There is a lot of nuance in modern marketing strategies and tactics. At a high level, they can be broken down into two distinct categories: offensive vs defensive marketing.
While each category will help your business grow, they focus on different stages of the customer lifecycle.
Let’s dive in!
Offensive Marketing: Customer Acquisition
Offensive marketing strategies are focused on growing your business by acquiring new customers.
Strategies
- The Art of Attraction: This could mean launching innovative products, aggressive pricing strategies, or marketing campaigns that challenge competitors directly.
- Leverage Softness: It involves identifying and capitalizing on competitors’ weaknesses or gaps in the market.
- Risk and Reward: Higher risk can lead to higher rewards. This path involves investment in research, development, and aggressive marketing efforts.
Why?
Being passive in business is not an option. Offensive marketing helps you grow your business by gaining new customers and sends a message of strength and innovation.
How
- Know the Market: Understanding the market and your competitors.
- Innovate: Constantly evolve your products or services to stay ahead.
- Bold Campaigns: Create campaigns that make bold comparisons or offer something markedly different.
Check out our Know Like Trust Playbook for proven tactics to effectively build relationships with prospective customers.
Defensive Marketing: The Art of Customer Retention
Defensive marketing is focused on keeping your current customers and market share.
Strategies
- Customer Centric: Enhancing product quality, customer service, and offering loyalty programs.
- Defensive Innovation: Counteracting competitors’ strategies to negate their impact on your customer base.
- Risk Management: Focus on sustaining and nurturing existing relationships.
Why?
Acquiring a new customer can cost five times more than retaining an existing one. Defensive marketing ensures that your foundational customer base remains strong and satisfied.
How
- Listen to Your Customers: Feedback is gold. Use it to improve your offerings.
- Engage and Reward: Implement loyalty programs and engage with your customers regularly.
- Stay Alert: Watch competitors’ market moves and be ready to respond.
Striking the Right Balance between Offensive vs Defensive Marketing
For small businesses, the key lies in balancing offensive and defensive strategies. While offensive marketing can bring in new customers, defensive marketing focuses on keeping them. Here are a few tips to maintain this balance:
- Allocate Resources Wisely: Depending on your business stage, allocate resources between offensive and defensive tactics.
- Monitor Market Trends: Stay updated with market trends to know when to attack and when to defend.
- Create a Customer-Focused Culture: Always keep customer satisfaction at the core of your business, whether attracting new customers or retaining old ones.
Take Action
Understanding the difference between offensive vs defensive marketing strategies is vital for the growth and sustainability of your small business. Our experienced team of marketing professionals understands the nuance of offensive vs defensive marketing and can help you acquire new customers and keep the ones you have with engaging content, a customer-focused website, search engine optimization, and effective digital advertising campaigns.