When multiple businesses in a market sell the same product, the offensive marketing approach is used; as a result, each business only gets a portion of the market’s total sales for that product category. Every firm has a market share, and any company that goes above and beyond the call of duty to increase its market share in the face of competition by going after the rival’s business plan and capturing its customers is referred to as using an offensive marketing strategy.
The battle Harley-Davidson conducted against motorcycles made in Japan in an attempt to capture a sizable portion of the American market is among the most effective cases of aggressive marketing in history. After almost going bankrupt in the 1960s, Harley Davidson used an aggressive business strategy centered on importing quicker, less expensive motorcycles to take the lead in the market. The business has used the image of a tough-looking man wearing leather and riding a motorcycle to become a symbol for the business. They were able to accomplish this by using attack ads, emphasizing the special qualities of their products while highlighting the shortcomings of their rivals’ offerings.
KeyTakeaways
- Offensive marketing is used to gain market share by attacking competitors directly.
- Harley Davidson successfully employed offensive marketing against Japanese motorcycles in the 1960s.
- The strategy focuses on unique selling propositions and highlighting competitors’ weaknesses.
- Offensive marketing is common in politics and business, targeting competitors’ customers.
- Types of attacks include frontal, flank, bypass, and guerrilla tactics, each with different risk levels and focus.
Table of Contents
What is offensive marketing?
Businesses employ offensive marketing as an approach to take on rivals head-on and increase their market share. This involves identifying and using the competition’s shortcomings while highlighting and promoting one’s advantages. An iconic illustration of an an offensive marketing group would be the soft drink wars, in which Pepsi frequently presents itself as a young, energetic substitute for the more traditional Coca-Cola to win over Coke’s devoted fan base. This aggressive approach aims to lessen the rival’s market presence in addition to raising one’s profile.
Using Offensive Marketing Strategy
A successful offensive marketing approach depends on carefully examining the advantages and disadvantages of a rival and then highlighting the areas in which your products excel. If there are two smartphone manufacturers, for instance, Brand A should not concentrate on matching Brand B’s pricing points. If anything, Brand B’s products fall short when it comes to improved camera technology and longer battery life; instead, Brand A should emphasize these features.
Continuous assessment is necessary to guarantee the success of aggressive digital marketing and strategy. Companies should periodically ask for customer input and track changes in market share to determine the effectiveness of the campaign. This ongoing cycle of review and modification helps improve the approach.
The first step of Offensive marketing
A careful evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of the competition is necessary before launching an aggressive marketing campaign. The basic idea of this first stage is to use the marketing narrative to highlight the shortcomings of competitors while downplaying their advantages.
Businesses that take an aggressive stance in their industry frequently allocate significant resources to:
- Innovation via R&D
- Acquisitions and mergers with a strategic focus
- Making use of cutting-edge technology
- Improving the quality of intellectual property
It is considered bold yet strategically significant to pursue an offensive marketing strategy given the significant investment in these areas.
To get a competitive edge, offensive marketing is a special blueprint of for defensive strategies that can be used alone or in conjunction with other tactics.
Take two smartphone makers competing for supremacy in a technologically advanced metropolis as a relatable example. Manufacturer X needs to change their strategy if they want to outsmart Manufacturer Y and stop mentioning that Manufacturer Y has more affordable solutions. Rather, Manufacturer X ought to draw attention to the cutting-edge features and enhanced performance of their cellphones, quietly suggesting that Manufacturer Y’s offerings lack innovation.
The main goal of this forward-leaning approach is to reduce the market leader’s power, capture a greater portion of the market, and ultimately increase sales.
Defensive Marketing plan
Using a defensive marketing approach, a company can protect its clientele from attempts by rivals to draw them away. To avoid losing money, this involves emphasizing the unique advantages and dependability of its products. Businesses should carefully monitor competitor marketing tactics, get customer input on these advertising campaigns beforehand, and keep an eye on any shifts in their market share to evaluate the effectiveness of their defensive measures to effectively counter competitor advances. For instance, to keep consumers when a competitor launches a new product, a business should emphasize the superior quality and after-sales support of its offering.
The simple idea of offensive marketing
In essence, offensive marketing is a tactic where businesses actively look to obtain an advantage by highlighting their advantages and focusing on the shortcomings of their rivals. Businesses in sporting industries that are directly competing with one another frequently use this strategy to gain important clients, a larger portion of the market, or a more solid place in the industry.
For instance, when a new smartphone brand discovers that its rivals’ models have short battery lives, it may concentrate its marketing efforts on emphasizing how long-lasting its own devices are, thus taking aim at the competitor’s shortcomings.
At its core, offensive marketing is about taking advantage of opportunities in markets where your competitors may not be as strong and being aggressive to create sales opportunities that to make your brand stand out.
How does an offensive marketing plan work?
An offensive marketing approach highlights the benefits of one’s products while drawing attention to the drawbacks of competitors’ products. During the most offensive marketing campaign, businesses should continue to monitor changes in the market.
Analyzing the success of a campaign like this requires keeping an eye on aggressive marketing strategies and conducting focused surveys to collect input from consumers. For instance, highlight a new smartphone’s special features—like a self-healing screen or a revolutionary battery life—that set it apart from the competition while gently drawing attention to the shortcomings of popular companies’ most recent models. This is preferable to comparing it to an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy.
What is the best time for a marketer to invest in Offensive Marketing?
The best time to implement an aggressive marketing plan depends on identifying particular market conditions that require an active response. This could occur when trying to break into new market niches or when stepping up attempts to win over current customers. For example, introducing a cutting-edge product line to bridge a void left by rivals, or reaching out to clients who have demonstrated declining levels of involvement.
