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Any type of defense is built in accordance with the basic principle, which is to create an ultra-reliable defense of its territory. Between the wars, France built the impregnable Maginot Line to protect the state from a possible encroachment by the Germans. But Germany refused a direct assault and went around. Military strategists are unanimous in their opinion: any static defense is bound to fail.
From a purely defensive standpoint, a company is shortsighted from a marketing standpoint. Consider Henry Ford obsessed with his Model T. Due to his limited policies, the largest enterprise, with an annual income of more than $1 billion, almost went bankrupt.
Even such market leaders as The Coca-Cola Company, as well as Bayer's Aspirin, cannot be considered as a guaranteed long-term source of development and income. Coca-Cola currently sells over 50% of all soft drinks in the world. But, despite this, he buys companies specializing in the production of fruit drinks. In this way, it diversifies production. A firm that is attacked by competitors takes a big risk by reinforcing its existing product.
Flank protection.The market leader is forced not only to strengthen the borders of the territory, but also to protect its most vulnerable areas. The peculiarity of the defense is that these places can be used to switch to a counterattack and transfer military operations to enemy territory.
Flank defense is especially important if the tactics are well developed. General Motors and Ford did not attach much importance to quality training, making a big mistake. These enterprises did not take the attack of Japanese and European manufacturers seriously, but formally treated the development of compact Vega and Pinto models. Subcompact American-made cars could not be called very high quality. At the same time, they cost about the same as Japanese ones. As a result, the US car market was captured by Japanese manufacturers for a certain time. Do not understand how find people for free, learn more by clicking on the link.
Preemptive defensive actions.If you do not want to take a passive position, strike your opponent with a preemptive strike first. Supporters of this tactic are sure that timely prevention is better than further long-term treatment.
An enterprise can use several methods to create proactive protection. Carry out combat reconnaissance along the entire front: hit one opponent, attack another, frighten the third, thus knocking them out of their usual working rut.
Later on, you can go on the offensive across the board, following the example of Seiko, which once offered 2,300 watch models to distributors around the world, or launch price attacks, like Texas Instruments.
If the developed promotions are successful, then the entrepreneurial marketing strategy of the business, based on preemptive defense, maintains a high level of competitiveness.
The nature of pre-emptive defense is often purely psychological, when the market leader warns opponents against ill-conceived attacks. Suppose a large construction company in Berlin leads the market. Whenever she hears about competitors' plans to expand operations and lower prices for properties, she leaks her intentions to provide large discounts on the purchase of real estate and the opening of new branches. Opponents learn the information and are afraid to enter into an unequal struggle, and the leading company quietly works on.
Counterattack.Most of the organizations that occupy the leading positions in the market prefer the tactics of oncoming combat, that is, they respond to attacks with attacks. In their opinion, passive surveillance is not the best solution, and one should not calmly look at falling prices, blitzkriegs of promotions, product improvements, or attacks on distribution channels.
Northwest Airlines has a flight - one of the most cost-effective - from Minneapolis to Atlanta. A rival organization launched an attack by significantly reducing ticket prices and organizing an extensive marketing campaign. In response, Northwest cut prices on the Minneapolis-Chicago flight, the most profitable for the competitor company. Fearing to lose the main source of income, the attacking side returned the tickets to their previous cost.
A counterattack often also takes the form of an economic or political blockade of a competitor. The leader can subsidize lower prices for certain categories of goods (usually the most profitable ones) at the expense of other products, or announce the planned release of a new product so that people stop buying from the opponent.
It also happens that the executive or legislature lobbies for actions that are disadvantageous to a competitor.
mobile defense.This entrepreneurial business marketing strategy is not limited to border protection. It involves spreading the influence of the leader into new territories and establishing a base for subsequent attacks or the creation of defensive structures.
To expand the boundaries, the enterprise not only distributes the trademark. It enlarges and diversifies markets, allowing for greater strategic depth and resilience against adversaries.
