Building An Unbeatable Marketing Arsenal
Introduction
In war an “arsenal” is a place where weapons are stored and drawn from to supply troops in battle. In business a Marketing Arsenal is a collection of items that you will use when executing your Marketing Plan. I’ll provide a full list of such items later however some examples include carefully crafted testimonials or case studies (where use is permitted), guarantees (ditto), email or snail-mail templates, on-line email marketing database and a whole lot more (see the list below).
The purpose of this part is to allow you to select one or more of three potential strengths to exploit when marketing and to then select a Marketing Arsenal that not only plays to those strengths but is also aligned to your strategy (see Article Two: Specific Unmet Need). and Article Three: Black Jellybean
From a business strategy perspective we can learn a lot from the lessons of war. And the history of war is also a history of victories and defeats; the former being achieved primarily by reason one or more of three strengths:
Strength #1: Superior Numbers
Strength #2: Superior Strategy
Strength #3: Superior Weaponry
In sport only two of these three factors are present - the latter two. Two sports teams field an equal number on each side, as indeed do solo sports.
In business, however, all three factors are present. Let’s look at a few examples that bring these principles to life.
In war, a benchmark for attacking a well-defended enemy position with similar weaponry is a superior force of 3:1. I read that in Vietnam, because of the superior weaponry of the USA and its allies, the Chinese military advisors recommended a numerical superiority of 30:1 prior to attacking southern bases.
A colleague of mine dominates the market in Australia for her particular training niche. She generates more leads than her competitors because she rates higher on AdWords and other on-line marketing mediums for one reason: “It’s quite simple really,” she says, “I outspend everyone else”. This is an example of Superior Numbers.
And although it’s impossible to quantify exactly, it seems apparent that Coke spends significantly more on advertising in its primary markets than Pepsi. Here in Australia, McDonalds is said to spend more than Burger King and Wendy’s combined.
Clearly it’s impossible for a smaller business to bring superior numbers to bear in the market place compared to a large multi-national corporate. That would be like David (as in “Giant-Killer”) taking his slingshot to fight a squadron of tanks. If you try to take on a big company in advertising spend, then prepare to get squashed like a bug. However, superiority of numbers/force is achievable within smaller niches. And a small niche is often big enough to satisfy the revenue objectives of a business owner, whereas it would not have the potential to satisfy corporate stakeholders.
It’s worth noting that success does not always go to the bigger budget (see below). Having said that, it’s still easier for a business owner to succeed when filling the needs of a smaller niche as opposed to selling into a large market that’s well served by larger competitors and/or many smaller competitors.
For example, my local and much-loved coffee roaster, Clandestino, can’t match the advertising budget of Nescafe, Moccona or Maxwell House and neither can they have as many sales representatives on the ground as these giants.
However the niche they are carving out in their Noosa “Beachhead” for unique, boutique, premium-sourced and premium-priced beans is significant and all but impossible for giants such Starbucks or McDonalds (now the largest seller of coffee in the UK) to compete with. This is simply because the word “Boutique” doesn’t fit with a mega-brand.
History is full of battles where a numerically superior force, with greater weapons potency lost to a smaller but smarter adversary. Similar tales litter business history including Komatsu’s initial outflanking of Caterpillar’s tractors, Canon’s successful attack on Xerox’s copier market and Apple’s success in gouging large parts of BlackBerry’s and Microsoft’s market share, initially through niche product development and latterly through vastly superior aesthetics and functionality.
Big business has a giant advantage over small business: that of resources. More resources facilitate Superior Numbers and Superior Weaponry, but having more resources doesn’t always mean Superior Strategy.
The latter is where small business can outsmart big business. The capacity for a business owner to quietly observe the market, to strike fast, and to be agile in response to threats are all prime examples of the advantage of small over big.
When local Pizza chain Pizza Capers launched in the Australian market they went where their competitors were not. They use wholesome, nutritious, restaurant quality ingredients, sourced locally where possible, with a menu selection that’s unlike any I’ve ever see in the stores of their much bigger competitors including Pizza Hut and Dominos.
Where Dominos compete in the take-out market and on price, Pizza Hut compete in the restaurant and take-out markets, Pizza Capers keep their costs down by having small dine-in areas and compete on menu diversity and ingredient quality – not price.
From a few privately owned stores in 1995 to over 120 in 2013, Pizza Capers are a great example of a small player outsmarting the big boys.
Also note their Customer Value Statement “Gourmet’d for you” together with their clear articulation of the Black Jellybean offering “Restaurant quality ingredients with an interesting menu variety made from real wholesome ingredients”. Nice job Pizza Capers.
The All Blacks rugby team, from of the smallest countries in the world, New Zealand, consistently beats larger countries in one sport, in part due to superior force: they are mostly stronger, fitter and generally more skilful. Their players are a perfect example of Superior Weapons.
Weapons are relevant to the type of battle. For example, in World War ll the Russians were initially hopelessly out-classed by the Germans who had superior weaponry and numbers or weapons including all types of aircraft, tanks, guns and ammunition.
It was not unusual for literally tens of thousands (and in some cases hundreds of thousands) of Russians to surrender simply because they had nothing to fight with! However one weapon proved to be of incalculable value in slowing down the German advance and that was the sniper, many of whom were rather pretty young women. The Russian dominance in Sniper attacks was a significant strength.
