A situation today has powerfully reinforced negative stereotypes most Americans have of Liberal Democrats... continued at Citizen Strategist
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ABOUT VSENTE
- ABOUT VSENTE
vSente is a marketing campaigning consultancy. We execute campaigns for a global clientele via a proprietary campaiging methodology based upon maneuver theory. We wage and win battles for market share - specifically from the vantage point of smaller competitors challenging a market leader. Market share battles can be a lucrative source of cash flow if properly staged. The key feature of market share battles is the absence of innovation risk. The battle takes place for existing customers with established products and services. How does the smaller enterprise win a market share war against larger better provisioned competitors? By shaping and exploiting mismatched competencies faster and smarter than competing forces. If you would like to learn more about our methodology click here to download a free PDF preview. The introduction describes more about the application of maneuver theory to marketing campaigning. In addition to executing Campaigns vSente offers two-day Mobilizations, and is also the host for the Armory the on-line resource for the competitive marketer.
John Boyd's O-O-D-A Loop
John Boyd articulates the secret to successful campaigning. Boyd's O-O-D-A Loop and thoughts on organic command and control should be mastered by all marketers. Boyd's phrase is best - "unraveling the competition." This is true whether the Loop is applied in combat, in competitive business practices, in sports, or in personal relationships. Click here to read more on the use of O-O-D-A Loop..
Defining Marketing, Strategy, Campaigning...
Defining words like marketing, strategy, campaigning, etc. can become a tedious affair. Here is a series of commentaries on practical definitions that CEO's and CMO's will find approachable. Click here to read more on defining marketing, strategy, etc..
Critical Look At Blue Ocean Strategy
Blue Ocean Strategy - How to Create Uncontested Market Space And Make The Competition Irrelevent is one of the most successfull business books in recent times. Click here to read several different Blue Ocean critiques..
Recommended Reading
- Most marketers used to the bright colors, short lists and pretty pictures of Seth Godin, Tom Peters and Guy Kawasaki will find this list daunting to say the least. Which is why the list forms a golden opportunity for those marketers with the hearty appetite necessary to devour the contents. While most of your competitors are trying to paint cows purple - you'll be out kicking ass.
MARKETING: STRATEGY
Sun Tzu- The Art of War Shambhala/Thomas Cleary version.WHY MARKETERS SHOULD READ: Because Sun Tuz is the ultimate marketing strategist. Learn how to win without fighting. And when you do have to fight - how to kick ass and win.
MONEY QUOTE: Therefore use these assessments for comparison, to find out what the conditions are. That is to say which political leadership has the Way? Which general has the ability? Who has the better climate and terrain? Whose discipline is effective? Whose troops are stronger? whose officers and soldiers are the better trained? Whose system of rewards and punishments clearer? This is how can know who will win. (Pg. 46)
MARKETING: TACTICS
Machiavelli - The Prince Mentor Book's version with forward by Christian Gauss.
WHY MARKETERS SHOULD READ: Because Machiavelli delivers a great primer on dealing with unethical tactics - like blog swarms, short sellers, social activists, corrupt competitors, media relations, etc.MONEY QUOTE: A new prince has never been known to disarm his subjects, on the contrary, when he has found them disarmed he has always armed them, for by arming them, these arms become your own, those that you suspected become faithful, and those that were faithful remain so, and from being merely subjects become your partisans. (Pg. 105)
MARKETING: CAMPAIGNING
The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War Robert Coram's biography of John Boyd.
WHY MARKETERS SHOULD READ: Because Boyd articulates the secret to successful campaigning. Boyd's O-O-D-A Loop and thoughts on organic command and control should be mastered by all marketers.MONEY QUOTE: For a time, Boyd and Spinney were reluctant to fully explain the O-O-D-A Loop; it was far too dangerous. If someone truly understands how to create menace and uncertainty and mistrust, then how to exploit and magnify the presence of these disconcerting elements, the Loop can be vicious, a terribly destructive force, virtually unstoppable in causing panic and confusion and - Boyd's phrase is best - "unraveling the competition." This is true whether the Loop is applied in combat, in competitive business practices, in sports, or in personal relationships. (Pg. 334)
MARKETING: CRISIS
The Second World War, Volume 2: Their Finest Hour Winston Churchill's WWII chronicles.
WHY MARKETERS SHOULD READ: Because everything you read today about crisis management is wrong. Churchill's personal experiences leading up to and during WWII provide a practical foundation for dealing with crisis.MONEY QUOTE: There never was an occasion when powers were abrogated or challenged, and anyone in this circle could always speak his mind; but the actual war direction soon settled into a very few hands, and what seemed so difficult before became much more simple - apart of course, from Hitler. In spite of the turbulence of events and the many disasters we had to endure, the machinery worked almost automatically, and one lived in a stream of coherent thought capable of being translated with great rapidity into executive action. (Pg. 17)
MARKETING FUNDAMENTALS
Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors Michael Porter's classic.WHY MARKETERS SHOULD READ: Porter provides a fundamental primer on competition including practical tools and techniques that are even more important today than they were 25 years ago.
