Click the blue text above to follow "FMCG Distributor Professional Consulting" for more marketing and distributor management insights.

The essence of marketing is war, where the enemy is the competitor and the customer is the territory to be captured.

In war, the battlefield is crucial, and battles are often named after the location, such as the Normandy landings or the Battle of Tai'erzhuang. Similarly, in regional markets, different market positioning corresponds to different strategic forms and tactical approaches.

Trout, the world's top marketing strategist, based on the concept of "marketing warfare," proposed four basic modes of marketing strategy: defensive warfare, offensive warfare, flanking warfare, and guerrilla warfare.

Defensive warfare is typically adopted by regional market leaders, while direct offensive warfare can only be initiated when a company has grown to become the second or third player in the region. Other companies, in most cases, can only resort to flanking or guerrilla warfare.

In real marketing, many marketers ignore the lessons of military warfare and adopt head-on confrontational tactics against competitors, resulting in more losses than wins. Especially when there is a significant gap in strength, the weaker side must adopt flanking attacks if they want to attack; otherwise, they can only find a hill to fight guerrilla warfare.

Let's discuss the flanking and guerrilla warfare mainly used in regional market battles.

I. Flanking Warfare

The essence of flanking warfare is a strategy of using minimal force to achieve maximum effect, seeking and seizing market opportunities and timing, creating differentiation, avoiding direct confrontation with leaders, and using indirect tactics to capture new high ground.

Three principles of flanking warfare:

Principle 1: A successful flanking attack should be like entering an unguarded territory.

Anhui Golden Seed Winery is a listed company with substantial financial resources. However, facing intense competition in Anhui liquor (mainly focused on the government and business price band above 60 yuan), they had to avoid direct competition and adopt a flanking strategy. They focused on the mid-to-low-end mainstream price band and targeted second- and third-tier markets (for example, Xianghe 35 was 50 yuan, and prices have increased with consumption upgrades), achieving absolute monopoly in many second- and third-tier markets. Their sales in 18 counties in Anhui exceeded 100 million yuan.

As we all know, there are many liquor brands in Anhui, with fierce competition and similar tactics, and they were the earliest adopters of the "disk-in-disk" model.

In such a fiercely competitive Anhui liquor camp, how did a new brand with no history or brand genes, Jinyuwan Liquor, stand out?

As a new enterprise and new brand, they had to consider how to avoid suppression by strong brands while quickly gaining consumer recognition when entering the market.

Mr. Duan Zhaofa, the helm of Jinyuwan Liquor, led his team to meticulously study the market and devised a flanking strategy suitable for their situation: to do what big companies are unwilling to do and small companies cannot do—the low-end price band of 10-30 yuan. In this price band, there were no strong Anhui liquor brands, and foreign brands had not yet deeply penetrated the Anhui market, creating a price gap and market opportunity.

Once the attack strategy was accurately positioned, combined with flexible and innovative marketing tactics such as unique packaging design, various promotional methods, and localized strategies for each region and store, Jinyuwan quickly became a shining star in Anhui liquor, with sales once exceeding 300 million yuan.

As we all know, the mainstream consumption price band for Anhui liquor is still concentrated in the 60-108 yuan range. In this price band, Gujing, Kouzi, Yingjia, Gaolu, and Wanjiu are fighting fiercely, with terminal and consumer "disk-in-disk" investments without regard for cost. For a new enterprise and new brand, entering this price band is like snatching food from a tiger's mouth.

Principle 2: A rapid, focused, and fierce tactical surprise is another key to flanking attacks.

A good flanking attack should be launched in an area with no competition, quickly, focused, and fiercely seizing the high ground before competitors react.

Back then, when Gaolujia Liquor launched its "disk-in-disk" operation in core hotels in Hefei, they found that A-class hotels were basically blocked by Kouzijiao, making it difficult to find enough A-class terminals to start the "small disk." Even if there were enough A-class hotels, they would face a strong counterattack from Kouzijiao, leading to a bloody battle where the weaker side would inevitably lose. Smart Gaolujia marketers, after market research, found a new market gap and launched a strategy using "B-class popular hotels" as the "small disk" to start the market. They moved quickly, focused, and fiercely, and by the time Kouzijiao reacted, Gaolujia had basically bought out enough B-class popular stores. "B-class popular hotels" refer to medium-sized hotels that, due to their unique characteristics, have a long-term, stable base of high-quality consumers. These hotels' business relies not on their storefront image or scale but on their distinctive dishes. For example, "Haihuangge" in Hefei is famous for its old duck soup, and "Jiutouniao" in Beijing is popular for its Hubei cuisine. These stores are not large, but local "core opinion leaders" often dine there.

Huaguan Liquor in Heze, Shandong, when attacking a market, would choose a concentrated dining area and focus resources on creating a model street to drive the development of the entire market. Taking Liangshan County in Jining, Shandong as an example, in 2009, the market was almost monopolized by the local Liangshan Yi Liquor Factory. After entering, Huaguan selected 20 concentrated dining areas, exploited the competitors' rough management in these places, invested its advantageous resources, and through refined terminal operations and sales promotion activities, built brand advantages, gradually driving the development of the entire Liangshan market. Today, Liangshan County has become Huaguan's model market in Jining, with annual sales exceeding 50 million yuan.

