belongs to the province of business competition, which is also a conflict of human interest and activities.”

— Karl von Clausewitz

Karl von Clausewitz was a Prussian General. He wrote a book in 1832 called On War. In this book, he identified the strategic principles behind all successful wars.

Clausewitz studied all the military battles of recorded history while writing his book. He joined the Prussian army when he was 12-years old, and was captured by the French at Jena. He was also at Borodino when Napoleon fought the Czar. He fought in the Battle of the Berezina River, and was at Waterloo.

Clausewitz knew the importance of victory mainly because he had tasted the bitterness of defeat so many times in his military career. He developed his strategy for winning wars by first learning the battlefield tactics.

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF WARFARE

1. THE PRINCIPLE OF FORCE

Main Idea

In the movies, everyone loves it when an underdog beats the favorite. In real marketing life, the company with larger marketing resources will always beat the smaller company.

Supporting Ideas

There are two marketing fallacies that people often fall prey to:

1. The “better people” fallacy.
   This suggests that your company are the good guys, the other companies are the bad guys and that the best people will prevail, even against the odds. However, the reality of any marketplace is that you should plan on winning a battle through a superior strategy, not by relying on superior performance by your people.
2. The “better product” fallacy.
   Otherwise known as “the better mousetrap sells itself”, this fallacy suggests that the truth will come out eventually, and that if you can just get those facts out there, you’ll prosper. The problem is that this fallacy is based on truth as perceived in your prospect’s mind. Marketing wars, like military wars, are not won automatically by the force with truth on its side. Remember, history is always written by the winners - not the losers.

Key Thoughts

“The art of war with a numerically inferior army consists in always...

Table of contents

• Title page
• Book Presentation
• Summary of Marketing Warfare (Al Ries & Jack Trout)
• About the Summary Publisher
• Copyright