In accordance with the expansion of the market environment, the company ceases to focus on a particular product. She begins to closely study the needs that satisfy the category of the product as a whole, conducts research and development work throughout the entire technological chain. Thus, enterprises producing gasoline began to call themselves “energy”, which required immersion in related areas of the oil, coal, hydropower, nuclear and chemical industries.
In line with an active market expansion strategy, the company adheres to two key military principles. The first is setting goals (clear and achievable goals). The second is the principle of concentration (it is necessary to concentrate efforts on the weakest areas of the enemy).
It is not necessary to abstractly formulate the task for the enterprise: to run the energy business. Running such a business involves activities aimed at satisfying not one need, but several (heating, lighting, etc.). Due to the multiplicity of goals resulting from a broad interpretation, the enterprise, in preparing for battles, ceases to follow what competitors are doing.
Marketing myopia replaces marketing myopia. That is, the firm focuses on the future to the detriment of what is happening in reality.
You can reasonably expand the market. While Armstrong World Industries previously referred to its business as carpeting, it now produces decorative home coverings to meet customer needs for aesthetically pleasing interiors using a variety of materials.
Another way to create strategic depth of defense is to diversify the market by invading areas that are not related to each other. When US tobacco manufacturers Reynolds and Philip Morris faced smoking restrictions, they didn't even try to be on the defensive. Companies went the other way: they began buying up food companies that produce beer, frozen foods and soft drinks. Many people think about fast people search free, learn more about it.
Forced reduction.It happens that large-scale enterprises understand that their resources do not allow them to reliably protect themselves from competitors, while the rival, meanwhile, is attacking on several fronts.
In this situation, it is best to resort to a planned reduction (strategically withdraw). We are only talking about withdrawing from territories that are impossible and unjustified to defend. The most optimal solution is to concentrate resources on promising areas.
The planned cuts are resorted to in order to consolidate competitive production and focus on solving clearly formulated tasks.
In recent years, such a marketing strategy has been successfully used by Heinz, General Mills, Del Monte, General Electrics.
Challenger firms favor offensive strategies over leaders.
There are a lot of examples when enterprises wishing to lead in their industry have successfully won back positions from market leaders. Thus, the position of Canon, which in the mid-70s of the 20th century occupied only 1/10 of Xerox, is now more profitable than that of the former leader in the production of copiers. Toyota today produces more cars than General Motors. Nikon makes more cameras than Leica. British Airways carries more passengers on international flights than the once-leading Pan American.
The applicant is strong in that he sets himself a high goal and directs resources to achieve it. As for the market leader, he does the day-to-day chores. The most intense competition between competitors and the most intense price wars are in the areas with the highest fixed costs, where significant R&D expenditures are required and primary demand is stable: in the chemical, automotive, paper, metallurgy and industrial sectors.
Now let's look at the competitive attacking marketing strategies in international business used by companies that are contending for leadership.
First of all, offensive strategies differ in goals.
Attack on the position of the market leader. The strategy is associated with rather high risks. However, it can give the best results, especially if the market leader is performing poorly.
First, the applicant must find out what buyers need and how satisfied their needs are. The ideal target for an attack is a large market segment that is either not served by the leader, or buyers are not satisfied with the quality of its product or service. Miller's Lite Beer was extremely popular, as the low-calorie, unsaturated beer appealed to so many people.
An alternative strategy is understood as the capture of the leader segment with the help of a fundamentally new product. For example, Xerox was able to conquer the copier market when it announced its innovative copying technology. Canon took a significant share from Xerox by introducing portable devices to the audience.
An attack on similarly sized competing companies that are unable to fully meet the needs of the market, which are in a difficult financial situation, produce goods that are not in demand due to inflated prices or low technical characteristics.
An attack on small local and regional companies that are in financial difficulty and unable to meet the requirements of customers. For example, large-scale breweries have been gaining market share mainly through “guppies”—local breweries—with little or no overlap with serious competitors.
Once the goals are set, the company should choose one of five marketing strategies:
Frontal attack.A frontal offensive is a concentrated strike by the main forces against the strongest positions of the enemy. The one who has more resources and a stronger spirit wins the fight. The rival steps on the product, and on advertising activities, and on prices.
