The Essential Guide To Winning The Marketing War
The 80-20 Killer Marketing Club
The Essential Guide To
Winning The Marketing War
Part 1 of 12: Introduction and Marketing Strategy Defined
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The Essential Guide To Winning The Marketing War
WELCOME
Hi there and welcome to the first edition of a twelve part series on Winning The Marketing War.
I’ve often been asked for a book on marketing for business owners and so I’m writing one chapter per
month over the course of 2013.
The book will be full of effective strategies and tactics, illuminating examples and practical exercises so
that you can implement into your business step-by-step.
And as a Killer Marketing Club member you’ll have exclusive access to each installment of what will be
a complete book by the end of this year.
Here’s the Table Of Contents *…
Introduction
Chapter 1: Marketing Strategy Defined
Chapter 2: Finding The SUN: How to be in different and in demand
Chapter 3: The Black Jellybean: How to eliminate competitors
Chapter 4: Establishing Your Beachhead: How to accelerate your achievements
Chapter 5: Marketing Trickles: how to all but guarantee a flow of high quality new leads
Chapter 6: Easy Entry Offers: how to naturally and easily convert prospects into clients
Chapter 7: The Maltz Effect: How to increase desire for your products and services
Chapter 8: Choose Your Weaponry: How to build an unbeatable marketing arsenal
Chapter 9: Creating Scalability: How to decrease your hours and massively increase your earnings
Chapter 10: Benchmarking: Creating a system for continuous improvement
Chapter 11: “Potentializing”: How to get maximum performance from your people
Chapter 12: Ready Fire Aim: What to do when it all goes pear shaped (which it will)
Appendix: Additional resources
This month you’ll receive both of the first two chapters as your January and February Killer
Marketing Reports. Enjoy!
* Chapter titles are subject to change if I get a better idea!
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The Essential Guide To Winning The Marketing War
INTRODUCTION
Why I included the word “war” in the title.
In the pre-publishing phase of this guide I had kick-back from some whom didn’t like the inclusion of the
word “war” in the title.
It was suggested that I replace “war” with “game” or “contest” because of the association with suffering
that war inevitably brings.
Like you, my thoughts are influenced by my philosophy. And as a practitioner of Zen I’m taught to
practice compassion and to refrain from promoting violence and so I reflected on the feedback.
However Zen also asks me to practice perceiving and working with reality as it is rather than to fool
myself with the illusion of what I’d prefer reality to look like. In other words if it’s a spade then see it as a
spade and “call a spade a spade”.
And so after further reflection I concluded that “war” was the right word because it was the most
accurate word to use when describing the reality of marketing.
The reasons are multiple:


In war the victor destroys
the loser and/or the loser’s ability
to function. Around the world
today, there are literally tens of
thousands of businesses that are
ceased to exist because they
were either too passive with their
marketing or they lost the
marketing war. It has been this
way forever and I can’t see any
changes in the next million years
or so.
It’s true that “competition” fairly describes an aspect of the natural world in which we live. It’s why
humans are the dominant species on the planet: because we compete better. It’s why plants with
more effective root systems will starve others with lesser roots.
And on the subject of starvation, its why sports players, musicians, artists and charities either go
hungry or own a private jet. To the victors go the spoils. But the problem with describing marketing
as a competition or game is that these terms don’t adequately describe what happens to you when
you fail to market your products or services better than your competitors.
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When you lose in sport you drag your sorry carcass off into the change room but you also get the
chance to play in that body again. In business the equivalent to your body is your business. And
once your business is dead, it stays dead. There is no coming back from dead. You have to start
again with a new business. In the meantime you suffer, your family suffers, your previous
employees suffer and so do your ex-suppliers.

Furthermore the harsh reality is that you have competitors who want your business to die. Rightly
or wrongly there are large and small competitors who want your market share; they want your
clients and your revenue and perhaps even your team members. They’re like the Japanese
attacking Pearl Harbor: they may not have told you they are at war with you but they are sure as
heck attacking your assets.

Neither ignorance of the above, nor apathy, nor passivism will save your business from annihilation
any more than a million people staging a “sit-in” would have saved Europe from the ruthlessness of
the Nazis in World War ll.
So how are wars won? The answer is simple:
A winning strategy executed well wins wars.
And that’s what this guide is all about: “One gram of
good strategy will always beat ton of hard work.”
Why I included the term “essential” in the title
One of life’s time proven principles is the Pareto or 8020
Principle.
Hence
my
business:
www.8020Center.com.
In a nutshell, 20% of inputs will most often yield 80% of
the outcomes. For example, 20% of salespeople make 80% of the sales. 20% of advertisements pull
80% of enquiries. 80% of happiness comes from 20% of time.
Naturally these figures are not exact; a ratio may be 99/1 or 72/25. It’s the principle that’s important; not
the numbers.
If I wanted to give you a comprehensive guide to better marketing, it would be close to the size of an
encyclopaedia…
“If you want to make a lot of money
And build a great big reputation
Take something that’s actually quite simple
And add a bloody big complication”
Often, what is perfectly complete is practically unusable, due to its complexity.
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The Essential Guide To Winning The Marketing War
My objective is to give you what’s essential to use, not what’s nice to know. The KISS principle: Keep It
Short & Simple.
To that end I’ll keep the guide as simple as possible, but not simpler, just as the great Einstein
recommended. To make it either more complex or more succinct would equally dilute its potency.
PART ONE: MARKETING STRATEGY DEFINED
Core message summary