Benefits of Investing in Offensive Marketing
- In today’s competitive company environment, spending money on offensive marketing gives you a strategic advantage. The following are the advantages of using such a strategy:
- Tech-Forward Supply Chain: Optimize your supply chain for increased efficiency by utilizing state-of-the-art technologies.
- Brand Growth: To effectively promote new products and grow your brand, use offensive marketing.
- Product Perception: To gain influence, control, and shape how the public sees the attributes of your product.
- Consumer Quickness: To increase demand and promote sales, create a sense of need in your target market.
Difference between Defensive and Offensive Marketing
Any firm must know the difference between offensive and defensive marketing, especially for those of you hoping to develop a winning market strategy in highly competitive industries and services.
Offensive Marketing
Businesses looking to expand into new markets or gain market share use strong marketing campaigns and techniques. With an aggressive and proactive approach, the goal of this strategy is to quickly capture the market and establish a strong presence. Here are some common strategies that are employed:
- Direct Challenge: A business may use comparative marketing to draw attention to the shortcomings of rivals, significantly lower pricing, or improve product characteristics. Attention-grabbing illegal marketing strategies work well for tiny businesses looking to expand quickly.
- Acquisition: Larger businesses may choose to acquire smaller rivals to establish a presence quickly and obtain access to new markets and customers.
- Pre-emption: There are benefits to being the first in a market. Early entrants can create obstacles for later entrants by securing the finest operational locations, developing strong supplier ties, and acquiring excellent client bases.
- End-run Strategy: Companies look for undiscovered markets or industries to enter while avoiding direct competition and keeping an open mind.
Defensive Marketing
To keep their market share and keep up with the development of new competitors, established businesses must employ misleading marketing techniques. This is how they usually protect their grass:
- Pricing Adaptation: Businesses may change their prices to match those of their rivals to maintain market share and stay competitive.
- Exclusivity: By obtaining exclusive agreements with important distributors or suppliers, insiders can keep their advantage by preventing rivals from accessing vital resources or distribution networks.
- Enhanced Service: When rivals attempt to undercut with price cuts or new features, enhancing after-sales care or extending warranties can set a company apart.
- Feature Addition: Adding cutting-edge features or improvements can make a product stand out and fend off advances made by rivals.
- Proactive Advertising: Effective marketing initiatives can restore consumer confidence and demonstrate a company’s dedication to the market, which in turn strengthens consumer brand loyalty.
Example of offensive marketing
In this print advertisement, Burger King directly challenges McDonald’s. Americans were using Japanese goods, which they described as being affordable, quick, and stylish. The Harley-Davidson firm chose to launch a strong advertising effort and win market share by concentrating only on its own USP and avoiding lower-priced competitors.
Not just in the corporate world, but also in politics during new elections, we can observe the aggressive marketing strategy of political campaigns. To win over their opponents’ votes, politicians are always trying to organize assaults on their rivals.
This approach applies to all kinds of businesses, including huge corporations and small- to medium-sized enterprises. The sole requirement for an organization to utilize this strategy is that it must be in direct competition with another. Furthermore, the approach concentrates on attracting clients who are unsure about which products to devote to or who already favor a rival business.
This tactic might be viewed as complicated because it must convey the benefits of its goods while also being aware of the advantages and disadvantages of those of its rivals. Therefore, determining the benefits and drawbacks of competitors is the first stage in implementing this kind of plan.
Businesses should actively monitor the results of offensive marketing campaigns and initiatives and ask clients about their opinions of the campaign to assess the strategy’s consequences for their firm.
In addition to Harley Davidson, many other companies have effectively used the aggressive marketing approach, like Samsung versus Apple and Pepsi versus Coca-Cola. The Top 12 Marketing Rivals is a great article about brands doing the same.
Types of Attacks in Offensive Marketing Strategy
The use of direct and indirect attacks is additionally implied by the strategy. The various forms of attacks are listed and explained in the sections that follow.
- Frontal attack: Launch an attack using comparable goods, distribution, quality assurance, and price. It is seen as extremely dangerous unless the attacker has a distinct advantage. Similarly, the emphasis is on the advantages over the disadvantages of the competition.
- Flank attack: Attacking the rival from their blind spot or weak point is known as a flank attack. Since the opponent cannot defend, it takes the path of least resistance, making it less dangerous compared to the previous type of attack.
- Bypass attack: Also referred to as the “leapfrog” technique, it involves overcoming rivals through the introduction of novel tactics and product diversification.
- Guerrilla attack: A quick hit-and-run strategy used to weaken the opposition. The attacks might appear in several ways.
Market challenger techniques and those mentioned tactics are highly comparable to offensive competitive strategies. The primary goals of the offensive approach are to gain market share, unseat the leader, and increase sales.
What Makes Offensive Strategy Successful?
To succeed with a forceful strategy, companies need to introduce unique and creative products to the market quickly. The secret to beating rivals is to offer a strong substitute before they do. Maintaining a strong emergency strategy and sufficient production resources protects your competitive advantage. But watch out—the benefits of innovation are frequently short-lived, as competitors may soon introduce comparable products. The company’s flexibility in strategy and depth of resources are critical to its success.
Conclusion
Using offensive marketing, a business boldly aims to increase its market share by taking direct aim at rivals, emphasizing its distinct benefits while drawing attention to its shortcomings. Companies such as Harley Davidson, which in the 1960s revived its brand and dominated the market by focusing on the flaws of Japanese motorcycles, have used this tactic to great effect. Politicians also use many offensive marketing strategies to try to win over followers of their rivals, so it is not just a problem for businesses. The attack techniques included in the plan include guerrilla, flank, frontal, and bypass, each with a distinct focus and degree of risk. Through thorough competitor analysis and ongoing campaign impact tracking, businesses can destabilize market leaders and drive their expansion.
Liked this post? Check out the complete series on Marketing