According to the principle of strength, the one with the most customers wins the fight. This principle needs to be adjusted if the opponent has the advantage of a higher density of fire or convenient positions on the battlefield (dug in on commanding heights).
According to the military, the principle that a successful frontal attack implies a threefold superiority of the attacker in manpower and fire power is an axiom. Otherwise, the offensive is a sure road to death.
Relatively recently, a Brazilian razor company tried to dislodge Gillette from its leadership position on all fronts. The company was asked if it would offer the market better blades, to which a negative response followed. Then they asked about the price - will it be lower? No. “Maybe you will hold a grandiose advertising campaign?”. And again no. “Will you give big discounts to wholesalers?”. There will be no discounts. "Do you have a secret weapon?" To which the company finally answered in the affirmative: “Yes, we are striving for victory!”. Needless to say, her aspirations were not crowned with success?
An alternative to a frontal attack can be its modified version - a price war.
Lowering the cost of a product will bring good results if:
The second method is based on large financial investments by the attacking side in the modernization of technologies, aimed at reducing production costs and further falling prices. Companies in Japan are especially good at pursuing such a marketing policy.
flank attack.The bottom line is that the strongest units of the defending side are concentrated along the front in the expected directions of offensive strikes. As a rule, the flanks are weaker fortified, and therefore are excellent objects for the offensive.
War is waged according to the modern principle of concentrating strength against weakness. The advancing side can defiantly attack the opponent in the center of defense in order to draw his most combat-ready units onto himself, and prepare a real breakthrough of the front on the flank.
Such an offensive can be called a manifestation of true marketing intuition. It is usually used by enterprises with limited resources. If the attacking side understands that it will not overcome the opponent in a frontal attack, one can only hope for the ability to maneuver.
Depending on the direction, the flank offensive can be geographical and segmental. The first assumes that the attacking side activates activity in subjects where the enemy is inactive. For example, IBM's competitors, namely Honeywell, established representative offices in medium and small American cities, where the company was passive.
Segmentation attack implies that the market leader identifies unmet customer needs. This business marketing strategy has been successfully implemented by Japanese automakers who captured the booming market for fuel-efficient cars, as well as by Miller Brewing, which pioneered the production of low-calorie light beer.
A flanking strategy is tantamount to the ability to identify and satisfy customer needs as a result of shifts in market segments and the development of new strong industries. In contrast to the fierce struggle between enterprises competing with each other in the same territory, a highly effective flanking attack makes it possible to better meet the needs of buyers.
Flanking is the best attack in today's marketing philosophy that the goal of marketing is to identify and satisfy customer needs. Of course, it is much more effective than the frontal one.
Encirclement attempt.The company advances in several directions at once: along the front, from the flank, from the rear. The attacking side offers the market the same as the opponent, but a little more so that the buyer cannot refuse. An attempt to surround the enemy is reasonable only if there are significant resources, and a surprise attack will take the opponent by surprise, which will deprive him of the opportunity to defend himself.
bypass maneuver.This entrepreneurial business marketing strategy has the goal of attacking more accessible markets and thereby expanding the resource pool of the advancing company. In accordance with the tactics, the production and markets of the enterprise are diversified, new technologies are being introduced.
Companies that want to take leadership positions do not copy a competitor's product. Instead, they leisurely conduct scientific research, create new technologies and attack the enemy, transfer the front line to territories where they have a more significant advantage.
Guerrilla war.The essence of the strategy is to conduct numerous attacks by small forces throughout the territory on which the enemy has settled, unexpected and demoralizing attacks from pre-prepared bases using all types of weapons and methods of warfare: selective price reductions, intensive blitz campaigns to promote products, as well as - as an exception - legal shares.
The notion that guerrilla warfare is a strategic alternative for enterprises with limited resources is wrong. It's quite costly to run. In addition, guerrilla battles are, perhaps, a preparation for military operations. There is only one effective way to respond to the aggressor-partisan - to swiftly counterattack him.