The most effective Marketing Strategy begins with figuring out what people want to buy that is not
being offered anywhere else.
Overview
You won’t find a lot of “how to” information in this part however it’s important to understand what I mean
by the words “marketing” and “strategy” so that when you complete the Action Exercises throughout
this book, you’ll be much better prepared.
Definition of Marketing
Most people think that marketing it all about getting new clients in the
door but my definition of marketing extends further than that:
“Marketing is any activity that does one or more of the following:
1. brings in more clients
2. has them buy more often
3. has them spend more when they buy
4. has them stay longer
By this definition therefore, both sales and customer service functions
are a part of marketing and indeed virtually all other business functions
have an impact as well. For example, if logistics or billings are sloppy
the customers are unlikely to come back and buy more.
Marketing versus Selling
A useful distinction to note is that whereas both marketing and sales aim to increase revenue it’s a
prerequisite of winning marketing strategy that you first figure out what it is that people really want to
buy. (And if that thing is not offered by competitors then so much the better.)
On occasion I’ve been approached by the owner or CEO of a business whose enquiry can be
paraphrased as: “Can you help us sell more stuff?”
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And whilst I may be able to answer that question in the affirmative, it contains a potential inherent
danger in that it assumes that people want to buy the “stuff” that is on offer.
And that helps to clarify what marketing is versus what selling is.
Effective Marketing is about creating a magnet-like attraction whereas selling is more like hunting.
To illustrate the point let’s use bees as a metaphor for clients.
There are two ways you can catch bees. Firstly you can grab a
net and go hunting for them or you can put out a honey pot and
have the bees fly in.
Selling is what salespeople do: life insurance salespeople,
photocopier salespeople, multi-level marketing people and so on.
And selling accelerates revenue growth IF the marketing strategy
has been well crafted prior to the sales teams being set lose.
In order for selling to be effective it must come after the
marketing
Big or small, every VIP of Sales should report to the VIP of
Marketing. And if you are a solopreneur or a micro business
owner that simply means you need nail your marketing strategy
first and then ensure that all sales and advertising activity is
aligned with that strategy.
For example is you decide that you can out-perform competitors on value for money, then all
presentations and advertisements need to clearly articulate that advantage.
Definition of Strategy
Strategy is how you will capture Market Share, stated in
broad terms.
Implicit in the capture of Market Share is taking revenue
from competitors of which there are three categories:
direct, indirect and doing nothing.
For example a Financial Planner faces direct competition
from other Financial Planners and indirect competition
from Stock Brokers, Banks and Property Developers.
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However he or she has a third competitor which is called “doing nothing”. Either way a winning Strategy
influences someone to putting their money into your bank account rather than leaving it in their own or
putting it somewhere else.
A winning Marketing Strategy must overcome all three forms of competition.
The difference between Strategy and
Tactics
Your Strategy is a plan whereas Tactics is
how you will execute the plan. Whereas
Strategy is primarily about “how”, Tactics is
about “what, when, who, where”.
Just like Selling needs to come after the
Marketing has been figured out, so too
Tactics needs to come after the Strategy has
been created. Otherwise it’s like the
proverbial cart before the horse in that it
simply isn’t going to take your business
anywhere.
Examples of Marketing Strategy
Faster delivery time e.g. pizza
More reliable e.g. vehicle
More accurate e.g. watch
Cheaper prices e.g. home furnishings
Easier to use e.g. video camera
More knowledgeable e.g. newspaper
More durable e.g. car tires
Customized e.g. bespoke tailors
More distribution outlets e.g. soft drink
Easier access e.g. drive through fast food
More glamorous e.g. premium handbags
Safer e.g. car
More environmentally friendly e.g. energy
24/7 international support e.g. credit card
More innovative e.g. smart phone
Better long term return on investment e.g. property
Save return on investment e.g. banking
More luxurious e.g. air travel
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Key Points
Winning Marketing Strategy figures out firstly what
people want (see Part Two) and seeks to create or refine a
product so that it delivers it in a way which both appealing and
differentiated from competitors (see Part Three).
Attempting to sell or advertise a product prior to creating
a winning Marketing Strategy makes sustainable success all but
impossible.
Action Items
1. Make a list of three businesses that are dominant in their market. Alongside each name write down
what you think their core strategy is. For example Wal-Mart clearly has a Strategy of lower prices
plus extensive range.
Business Name
Reason they are dominant (Core Strategy)
i.
ii.
iii.
2. Describe what you will do differently and/or better that will cause you to outperform your competiors.
Be as specific as possible. For example instead of “better service” you might write “60 minute
response time” and instead of “better quality” you might write “10 year unconditional guarantee”
For
a
step
by
step
course
for
creating
your
Marketing
Strategy
see
www.8020Center.com/FreeMarketingPlan/ but please note this page will be taken down one day and
so my apologies if it’s not still live when you visit.
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