There is an argument to be made that industrial marketing is a form of warfare within your market. Think about it, you are trying to defect customers away from your competition--they from you. It's an arms race for market share. Acquisitions, conquering a competitor, taking their customers, assets, and staff--a show of force in the market. Advertisements are propaganda, swaying a customer to follow you--instead of the competitor. New product press releases signal a claim over territory. Your logo is like a standard flying in the battle field. Won sales contracts are battle victories, filling the war chest and driving future successes. Trade shows are the battle ground where companies meet to wage war, beating the war drums, and clashing shields. Dollars are soldiers, they must be sent into battle. If they are trained to do a certain job, they return victorious touting the spoils of war. Sending your soldiers into battle without a plan is futile, and will ultimately, result in lost soldiers (cash).
For this reason, just like in warfare, a few critical concepts must be understood.
First is strategy, this is your tactical maneuvers--your plan to defeat the enemy.
This includes, but is not limited to, an understanding of your payloads, delivery, spheres of
influence, strengths and weaknesses in your company. These are your battle field positions. Will you overwhelm the enemy with sheer volume or will you take out the pillars tactically?
Second is intelligence. Do you know where the enemy's positions are, their strategies and firepower. Are you proving to your customers that you know the lay of the land, when and how to strike. Are you able to see the gaps in your competitor's defenses and how will you exploit them? Market research and competitive analysis are your intelligence reports for how you build your strategy.
The third is firepower. What do you have at your disposal in your arsenal? Do you have sufficient munitions to engage in a siege (campaign)? Is your content bleeding edge or aging? Do you have a tactical advantage with the technology that you are using to deploy? Do you have enough content to be running multiple campaigns or do you need to focus them into one point of attack?
Finally, there is a level of aggression that is needed to be successful in industrial marketing and warfare. Always push towards a goal. Taking land, assets, and winning battles comes from being aggressively competitive. Wins lead to more wins, but losses will stack up if you are not attacking AND defending.
If you are looking for industrial marketing mercenaries, ready to go into battle for your company, contact Nesbit Marketing--we will fight for you. www.nesbitmarketing/contact