Strategy and tactics need to be thought out at least three moves and MUST contain a decisive action that will deliver a sustainable advantage. Which means if your strategy is to attack price and your tactics are based upon challenging the leaders premium price with a discounted price then you need to think through the following ladder:
Move 1: Challenger attacks Leader
Move 2: Leader reacts to Challenger.
Move 3: Challenger reacts to Leader.
Decisive Action: Challenger delivers decisive blow.
This is called a three move set. Rarely is a strategy effective on the first move. For example, rarely does the leader abandon a customer or market simply because a challenger offers a discounted price.
In practice a campaign will likely involve many moves, with each successive move requiring the challenger to recalibrate tactics and sometimes objectives in order to exploit unfolding circumstances. The campaign engine provides the inputs and command reach necessary to make these moves faster and smarter than the larger competitor. The marketer always needs to be thinking at least three moves ahead and to always have a decisive action resulting in sustainable action.
Want to see how we develop a three move set? Send me an email and I will send you back a generic framework we used on a recent engagement.
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