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A Strategy That Works, vs. a Strategy That Doesn’t

Do Not Fight in “Dispersive Ground”:
Advice from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War

Sun Tzu’s The Art of War: Advice for Authors and Entrepreneurs

Sun Tzu, 544-496 BCE; Chinese general and military strategist, author of “The Art of War.”

In The Art of War, Sun Tzu identified nine varieties of ground.

How does that help us in our book or product marketing campaign?

Especially, how does that help us when our “campaign ground” is not the physical terrain of mountains, rivers, and plains – but the “infosphere” – all the material available on the internet?

Planning Ahead: A Small Fish Now, a Big Fish Later

Forever a small fish facing the big fish? Sun Tzu’s advice can help you take the right marketing strategy.

I recently came across an ebook written by a fellow author.

Her intent was to advise other authors on how to accomplish what she’d done, which was to sell a few thousand copies of each of her books.

With some eagerness, I downloaded her book and began to read.

Of course, she had some useful and interesting ideas.

And of course, she mentioned some points that are (or at least should be) well-known to all authors.

That sinking feeling.

The more that I read, though, the more I had this sinking feeling.

You know – that Oh, no! feeling that you get when you see something going very much off course.

Or even worse, going down.

What’s Wrong with Selling a Few Thousand Copies?

Now, there’s nothing wrong with selling a few thousand book copies.

Selling thousands of books should indeed happen.

Linda Weintraub and Heidi Leugers selling books to conference attendees, and promoting “eco-friendly book publishing.” (Note that these two are NOT the authors of the ebook which is the discussion starting point for this blog – and that I DO recommend their blogpost and publishing avenues.)

Ideally, selling thousands happens on the way to selling tens of thousands – then hundreds of thousands – then millions of copies.

The problem?

The strategy that works to sell a few thousand books is counter-productive for selling tens of thousands and more.

Even when someone knows that a strategy is yields only short-term results, that doesn’t always motivate them to seek out and adopt a productive long-term strategy.

The “e-book strategy” author wrote:

I should update my blog more, I know. The truth is, I’d rather be writing for publication.

She then went on to list – in alphabetical order – about three dozen distinct strategies. Each strategy included multiple tactical steps – sometimes up to two dozen tactical “movements” – connections with distinct organizations that would be “good contacts” for publicity/promotion.

Each, of course, would take time.

A Horrible Lesson

If you can’t be a good example, then be a horrible lesson.

In a certain start-up company, one of the founding partners was a great marketer. He was great for getting visibility, and for advancing the early launch.

The problem came when he actually got some funding. Three years later, the investors had to “pull the plug” on him. They replaced him with a different CEO.

So the question is:

Do you want to be the CEO who launches the company, but is derailed shortly after? Or do you want to be the CEO who rides the waves to success?

Totally different strategies are needed.

A Strategy That Doesn’t Work (for the Long Run)

The author who wrote the e-book on how to “successfully market” books described her “success” as a result of steps such as:

Going to book expos, special-interest conventions, and other “meet-the-reader” venues,
Participating in online book forums and chat rooms, and
Listing her book on e-bay with the “right keywords.”

And of course, she took many, many more actions as well.

Note that this is just a sampling of the strategies and tactics that she’s tried and has listed.

Too many directions at once – divergent marketing – puts you on what Sun Tzu called “dispersive ground.”

What’s wrong?

Individually, not one.

However, taken together, they are dispersive.

They send the author/marketing team (usually one and the same) in multiple directions.

What’s worse?

These various directions never converge back – they never bring people back to the author in a long-lasting, mutually-beneficial relationship.

In short, they don’t build tribe.

What the ebook author didn’t identify was a strategy based on Sun Tzu’s The Art of War.

How Would Sun Tzu Describe This Situation?

Sun Tzu, author of the Chinese military strategy classic, “The Art of War.”

Sun Tzu, in The Art of War, wrote (in Chapter XI, on “The Nine Varieties of Ground”):

When a feudal lord fights in his own territory, he is in dispersive ground.

The commentary from Ts’ao Ts’ao was:

Here officers and men long to return to their nearby homes.

We make the analogy:

“Dispersive ground” is a form of terrain (mind-map) in which your troops (your ideas, via your products and platform) are competing with many similar ideas. When your ideas are too close to what is safe, known, and familiar (their “nearby homes”), they will drift due to distracting forces.

An example of “dispersive ground” would be selling your book at a book conference devoted to the same theme as your book topic (gardening, science fiction, business leadership, etc.)

Your ideas become “dispersed” when they are too similar to – and not differentiated from – related ideas and offerings.

So the question becomes:

How do you get off dispersive ground and get into more useful terrain?

