Think like a general
Marketing strategy
Honda defeated Yamaha by using Blitzkrieg strategy
In 2nd World War Germany used Blitzkrieg strategy to defeat the allied forces of France, Holland and Belgium. Allied forces outnumbered Germans. They had better technology than Germans. Yet, Germany won easily. They demolished the 300 years old military history.
“A spectacular military feat, but why should a manager or anybody in business during the early 21st century care? True, the German victory in France led to five more years of war in Europe, the Holocaust and the deaths of tens of millions of other civilians, and the eventual triumph of the Soviet Union, the Cold War, and 50 years of Stalinist repression. This was unspeakably tragic, but there is nothing any of us can do about it now. There is, however, one good reason for looking over the shoulders of Hitler and his generals, as repugnant as we find their aims and ideology. At the start of the attack on France, the Germans had no advantage in numbers and lagged in technology. Yet they won and won easily, and they did it through the application of strategy. Their strategy was so powerful that in one two-week period, it set aside 300 years of military history.” — Certain to Win: The Strategy of John Boyd, Applied to Business by Chet Richards
German Blitzkrieg disarmed the enemies with the OODA loop.
Observe
Orient
Decide
Act
The equivalent of OODA also exists in marketing. Remember Diagnose, Strategise and Tactics. When businesses orient themselves to the market, they activate OODA loop. It’s about understanding the landscape. Landscape for businesses comprises knowing the different types of customers and competitors. Honda defeated Yamaha in the famous H-Y War, using blitzkrieg style strategy.
By segmenting the consumers as per demography, attitude and behaviour, the businesses can target them. Businesses should know about their customers at the point of purchase, point of consumption and the point of discussions.
Demography: It is about knowing the basic information about the customers such as: age, location, salary, life cycle.
Attitude: It is about knowing the likes and interests of the customers. The research should find out if the customer is interested in the product category or not.
Behaviour: This shows if the customer likes or dislikes the product. It tells how does the customer use the product, on the day-to-day basis.
Segmenting helps businesses measuring the worth of customers and the market.
How many customers are there in the market?
What is the value of the segment?.
What percentage of the market does your brand own?
It helps to target the right customers. There are multiple examples where 2/3rd of the business comes for 1/3rd of the customers. Ian Barnard is a marketer and an alumnus of Marketing Week Mini MBA. He shared the step-by-step process of segmenting your market. Link
Tell me you own a small business Link
When life gives you potatoes, make crisps Link
Podcast; rock solid marketing strategy. Link
Think like a general was originally published in The Bootstrappers on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.