Someone once said, “if you want something done well, do it yourself.” Today, this couldn’t be farther from the truth, especially when it comes to the world of digital marketing. There is no better way for brands to expand their reach than by virtual word-of-mouth through their own affiliate programs.
Affiliate marketing programs are an effective way for businesses to expand their reach. Who is better at promoting your product than those who love it and know your verticals, after all?
Real talk; by working with affiliate partners, you aren’t “doing it yourself.” And while we’re getting others to sell your products, why not get some help to collect and track every customer interaction and data from all touchpoints?
And why not a bit of hand-holding from marketing tools to turn that data into business growth, too? For all that, look no further than affiliate tracking software!
What is affiliate tracking software?Affiliate tracking software helps you manage and track the performance of your programs and partnerships. These platforms streamline the process of monitoring traffic and conversions. Your marketing partners can be bloggers, influencers, or any other content producers. Whichever, you’re kept in control thanks to accurate tracking.
Essential features of any affiliate tracking software include:
Affiliate tracking platforms make it easy to manage everything from one place. Dashboards give you customized views in real-time with just a few clicks.
Save time with automationAutomation of offers, payments, and much more saves your valuable time. Spend that time elsewhere, like on your other marketing campaigns. Affise’s CPAPI solution saves businesses even more time with automated offer pulling.
Gain a deeper understandingLike SEO, affiliate marketing optimization requires lots of data. Customizable and detailed reporting lets you take a deeper dive into the statistics. You will gain a better understanding of your target audience and ad networks.
Optimize your marketing campaignsLive reporting and analytics tools boost campaign optimization. And your team will be better equipped to leverage insights and find the right marketing partners.
Save moneyYour team will get more done in less time. And automatic fraud detection means you only pay for authentic performance metrics.
Increase revenueAffiliate tracking tools make it easy for you to get a better ROI. You can discover your best customers and affiliates to streamline your campaign growth.
Must-have features of affiliate tracking softwareAffiliate marketers need to use software with the best features.
Variety of trackersAffiliate tracking software is mainly about, well, tracking! And no matter how new and shiny a piece of tech looks, you don’t want to put all of your eggs in one basket!
Regional compliance and third-party browser tracking protections are here to stay. The best affiliate marketing platforms feature tracking methods like pixels and postback URLs, among others.
CustomizableThis should go without saying. Customizability is very important in any partner tracking software. First, this helps you find the right fit for your affiliate program as you hit the ground running. And it also allows for you to tailor your platform as your network grows and becomes more successful.
Intelligent reportsThere’s no point in using an affiliate tracking solution if you can’t have intelligent reporting. Customizable reporting options help your team connect the dots and find hidden gems.
Fraud detectionMany businesses are blind to the black-hat tactics within the affiliate industry. Using an affiliate platform that cannot detect fraud is the blind paying out of pocket to be led by the blind!
Any affiliate tracking system should have up-to-date fraud detection functionality. Your business cannot afford to be paying out for clicks and views that have no potential ROI.
Stellar supportMost affiliate tracking platforms are designed to be intuitive and user-friendly. But many times, they require more technical knowledge to set up properly. A business like yours should opt for an affiliate tracking service with a smooth onboarding experience and a 24/7 customer support team.
6 Recommended affiliate tracking software alternativesThere is a sea of options when it comes to affiliate tracking software. Don’t get tossed around by the waves of industry noise and hype. Here are six of the best affiliate tracking solutions available today.
AffiseThe Affise platform encompasses a wide range of affiliate marketing software. Affise’s Tracking and Attribution Software product has everything your business needs. From one platform you can manage, track, analyze, and optimize online advertising campaigns in real-time.
In terms of tracking you get:
Affise records attribution at each customer touchpoint and credits the correct sale channel. Choose from a range of models including last-click/last touch and first-click/first touch attribution. But you also get models like probabilistic attribution, which is better suited to measure mobile attribution from iOS.
Affise has a streamlined onboarding experience with smooth migration. And the automated offer pulling service, CPAPI, makes transitioning even more of a breeze.