MONEY QUOTES: One broad approach is to use superior resources and capabilities to force an outcome skewed toward the interest of the firm, overcoming and outlasting retaliation - we might call this brute force approach. This sort of approach is possible only if the firm possesses clear superiorities, and it is stable only as long as the firm maintains these superiorities, and as long as competitors do not misread them and incorrectly attempt to change their positions. (Pg. 91)
Campaign Wizards
The campaign wizards are specialized tools designed to help develop individual campaign elements like strategy and tactics or to quickly assess the potential of your campaign. All wizards are Excel worksheets or workbooks. Click to download any of the wizards.
QUICKLY DETERMINE THE POTENTIAL SUCCESS OF A CAMPAIGN
Use the Campaign BOT
wizard for a quick (couple of minutes), down and dirty assessment of
the potential success of your campaign. The Campaign Bot is a simple
rubric that measures your strengths relative to your primary competitor
and weighted according to the Campaign Bot indicates a potential
success then proceed with planning your campaign. Click to download.
IN-DEPTH BATTLE SCREENER IDENTIFIES POTENTIAL AVENUES FOR A CAMPAIGN
The Campaign SCREEN
is a comprehensive version of the BattleBot offering more questions and
greater sensitivity generating a more accurate indication of the
potential for a successful campaign. Use the Campaign Screen if the
results from the Campaign Bot are inconclusive. Click to download.
HOW TO ANALYZE AND EXPLOIT COMPETITOR VULNERABILITIES
The Campaign COG
wizard generates an in-depth competitive analysis resulting in the
identification of your competitors primary vulnerability (center of
gravity). Use the Campaign COG to better understand and exploit your
competitive strengths relative to your competitor weaknesses. The
Campaign COG includes an interactive set of step-by-step instructions. Click to download.
20 CAMPAIGN SIGNALS - ARE YOU SIGNALING OR IS YOUR COMPETITION?
The Campaign SIGNALS
wizard describes 20 signals a competitor may demonstrate indicating
potential vulnerabilities. An example of a potential campaign signal is
a competitor launching an expensive high profile strategic branding
campaign which then makes them vulnerable to low profile direct
marketing campaigns. Why? Traditional branding theory advocates the
need for a consistent message broadcast over time. So while your
competitor is waiting for the branding to "work" you're already at work
taking market share. Click to download.
SEVEN FUNDAMENTAL BUILDING BLOCKS OF KILLER COMPETITIVE STRATEGY
The Campaign STRATEGY
wizard describes seven fundamental building blocks of strategy with
specific examples. These seven building blocks are price, quality,
service, features, infrastructure, relationships and execution.
Strategy is the enabler between ends and means. The ends represent the
objective. The means includes enterprise resources, competencies, etc.
In order for strategy to perform this enabling function it needs to be
effective, comprehensible and executable. An example of strategy would
be for the challenger to attack a leaders premium price, with their own
premium pricing (NOT discount pricing!) in tandem with superior
quality, features or reputation. Click to download.
54 TACTICS TO SELECT FROM IN BUILDING YOUR OWN PLAN OF CAMPAIGN.
The Campaign TACTICS wizard is designed to provide a catalyst to drive strategy and tactics. This wizard is based upon Robert Cantrells innovative Strategy Card Deck
and describes 54 different strategies and tactics. Each strategy has a
one line description, an explanation of the strategy, the basis for the
strategy and a potential tactical application. Click to download.
DETERMINING ASYMMETRICAL ADVANTAGES - WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE COMPETITION CHEATS.
Campaign SYMMETRIES
indicate the "fairness" of your campaign. Some competitors are willing
to go further than others in order to win a battle. A battle between
two competitors with essentially comparable offering, infrastructure,
relationships and execution, and, committed to playing by an
established set of rules, can be considered a symmetrical conflict.
When a competitor resorts to breaking or bending the rules, and you are
unwilling to match their tactics, then you have the makings of an
asymmetrical conflict, a battle you will likely lose. The Campaign
SYMMETRIES wizard provide a gauge by which to measure the symmetry of
your battle for market share. Click to download.
Case Study: $10 Million to $50 Million...
This is a case study for a campaign that increased sales from $10 million a month to $50 million a month in 60 days. This campaign was executed back in 1997-98 but it still serves today as an interesting example of the impact maneuver theory can have on marketing campaigning. It's really quite interesting in that back in 1997 we were urging the client, Syquest, to adopt a business model that would later be embraced by Steve Jobs and Apple - the iPod/iTunes model. Click here to download the case study.
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