Sun Tzu’s Advice: “Do Not Fight in Dispersive Ground”

In The Art of War (Chapter XI), Sun Tzu identifies nine varieties of ground. One of these is “dispersive.”

According to Sun Tzu, it is essential to ‘unify the determination of your army.’

Sun Tzu advises:

… do not fight in dispersive ground (Sent. 11) … in dispersive ground I would unify the determination of my army. (Sent. 15)

If you’re in a situation in which your ideas are becoming diffuse; if they are starting to “drift” in the minds of your readers – so that your readers are returning to what is safe, known, and familiar (their “nearby homes”), you have to “unify the determination” of your army.

That means: get absolute clarity on your unique selling proposition (USP). Be clear about what you offer that distinguishes your work from others.

Also, begin to control the “drift” of people’s minds.

If they just touch on your work by chance – if they meet you at an expo or conference or networking meeting, or if they just come across your website – then you don’t have enough leverage to keep and focus their attention.

Specific Actions and Desired Outcomes

Start bringing people into alignment with your vision. Sun Tzu would call this “unifying the determination” of your army.

To get off “dispersive ground,” you need to bring people into your tribe:

Get people to Opt-In to your website/blog with a uniquely valuable offer.
Follow up with emails and direct them to your blogs, consistently providing them with superior value and educating them.
Encourage people to adopt and apply your language, your concepts, and your uniquely helpful insights – which will happen naturally over time.

How will you know if you’re succeeding? Look for key indicators – people will:

Use your terminology – your “language” – you’ll observe that the terms and metaphors that you’ve coined to help teach others will start showing up in their own teachings and writings,
Link back to your website – people will take pride in referencing you as their “point of authority.”
Promote your work – without you having to “push” out your work all the time, others will quote you, link back to your blog on theirs, “share” what you post on social media, and let others know about your upcoming workshops and new product releases.

Signs such as these let you know that you are “unifying the determination of your army,” because your army consists of your unique insights, thoughts and ideas – all the different but related teachings that you offer as a thought-leader.

A Very Important Point

People themselves are not your army. (You’re not putting 100,000 soldiers and chariot-drivers into the field.)

Your army is your thoughts and ideas, your unique insights that differentiate you.

However, people will join you emotionally and intellectually – this is when you gain terrain. At this stage, you are a thought-leader with an established platform and multiple products (books, e-books, instructional programs, etc.). People will be identify themselves with you; this is represented in your combined sales, and in your ever-growing Opt-In List.

P.S. “Dispersive thinking” is not always bad.

Management consultant Jim Yates advocates both convergent and divergent thinking.

There are times that you will need to be “dispersive” – to investigate new grounds, to create new alliances, to spread the word.

However, always do this with a view in mind to bringing people back to you – to go from your dispersive outreach to your convergent attraction.

Do You Have Sun Tzu’s “Moral Influence”?

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Before Starting a Business or Launching Your Social Marketing Campaign: Know That You Have Sun Tzu’s “Moral Influence”

Before we move ahead – as authors, as entrepreneurs about to start a business, or as both – we can apply concepts from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. This time-honored classic is relevant today for social marketing campaigns and to guide advertising for a small business. This is especially important if you are about to start a small business. Before you open a business, be sure to study The Art of War!

Even if yours is a home business, the business strategy recommended here – based on Sun Tzu’s writings – is essential. First, we need to assess ourselves using Sun Tzu’s “five fundamentals.” The first of these is “moral influence.”

Sun Tzu, author of the Chinese military strategy classic, “The Art of War.”

In Chapter 1 of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, he identifies his “five fundamentals”:

Moral Influence,
Weather,
Terrain,
Command, and
Doctrine.

(Go to Kingmaker to learn how each of Sun Tzu’s “five fundamentals” applies to the early-stage author/entrepreneur.)

Sun Tzu opens his second chapter by estimating the cost, per day, to field a large army. He makes it very clear that waging war (or in our terms, mounting a marketing campaign) is an expensive business. It will place a huge toll on a nation’s (or business’s) reserves.

So, before making campaign plans – whether for military, political, or business – we each need to ask ourselves, “Do I have the ‘moral influence’ that will impel me to see this through?”

What Exactly Is “Moral Influence”?

Chang Yü (whose comments on Sun Tzu’s initial writings are included in most versions of The Art of War) said:

“The systematic order above is perfectly clear. When troops are raised to chastise transgressors, the temple council first considers the adequacy of the ruler’s benevolence and the confidence of their peoples.”

Sun Tzu further explained:

“By moral influence I mean that which causes the people to be in harmony with their leaders, so that they will accompany them in life and unto death without fear of mortal peril.” (Chapter 1, Sentence 4)

Chang Yü’s comment on this is:

“When one treats people with benevolence, justice, and rightousness, and reposes confidence in them, the army will be united in mind and all will be happy to serve their leaders. The Book of Changes says: ‘In happiness at overcoming difficulties, people forget the danger of death.'”

