Marketing Warfare

by Al Ries and Jack Trout

Book Overview

"A business book with a difference: clear-cut advice, sharp writing and a minimum of jargon."­­Newsweek

"Revolutionary Surprising "­­Business Week

"Chock-a-block with examples of successful and failed marketing campaigns, makes for a very interesting and relevant read."­­USA Today

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0070527261
• ISBN13: 9780070527263
• Release Date: November 1997
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Awesome book

The marketing ideas are vivid and historically confirmed. Already started implementing them during this COVID-19 outbreak!

The ultimate strategy for the battle of minds

Marketing is war. The companies have to fight for customers and against each other. Thus the rules of military combat are fully applicable, Ries and Trout insist. That is why they use the ideas of the best military strategist ever known - Karl von Clausewitz - to show how to win a marketing war. And it seems pretty simple. However, only at first glance. The authors give to a business strategist a set of tools to assess the position and the situation on the ground (which is minds of the actual and prospect clients) in accordance with two basic military principles:- the principle of force: more money and human resources always come over less money and human resources- the superiority of the defense: defensive strategy demands less money and resources to win the marketing combat.After assessing the situation, a strategist chooses which type of marketing war to wage (so called "the strategic square"):- defensive- offensive- flanking- guerilla Each type of war is in its turn determined by a set of strategic principles. Follow them and you are doomed to success. As simple as it gets. Just do ALL the things correctly. The only problem is that you have to do correctly so many things while assessing the situation and choosing and waging the type of marketing war, that winning is becoming an art of itself, rather then a strictly defined set of rules. The case studies in the second half of the book show that even the best and the biggest companies often fail to deliver the positive results.And the last, but not least: "A general can no more entertain the idea of fighting to the last man than a good chess player would play an obviously lost game", Clausewitz wrote. Admittedly, "no purpose is served by wasting resources to conserve egos. Better to admit defeat and move on to another marketing war", Ries and Trout add. I just cannot agree more on these statements.

Excellent book on the principles of strategic marketing

If you're looking for a how-to-set-up-a-marketing-program book, keep on looking because this book is not about that. It's about the strategic choices that precede implementation. The first chapters describe general principles (force, advantage of defense and that a marketing war is fought in the mind of the prospect)of (marketing) warfare. The next section describes the "strategic square": Defensive, offensive, flanking and guerilla warfare. What kind of company (size, position etc.)should follow which strategy and why? In my work as management consultant I still find that a lot of strategic mistakes are made because the strategy does not match the position or size of the company. So pay attention. The book concludes with a number of classic (cola, computer, hamburger, beer) marketing cases which describes the strategy (and the mistakes) of the players involved. Even if you are more experienced in marketing, I would very strongly recommend it. If you are not learning from it, it surely reminds you to be consistent. Oh, and not unimportant: it is a fun-to-read book.

Incoming!!! (Sales, that is...)

This classic book on marketing is a must-read for anyone in business. Classic examples of marketing struggles such as the burger wars and cola wars are things we all can relate to, yet provide valuable examples of what to do and what NOT to do when marketing your products. Reading these examples reminds you of what you already knew about marketing, yet probably forgot to use in your last marketing campaign. It never hurts to revisit these fundamentals--just as the great Larry Bird could be found practicing foul shots alone on the court many an evening. Many people object to the military metaphor for business, but in this case, we're talking strategy and that's exactly what you need to employ to market products successfully. Basic principles such as knowing the leader's strength, finding the leader's weakness and hitting on a focused "front" are the offensive strategies. Defense (just as important to maintain market share) is discussed, as is "guerrilla warfare" or being the jeeps against the tanks. "Marketing Warfare" is easy to read, enjoyable, understandable and applicable to anything you do in marketing. I consider it a MUST-HAVE for anyone doing business where a product is sold.

The Markertplace is a Battlefield.. a great easy read.

The book looks at Marketing from a military perspective.The book was largely influenced by the book "On War" by the retired Prussian general Karl von Clausewitz.It basically outlines 4 broad Marketing Strategies which depend on your market position, the nature of your product and on the competition; viz, Offense, Defense, Flanking and guerrilla warfare."Marketing promises should be as vague as political ones. Otherwise you will erode the effectiveness of your forces", "Marketing battles are fought inside the mind. Inside your own mind and inside the mind of your prospects every day of the week.", "keep the forces concentrated in an overpowering mass. The fundamental idea. Always to be aimed at before all and as far as possible.", "The more helpless the situation, the more everything presses toward one single, desperate blow.", "Strategy and Timing are the Himalayas of Marketing. Everything else is the Catskills.", et cetera.

This book taught me more than Harvard Business School

While working at Intuit, which pioneered many sophisticated marketing techniques in the software industry, I asked the marketing manager what she considered the most important marketing books to read. "Marketing Warfare" was one of the top three. I devoured it.The book starts with the principle that marketing is primarily about psychology, and making your product synonymous with a category IN THE CONSUMER'S MIND. Coke=cola. McDonald's=fast food. "Marketing Warfare" describes how you can do this, and how you can compete for a position in the consumer's mind if you're in an industry already dominated by a leader.I learned more solid, applicable concepts from this book than I did from the first year Marketing curriculum of Harvard Business School.