Principle 3: Persistence is as important as the attack itself.

Clausewitz said, "Without pursuit, there is no fruitful victory." Many companies easily shift strategies after success; there are too many such companies. After achieving initial marketing goals, they invest resources elsewhere and stop making continued efforts. This is a mistake, especially in flanking movements.

Jinyuwan Liquor, relying on its low-end positioning flanking strategy, quickly achieved remarkable results. However, due to a lack of persistence, they diverted efforts to attack the mid-to-high-end market, resulting in an awkward situation where they lost the low-end market and failed in the mid-to-high-end, nearly losing all markets.

The Laonijiao product of Jilin Diaoyutai Brewing Company, when entering the Baoding market, adopted three extremely simple marketing tactics: first, three products meticulously done in B/C-class dining terminals; second, a consumer promotion of "buy one case, get one case free"; third, stacking boxes outside the store and displaying at the bar inside. After a year of persistence, they not only created a strong brand influence but also brought in sales of over 10 million yuan, laying a good foundation for later entry into circulation and county market recruitment. Now, Laonijiao's county market recruitment is going very well. This is the power of persistence and the charm of a model. Many companies, due to weak willpower, frequently adjust their strategies and tactics, causing market chaos and failing to attract consumer and merchant attention.

Always remember, in marketing warfare, flanking warfare is the most innovative form of attack. Any major marketing victory where the weak defeats the strong has the shadow of flanking warfare.

II. Guerrilla Warfare

The core strategy of guerrilla warfare is to find a niche market small enough to defend, such as choosing a county or township in terms of region, or locking onto the group-buying/wedding market in terms of product segmentation.

The purpose of guerrilla warfare is to minimize the battlefield to gain numerical advantage, to be "a big fish in a small pond," such as dominating a township market or a specific channel.

Guerrilla warfare is a strategy of survival and development, requiring flexibility, quick decision-making, and concentration of forces. Resist the temptation to disperse forces, or disaster will follow.

While serving a liquor factory in Anhui, I noticed that a Sichuan company called Xiaojiaolou Liquor Factory was doing very well in many township markets in a certain county, almost monopolizing them, which piqued my interest.

Research revealed that the distributor for Xiaojiaolou, lacking strength and with limited factory support, found it difficult to start directly from the county seat or with mid-to-high-end products, as both require significant resources. Due to resource constraints, the distributor chose a township where he had rich local connections and started with mid-to-low-end liquor. Since the product had no brand awareness and lacked funds for advertising, the distributor adopted a strategy of selling on credit with payment after sale, frequently held free tasting events, and offered exclusive distribution rights to hotel terminal owners based on their preferences, greatly stimulating their enthusiasm to push the product. Within six months, Xiaojiaolou products were selling strongly in that township. Then, the distributor selected a larger town, found a local sub-distributor, and leveraged the sub-distributor's network and resources to start operating the second township market. By breaking through township by township, the number of mature township markets grew, and the distributor's life became comfortable with more available funds. Due to the radiation and influence of the townships, many urban terminals began to proactively seek cooperation with the Xiaojiaolou distributor.

In Hefei, there is a wedding supplies chain called Hefei Xiqingfang, which is now the largest in East China, the first in Anhui, and the earliest professional sales enterprise in Hefei specializing in wedding liquor, candy, and famous liquor distribution. But in its early days, General Manager Zhang Zhichun, being an outsider with limited financial resources and connections, had to focus on a market segment that others were unwilling to invest in, which was his survival cake. Thus, the wedding banquet channel became his core entry point. In just one year, Zhang achieved that in the Hefei market, any newlywed couple knew it was convenient and cheap to buy liquor at Xiqingfang. During the wedding peak season, daily sales of liquor products from his store were around 100,000 yuan. Zhang said that thanks to the effective early work, he is now very relaxed. To facilitate delivery, Xiqingfang has opened three stores in Hefei, and Zhang plans to have five. Zhang is very clear that his target is the 50,000 couples who get married in Hefei each year, so attracting their attention is his full-time job.

In marketing warfare, out of every 100 companies, only 1 should fight defensive warfare, 2 offensive warfare, 3 flanking warfare, and 94 should fight guerrilla warfare.

Therefore, for most weak enterprises, most regions should adopt a "guerrilla warfare penetration strategy," with flanking attacks in local areas. Expand overall, shrink locally, and win relative competitive advantages.

Like this article? Feel free to share it to your Moments by clicking the top right corner.

About us: WeChat ID: FMCG Distributor Professional Consulting Management Account intro: 20 years of FMCG distributor operation and management experience, professionally matching distributor internal needs: We understand distributors better than manufacturers, and we understand internal management better than distributors. Senior marketing experts help your business grow.

Learning and exchange QQ groups:

Group 1: 344257092 (full) ** Group 2: 231512457** Click "Read the original" below to enter our micro-community for interactive communication and questions.