Other features include:
Affise is perfect for SMEs and larger enterprises looking to level up or get a head start in affiliate marketing programs. Plans start at $499 per month. Contact Affise for plans that include Affise Academy and pain-free migration services.
iDevAffiliateiDevAffiliate has been a mainstay in partner marketing solutions for over 20 years. Their affiliate plugin is a flexible solution for affiliate tracking and management.
Source (idevdirect.com)
The iDevAffiliate plugin can help businesses create and launch an affiliate program within an hour. With that being said, maximizing the iDevAffiliate toolset can have a bit of a learning curve, making it a less attractive option to Affise. But subscribers do get access to over 40 hours of video tutorials (if you’ve got time for such things!).
Other features include:
iDevAffiliate is a decent option for businesses on a tight budget. And for those with good technical knowledge or willing to spend time learning the platform.
Pricing plans range from $39-$79 per month, depending on what options you require. The base package includes unlimited affiliates and commissions. Premium options include larger click-based traffic per month and custom subdomain parking.
OSI AffiliateOSI Affiliate Software offers a range of tools for affiliate programs. The platform emphasizes customer referral programs as part of your affiliate network.
The customer referral program is driven by website popups, forms, and auto-signups. These features target website visitors and new customers. You can also incentivize brand advocates with a customizable Smart Rewards program.
OSI Affiliate boasts many, but not all, of the must-have tracking features, including:
OSI Affiliate Software is a fair choice for businesses looking for simplicity and flexibility. And it is useful if you are looking to focus on customer referrals with your affiliate network. The service pricing starts at $47 per month, but you can try it for free with a 15-day trial.
TapfiliateTapfiliate is a service aimed at those dealing principally in ecommerce and SaaS. Tapfiliate focuses a lot on playing well with your existing business applications. The software integrates with your website whether it’s built around Woocommerce, Shopify, WordPress, or 30 other platforms.
The platform also comes with many tools for affiliate recruitment and ad promotion, including on social media.
Besides affiliate reporting and tracking, other features included are:
Tapfiliate is a sensible choice for businesses running on ecommerce or SaaS platforms that want minimal setup. If you have more diverse needs, though, you may need to look elsewhere. Pricing for Tapfiliate starts at $89 but you can try it out with a 14-day risk-free trial.
AnytrackAnytrack.io provides an affiliate tracking platform for your existing marketing stack. The platform is essentially a tool to connect your data streams. You will have a consistent and up-to-date view of your affiliate marketing activities and statistics.
With just a few clicks, the platform automatically sends all tracking to Google Analytics. This allows your team to view all types of traffic performance. And they can quickly glean actionable insights. The tracking automation works similarly with the Facebook Conversion API. Having to rely on various different platforms and outlets, though, isn’t exactly intuitive or user-friendly.
Other features include:
Anytrack is a decent option for larger businesses with a proven marketing stack looking to raise their affiliate game with real-time insights.
ShareASaleShareASale has earned a reputation as one of the most trusted performance marketing networks. The network boasts over 225,000 active affiliates. And network publishers include companies like Forbes, Business Insider, and CNN.
ShareASale offers affiliate management software for merchants that streamlines partner marketing.
Features include an intuitive interface and automation tools for things like marketing emails, as well as:
ShareASale is an option for those looking to tap into their powerful partner network, but also want an affiliate tracking solution.
Boost your affiliate marketing with AffiseEffective affiliate tracking is only one part of a greater whole that is your partner marketing program. With Affise, you get robust features to boost your performance marketing across the board.
Multichannel analytics and smart dashboardsAffise Analytics and Business Intelligence tools let you dive deeper into the data. You will gain insights and make more accurate forecasts by relying on an simple interface with an easy-to-use dashboard.
Powerful reportingHighly granular customizable reports with affiliate reports, customer reports, fraud-related reports, payment reports, and so on. It allows you to make unique correlations with all data viewable on one page. These reports are easily shareable with partners.
