Which attack strategy to use?
SIZE DOES MATTER
War strategies for marketing!
SIZE DOES MATTER
(Fourth in the series called “The Martial Marketer”. War strategies for work!)
I am Mara Varman, a King in the Pandya dynasty.
A king, such a fancy title, but I own up to it. My Kingdom is small. My immediate ancestors were more focused on other things than strengthening the foundation and protecting our borders. Enemies were at the door, attacking at will. My people were running scared helter-skelter. It was my job as the new King of my Kingdom. I had a duty.
I needed to defend and attack at the same time.
Sounds incredulous, doesn’t it? Should I defend or should I attack? Can I not do both?
Well, I have to do both. What did I do? I trained the women in my Kingdom to fight and safeguard our territory while I took the men to battle. When you have decided that you have to “defend and attack” simultaneously, I need to use every single force available to me.
When I see an enemy with an army that is 10 times that of mine. There is no way I’m going to win a direct attack in a traditional fight. This is not a fight for me. My men will die. This is not a fight for me today. It is for another day.
As I was bolstering my defense, I started my offense with regions that had an army smaller than mine. An army that I could quickly attack, win and make my own. Small wins gave my men courage. My commanders knew that trust is a major factor in war: Implicit trust and performing the exact action when they ask for it — unquestionable and blind. Well, that faith, that trust comes from small wins. By ensuring that, my commanders lead by example and show them victory is possible.
Well, as my army grew, I picked up larger regions. When I met an army the same size as mine, we relied on our commanders’ strength and strategies. We made sure that we exposed the enemy first. Make them expend their forces, money, and ration first. Lure them in, let them lay a siege, let them run dry, making it easier for my men to go ahead. This was the strategy that I used.
As my army grew, we encountered some troops that were half our size. We split our army into two. One attacked from the front, direct. And the other half attack the army enemy army from the rear. A joint strategy for a straight attack and a surprise move. We won most of such battles. As we moved into enemy territory by territory, there was only so much supply that can be transported from my home kingdom. So, we acquired the enemy army, made them ours. And we made sure that all our supplies came from whichever region that we were in. If it looked like the battle will take longer, we just quit and move on. We didn’t give up. Just rescheduled our win for another day. Not today, another day.
When my army was more than four or five times that of the enemy, we encircled them and forced them into submission. As much as possible without any bloodshed. As my Kingdom grew, so did my battle strategies. It all depended on what I wanted. Why? By when?
And most importantly, what’s my enemy like? What is my competition like? Who are they? What’s their size? What are their plus and minus?
I needed to decide which battles to pick, which one to fight at that particular point, towards my larger objective?
Was I Mara Varma Pandian, a great King?
How would I know? I didn’t write my history.
I was busy creating one.
**
Lessons from Sun Tzu.
- It is the rule in war if the ratio of our forces to the enemy’s is 10 to one; we just surround and circle and snuff them out.
- If it is five to one, then we go ahead and attack them directly.
- If my army is double that of my competition, I split my army into two, attacking from the front and the rear.
- If we are equally matched, it does come down to our strategies and that leader, that general, that commander, that divisional head who’s leading it.
- When I am a small fry in a huge pan, I need to pick and choose the fight, which means at times I will flee.
What can or what should a startup do? What should a new division inside a larger company do? The challenges and, therefore, strategies are something completely different. Size does matter, as that is a significant part of my “defence and attack” strategy.
A small King is similar to that of a startup CEO today or a Division head of a new initiative in a large company. There are many battles to be fought and won. Competition comes in all shapes and sizes, some invisible too! How will you fight then? The size and nature of the enemy decide our strategy.
It all comes down to the leader, his/her know-how, adaptability and the will to decide which battles to fight, and how.
SIZE DOES MATTER
Lessons from Sun Tzu
This is the fourth in the series called “The Martial Marketer”. War strategies for work!
1. Marketing Camouflage! Success is sweet.
2. A Trojan variation to defend and attack.
3. Victory at all costs.
Pravin Shekar is an outlier marketer, parallel entrepreneur and a raconteur.
mic @ PravinShekar.com .
For creative collusions, join: http://bit.ly/JoinMyOutlierTribe
Pravin is the author of seven books: Devil Does Care, Marketing lessons from Mythology, Getting paid to speak, a Virtual Summit Playbook, Climb your way out of hell & a collection of travel pics/romantic poems, and stories from the heart!
http://tiny.cc/PravinShekarBooks
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