In war, a small weapon in the hands of a skilful operator can be devastatingly effective against a larger opponent. And the same is true of marketing. You don’t have to be able to out-spend a competitor. You just have to out-think them and to select a form of marketing weaponry that will knock them out in any part of the market that you choose to compete in.
For example, a recent YouTube video that may have been shot for less than $100 has 1.696 million views (at last count). By selecting the right weapons, not simply bigger ones, smaller businesses can more than compete in niches again the big players. Think “David’s slingshot” versus “Goliath’s shield and spear”.
In summary
I’ve demonstrated above that with a bit of creative thinking a business owner can successfully compete in a chosen niche (important word!) by engaging all three strengths of:
Superior Numbers (Beachhead/niche too small for a corporate)
Superior Strategy (Black Jellybean and Specific Unmet Need)
Superior Weapons (select the “bang for buck” variety!)
Your Marketing Arsenal
A marketing arsenal includes the “Lead Sources” and “Client Attractors” listed in Articles 4 and 6, as well as other items that support marketing efforts. One such item is an Email Marketing Offer, However, to support that you need an on-line marketing database and possibly an online shopping cart service and payment gateway service. For the sake of completeness I’ve provided a list of over 100 items below.
I recommend that you place a tick in every box alongside a Weapon that needs to be in your Arsenal.
Website e.g. The 80-20 Center
Landing Page with opt-in e.g. Profiling
Email marketing database e.g. iContact
Keyword phrases identified
Google Analytic Tracking codes installed
Google account set up
Ezine (on-line magazine)
On-line videos including YouTube
Videos - other websites
Banner advertising
Audio
Shopping cart e.g. 1ShoppingCart
Payment Gateway e.g. Eway
E-books
Video hosting e.g. Screencast
Large file transfer service e.g. HighTail
Cloud-based file sharing e.g. DropBox
Cloud-based chat portal e.g. HipChat
Email signature with link to website
Video Conferencing e.g. GoToMeeting
Webinar platform e.g. GoToWebinar
Profiling Questionnaire
Special Report or White Paper
Smart Phone Apps
LinkedIn (brilliant!)
Google (@ others) Map adverts
SMS (mobile texts)
RSS feeds
Digital newspaper advertisements
Off-Line Weapons
Direct Mail letters including “lumpy mail”
Direct Mail Post Cards
Letter Box flyers
DVDs
CDs
Fridge Magnets
Calendars (with promotional content)
Print advertisements
Radio advertisements
Radio interviews
Television advertisements
Television interviews
Book
Magazine (normally free)
Store signs, interior and exterior
Billboards
Referral System
Marketing KPI reports
Marketing Calendar
Marketing Plan
Marketing review meetings
Joint Venture approach/engage system
Public Speaking
Feedback Form (to harvest contact info)
Database
Open Day
Branded T-shirts, caps, pens etc
Diagnostic appraisal
Workshops and seminars
Centers of Influence
Coupons
Personal Networking organized groups
Personal Networking informal
Pay Per Click (AdWords)
Trade Shows
Free Delivery
Weapons For Both On-Line and Off-Line Use
Guarantees
Testimonial
Case studies
Guarantees
Seven Reasons Why (wWe are #1 Choice)
Articles
Press release
Public Relations
Research results
Surveys
Advertorial
Editorial
Filing System
“Swipe File” (marketing samples)
Special Offers
Campaigns (winter, Christmas etc)
Loyalty Cards and Clubs
Sponsorships
Free trial
Test drive
Themed events e.g. sports event
Competitions
Franchisees
Licensees
Wholesalers
Yellow Pages
Friend Get Friend offers
Ex-client reactivation offers
Up-selling systems
Cross-selling systems
Drop down selling systems
In-selling (e.g. printer cartridge)
Tender lists
Bonus Flyer Points
Final Thoughts
Mindless marketing is possibly better than none. However it’s also financially inefficient. I’d therefore encourage you to give full and deep attention to getting your strategy right (see Articles 1, 2, 3 and 5) before you begin to build your Marketing Arsenal.
There is no doubt that successful marketing is a journey and not a destination. Some of the Marketing Weapons you select will work from the get-go and others will not. And whatever worked yesterday may not necessarily work tomorrow.
Just like winning a military war, winning a marketing war requires well-directed but relentless activity and a commitment of time and energy to feed that activity. My top recommendation for all business owners is to devote a minimum of one whole day entirely to marketing. That is: Marketing Discovery (learning about Marketing), Marketing Development (bringing your Marketing Arsenal list from above into life) and Marketing Doing.
Key Points
There are three ways to beat competitors: Superior Numbers, Superior Strategy and Superior Weapons.
If you stick to a niche that’s big enough for you but too small for a corporate then you can dominate your market by creatively applying all three methods.
Begin developing multiple Client Attractors and the relevant support systems (see list above) based initially on what you can put into the marketing place that costs the least in resources (time and money) but that’s likely to yield the best result.
Action Items
Take your initial development list of Marketing Components (see also your Action Item from Article 6) and relevant support systems (from above) and place these on your Marketing Plan for development.