Fraud preventionAffise includes several options to protect your affiliate marketing campaigns from fraud. It has a complete security system with fraud detection, general internet security, and data privacy; This includes click-level fraud prevention, third-party tools, IP monitoring, and many tracking metrics.
Seamless offer pullingCPAPI makes it a cinch to transfer offers instantaneously between all sources in your system.
AutomationAffise helps to eliminate the time spent on repetitive tasks. You can automate activities like opening offers to publishers, partner communication, and billing.
Billing and accountingBesides invoice generation, you can automate partner payouts with Affise. And you can choose from a list of different currencies and payment providers
CustomizationAffise provides plenty of connection options with multiple integrations. But the platform has a feature-rich API that also allows you to conduct any needed custom integration yourself to ensure your networks are always perfectly in tune.
Find out other features to maximize the opportunities that you can find on the Affise ecosystem:
If you’re not effectively tracking and collating data from your partner program, you’re already losing the battle. You can’t afford to wait any longer. Connect your business affiliate tracking solution today.
With a robust platform like Affise that helps your affiliate program reach for the stars, you gain insights to optimize your campaigns and grow your partner networks like never before.
Clenbuterol is a compound that belongs to a class of drugs called beta2-agonists. Drugs in this category can cause dilation of the bronchial muscles. Beta2-agonists are often used to treat asthma.
In addition to being used to treat asthma, clenbuterol has become popular as a weight loss supplement. That’s because of its effect on muscle growth and fat reduction.
Clenbuterol usage
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hasn’t approved clenbuterol for use in humans. A liquid form of the drug is approved by the FDA for treatment of airway obstruction in horses.
Outside the United States, clenbuterol is available by prescription only for the treatment of asthma. It’s also sometimes prescribed for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Clenbuterol isn’t a steroid, but it has properties similar to anabolic steroids, such as promoting an increase in muscle mass. Due to these properties, clenbuterol has been used in livestock to increase the amount of lean muscle.
The drug can still be found in the meat of livestock after it has been butchered, and this has led to illness in Europe and Asia. Because of this, the United States and Europe monitor tissue samples from livestock in order to detect the presence of clenbuterol.
Clenbuterol has also been observed as an additive in illegal drugs, such as heroin.
Weight loss and performance enhancement
Clenbuterol has been observed to both increase muscle mass and reduce body fat. Additionally, it remains in the body with an active effect for about 6 days after consumption (detectable traces can remain longer). Because of these properties, it’s often used as a weight loss supplement or to enhance athletic performance.
People taking clenbuterol for weight loss or performance enhancement often use anabolic steroids or growth hormones as well.
Studies on the efficacy of clenbuterol as a weight loss or performance enhancer in humans are quite limited, although many studies have been performed in animals and livestock:
Even though there is minimal evidence for clenbuterol as a performance-enhancing drug, it’s listed on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Prohibited List.
Clenbuterol side effects
Clenbuterol can have side effects when overused or misused. These can include:
A review of adverse reactions to clenbuterol reported to two poison control centers found that 11 of the 13Trusted Source cases were due to clenbuterol use for weight loss or bodybuilding.
Dosage and administration
When clenbuterol is taken to control asthma symptoms, the recommended dosage is between 0.02 and 0.03 milligrams per day. The medication comes in tablet or inhaler form for asthma treatment. Like many bronchodilators used for asthma treatment, you should use it as needed — up to the recommended dosage as opposed to regular daily use.
Clenbuterol used for weight loss or performance enhancement can be acquired as a tablet, liquid, or injection. People using clenbuterol for this purpose typically use between 0.06 and 0.12 milligrams per day, which is higher than the recommended dosage for asthma treatment.
The takeaway
Clenbuterol isn’t approved by the FDA for use in humans. Outside the United States, it can be used to treat asthma or COPD. The drug is often used off-label for weight loss or to enhance athletic performance.
Clenbuterol is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Prohibited List. Professional athletes testing positive for this drug can be disqualified from participating in competitive sports.
Clenbuterol can have negative side effects when overused or misused. It’s important to strictly follow all dosage guidelines when using clenbuterol.