The Art of Marketing & Promotion - How Sun Tzu Can Improve Your Business Success

By Allan P. Sand

This is how Sun Tzu would help you develop and
implement promotional & marketing programs!
Apply the philosophy of war to expanding your business!

2,500 years ago, a Chinese general, Sun Tzu, wrote a treatise titled "The Art of War". It summarized his lifetime experiences of what was important about warfare and battlefield management.

Your success (and even survival) in the business world depends upon effective research, preparation, planning, thinking, and execution of your promotion programs. Inside are the secrets of business success. Gain new insights into how to:

Win against larger, better-funded competitors
Design useful marketing strategies that work
Create effective messages that get results
Design material specifically for target publics
Aggressively improve customer attitudes

Make sure you have a pencil and notepad as you read through this book. There will be much re-evaluation of bedrock doctrine. Many current beliefs are actually ill-considered dogma. You need to document the many tactical ideas and concepts this book will inspire your business mindset.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Allan P. Sand
• Release date: May 5, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476052847

Allan P. Sand

Allan P. Sand Santa Clara, CA [e-mail] PBIA (Professional Billiards Instructor Association) and ACS (American Cue Sports) billiards instructor for ten years. My playing and competitive experience goes back over 50 years. I love the give and take of competitive sports and enjoy helping others improve their playing and thinking skills. The books I have published on Smash Words include: • Psychology of Gamesmanship – How to Manage Mind Games & Tricks – Identifies more than 80 sharks and how to prevent your opponent from using them. Also applicable to other team (football, basketball, soccer) and individual (pool, tennis, darts) sports. • The Art of War versus the Art of Pool – The philosophy of pool as defined by Sun Tzu, the Chinese general who wrote about applied warfare, 2500 years ago. • The Art of Politics & Campaigning - an easy road map to success in competition against others for a valued position. • The Art of Team Coaching - how Sun Tzu would coach coaches, including specifics on team and individual training. • The Art of Personal Competition - how Sun Tzu would guide your development as a team player. • Kitchen God's Guide for Single Guys – a humorous cooking book for bachelors BOOKS that are not available on Smashwords (file size too big): • Table Map Library - free on the billiardgods web site. 3,100+ cue ball paths and patterns. For advanced One Pocket and 9 Ball players. • Drills & Exercises for Pool & Pocket Billiards – progressive practices to improve your game, skills, and abilities. • Safety Toolbox – the defensive tools needed to advance your offensive game. Includes drills, tactics, strategies, and precision ball control drills. • Advanced Cue Ball Control Self-Testing Program – Find out if you are an "A" player now and what it takes to get there. • Cue Ball Control Cheat Sheets – the shortcuts that show how to use precise cue ball speed and spin to get position anywhere on the table. VIDEOS Also available are the following videos, which can be rented or purchased on Amazon and on the billiardgods web site: • Secrets of One Rail Kicks - simple calculations about how to figure out short and long rail kicks to another ball on the table. • Secrets of Shooting with Spin - two techniques that describe how to use side spin on the cue ball (with accuracy). • Kicking to a Bib Ball - open...

Book preview

0 Introduction

This book was written based upon the assumption that you are involved in a business organization. It can be any kind of business, large or small, brick & mortar, internet, local, regional, national, or international. You intend to exchange tangible or intangible services and products for money. If you are the owner or person tasked with the business’s success, study this material to assure greater success. This material is useful regardless of the business and competitive arena.

The Art of War was written by the ancient Chinese general Sun Tzu. It has become the world’s premier guide to students of military planning and battlefield management. When war is studied in depth, this ancient treatise is always at the top of the book list. Sun Tzu detailed the necessary thinking and planning required for an individual or group to prosecute war, in general and in specifics. Included in his presentation is the requirement that a general be able to handle planned and unplanned situations. This flexibility, when combined with the use of gamesmanship, significantly improved the chances to win. His recommendations are proactive and he sternly warns of the consequences of reactive thinking in stressful conditions.

During the last 100 years, many people have applied Sun Tzu’s book on war to sports, politics and, of course, various levels of business. His instructions, considerations, suggestions, and warnings can be directly integrated into offensive and defensive strategies applicable to all business operations from a competitive arena as small as a neighborhood to as large as the entire planet.

Tactics must focus on the many ways to confront competitors, directly or indirectly. The book The Psychology of Losing is highly recommended as a tutorial of tactical tools that can be applied to business operations.

Business truths

Participation in business must be done whole-heartedly with a personal commitment that can continue up to and beyond your personal endurance. Expect to work harder than anyone else. Before committing to this 24/7 effort, prepare yourself. Strengthen the depth of your knowledge, not only what you believe is necessary to succeed, but also the viewpoint of competitors. Develop fundamental business skills in finance, administration, personnel, operations, and distribution. This is an ongoing learning process.

A certain amount of common sense based on life experiences will get some early successes, primarily based on your personal enthusiasm. But that growth spurt cannot carry you through an entire marketing development and expansion campaign. If some early advances are experienced, that is not indicative of the marketing and promotional program’s ultimate success. Plus, there is the very real danger of resting on your laurels. The moment you take a break to celebrate success, that is the moment you set yourself up to lose.

Historical knowledge of your organization’s track record and those of the primary competition is critical. Collect and study the past failures and successes of similar businesses to determine all of the reasons behind the results. Extending these historical studies back 20 and more years will provide valuable and useful knowledge, particularly about tactics that can be adapted in current efforts.

How to study this book

Read the words of The Art of War in ITALIC. The indented commentary will be its particular application to business promotion programs. Consider how the words could make you a better competitor.

There are many levels of understanding buried within the words. How a section is interpreted during the first time it is read will be different on the second, third or fourth reading. It is well worth the time to continuously go through the various chapters on a monthly basis, just to pick up new insights.

Take notes as you read through this book. Highlight sections and segments as their importance to your situations are revealed. Document the many ideas and concepts that will inspire bright ideas. As this material becomes personalized, you will prove to be a more thoughtful individual and a more intelligent businessperson.

The benefits of your dedication provide personal benefits beyond the success of your marketing and promotional career. The daily challenge of problem resolutions and making things go right is a life-long blessing.

Working with advisors/experts

Plenty of advisors are willing to hitch their near-future success to you (as long as they are paid). Other advisors are willing to provide expertise in a mentoring role in many areas from project planning, advertising, publicity, sales, scheduling, and so on. If any of these individuals are brought on board (and as long as you have faith in their competence), maintain a solid working relationship. Follow their suggestions and recommendations with enthusiasm.

It is their responsibility to provide the best information to achieve your purpose and goals. As your efforts (based on their help) bear results, confidence in their competence will increase. Further plans can build upon these foundational successes.

An excellent advisor can assist your mastery of specific business skills. He can guide your understanding of effective approaches and processes. At the very least, he will steer you away from mistakes. Much of his time will be explaining why your bright ideas don’t work. He will push and prod as needed, making sure that his contributions achieve the maximum affect for your marketing and promotional program’s success.

As long as an advisor’s passion for your success is strong, you can be sure that the recommendations will be useful. However, when this enthusiasm fades, it is time to move on. If you have paid attention to the how and why, you won’t need another advisor with that expertise.

01 Calculations

Notes: Quotes from The Art of War by Sun Tzu are shown in italics. The corresponding interpretation is indented and in regular type.

The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one’s deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field. These are:

Moral Law - causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger.

Heaven - signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons.

Earth - comprises distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death.

Commander - stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage and strictness.

Method and discipline - the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the control of military expenditure.

These five heads should be familiar to every general: he who knows them will be victorious; he who knows them not will fail.