The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military document attributed to Sun Tzu a high-ranking military general, strategist and tactician. It is composed of 13 chapters, each devoted to one aspect of warfare. It is commonly known to be the definitive work on military strategy and tactics of its time.
These writings have helped countless military leaders win land, riches and infamy … and in a wonderful twist of irony, we will focus on how it can help you win your customer’s hearts.
This is Part III in a series of blogs that breaks down each chapter. The brief chapter summaries are from Wikipedia, but the marketing commentary is all MarketMatch!
10. Situational Positioning looks at the general areas of resistance (distance, dangers, and barriers) and the types of ground positions that arise from them.
As you are continually measuring against your objectives, you may find that you are not tracking as well as you’d like. What are the dangers and barriers to your success?
- Awareness: Are people aware that you exist, what you sell and what you stand for?
- Perception: Are you too small, too big or confusing to the market? Does your brand align with market wants?
- Access: Does your target pass several competitors to get to you? We have a client who is literally one block away from heavy traffic and has a hard time generating momentum. What about your e-access? If you have it, is it easy to use? Do your customers know about it?
- Price: You don’t need to be the lowest price, but this is always a discussion criterion to consider and analyze.
- Attrition:Analyze the attrition of key products within each branch. Are they new or old relationships that are leaving you?
11. The Nine Situations describes the nine common situations (or stages) in a campaign, and the specific focus needed in order to successfully navigate them.
The 9 stages of a campaign as I see them are:
- Set measurable objectives: Define what success will look like
- Determine desired action: Know what you want your target to do. What product, how quickly and what is the desired entry point?
- Define target: Who best fits the mold for this product? Be as specific as possible. Where do they live? What do they want? What do they think?
- Determine how best to reach target: The goal is frequency, not necessarily reach. How can you reach the best percentage of your target at least 3 times?
- Create messaging: Be clear, stand out and differentiate.
- Train staff:The worst thing that can happen is for an employee to hear about a new promotion from a customer. Be sure that your team is aware of the message, what it promotes, who you’re targeting, what you expect and how they should communicate once the customer comes in or calls.
- Launch: Make it happen
- Measure: Don’t wait until the campaign is over to track. By tracking progress along the way, you’ll know if you need to make any adjustments.
- Adjust: If needed, tweak your approach. Is a lower cost tactic pulling better than an expensive one? Is the target misunderstanding the message? Is the call to action clear?
12. The Attack by Fire explains the general use of weapons and the specific use of the environment as a weapon.
As a marketer, you have a lot of weapons at your disposal:
- Traditional: Newspaper, radio, TV – these are best used to build awareness with limited segmentation. Usually your best cost-per-impression.
- Direct:Targeted direct mail, outbound calls, email, text – though more expensive per impression, these allow for a more one-on-one conversation. By narrowing your target focus, you can speak to specific needs. Expect a higher response rate.
- Web-based: Pay per click SEO, web banners on partner sites, micro sites, QR codes – this category is evolving every day. This allows for a more interactive experience. Being electronic, this is typically also highly measurable.
- Guerrilla: This is where you can use the environment as a weapon. Guerrilla marketing hits the target when they are not expecting to be sold. An example from the MarketMatch files is when we “lost” 100 wallets (in strategic locations) around a market. In the wallets was a message to return the wallet to a given branch for a $20 reward. The campaign was successful in driving new foot traffic, awareness and word-of-mouth.
An army of only tanks, though powerful, would not be successful. For true success you need to control the air, the land and the sea. Each tactic has it’s own strengths and weaknesses. The magic is finding the right mix for the given target that fits your budget.
13. The Use of Intelligence focuses on the importance of developing good information sources.
We have talked a lot about the importance of measurement and analysis. Where you obtain your data is as important as what you measure. MCIF systems are very useful here, but not vital. For most in-house data, you’ll want to buddy-up with IT and Finance. Clearly define what it is that you want to measure and brainstorm with your team on how best to pull it.
Aside from in-house numbers, there are countless online resources and survey techniques to gather what you need. The emphasis should be more on WHAT to measure than HOW.
Aside from basic growth numbers, you can also consider:branch-by-branch or market-by-market analysis, attrition in key products, accounts per customer/household, debit card usage, awareness/perception, product usage trends, percentage of referrals, web site usage/effectiveness, application-to-loan conversion ratios, profitability, media channel effectiveness, cross-sell per employee, referrals across business units. The options are limitless and should be tied to completing your key objectives. (See “What’s the Big R.O.Idea” for more info)
There you have it ... how The Art of War can help you take over the marketing world. Remember, with great power comes great responsibility. I trust that you won’t go all Napoleon on us with this information!
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