Paper

Kindle

So what do “temple councils” and the “ruler’s benevolence” have to do with us?

Everything.

Translating Sun Tzu’s “Moral Influence” into a Social Marketing Campaign or Starting a Business

We don’t really need Sun Tzu’s writings to know that a marketing campaign will tax us greatly – in time, energy, and money. Our families and closest friends will “feel the pain.” We’ll have less time to spend with them, and less money for fun. Austerity, coupled with less “personal time,” will put a strain on everyone.

Thus, before we even begin, we have to know that the people closest to us are on our side.

Even more, we have to know – in our deepest heart of hearts – that we have something of great value to offer. We have to be supremely convinced of this value.

Further, each of us must be deeply convinced that we are the best person in the world to carry out this mission. This can’t be delegated. It’s our personal vision; our raison d’être. Our personal vision has to be so compelling, so authoritative, and so commanding, that others are willing to support us – well before the accolades, success stories, and profits come rolling in.

Your Private “Temple Council” – Your Advisory “Inner Circle” Guiding Your Business Launch

Chang Yü (see quote earlier in this post) said that the “temple council” will consider the “adequacy of the ruler’s benevolence and the confidence of their peoples.”

From the Dr. Who TV Series: Borusa’s Inner Council talks with the Master. (TV: The Five Doctors)

The “temple council” is your private, typically informal, “inner circle” of business advisers. These are your “go-to” people; those whom you turn to for the deepest wisdom and guidance. You select them not only because of their smarts and savvy, but also their wisdom and spiritual maturity.

Your “temple council” will be the ones who will ask you: “Are you really ready for this?” And, “Is what you’re proposing really worth the pain that everyone will go through?”

You have to know that you’re ready.

Do You Have “Adequate Benevolence” to Start a Successful Business?

In helping you determine if you’re “launch-ready,” your “temple council” – your private “advisory inner circle” will first make their own assessment of you. They will consider the “adequacy of [your] benevolence and the confidence of [your] peoples.”

Your “benevolence” is a significant factor. Will your book, product, or service really be a benefit to others? Will it really help people in a strong, useful, meaningful way? Is what you are proposing really “benevolent”?

Second, your “temple council” will assess your personal maturity. They’ll ask themselves – and you – “Do you really have the whole-hearted support – the confidence – of the people in your life?”

You may not be asking your spouse, significant other, or family to follow you “unto death” in battle, but you may very likely be asking them to sacrifice vacations, luxuries, and time with you. Do those around you have confidence in you and your vision?

Do you have what Sun Tzu describes as “moral influence”? Do you have mastery of the remaining four of his “five fundamentals”?

Learn how to apply Sun Tzu’s The Art of War to your business launch or marketing campaign.

Join me – “Opt-In” using the form to the right. I’ll give you a “heads-up” when I publish the next strategic step that will help you evaluate where you are with each of the “five fundamentals” – and apply them to your own venture!

Before any politician embarks on a campaign, his or her inner circle carefully considers the politician’s spouse or significant other, as well as the most important and connected family members. Are they “confident” in this person? Will they “follow” her or him?

Before promoting an officer to the more senior ranks, the military commanders consider the officer’s spouse as a factor in the selection process. Is the spouse supportive in a useful and sustaining way? The next promotion will mean even more challenges; will the officer’s spouse help this officer succeed?

In one company which I co-founded, two of my male colleagues – part of the “initial five” – had wives who brought in six-figure incomes. Their financial support for their husbands made it possible for the husbands to focus on the new venture. They had to have the confidence of their people (their wives and children) in order to move ahead.

How To Know If You’re Really Ready to Launch Your Business or Start a Marketing Campaign

If you’re an author, the answer is usually clear. The book is done. You’re holding a copy in your hands.

Perhaps it’s not yet done, but there is enough of a draft manuscript so that you can put it down in front of someone and say, “Here. Read this.”

If you’re a product developer, you can take someone to a website and say, “Here. Try out this beta version.”

Even a good, solid, well-thought-out business plan – one with a compelling case, good research, and strong financials – can be “ready enough.”

Most often, there needs to be some prototype (in the case of a product), or some track record of providing the kind of service that you’re proposing. That’s why most initial, or “angel,” funding is for prototype development.

Government Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) awards are first for small (typically $100K) “Phase I” proof-of-concept efforts, and then – if the “proof” is sufficiently convincing – for a (typically closer to $1M) “Phase II” prototype development. In order to get the Phase II funding, a company will have to show that the “commercialization transition” has already been worked out; a major company with strong revenues and an established product/service line is willing to take the new invention to its clients. This is where the “people” (the established transition-sponsor company) have “confidence” in the new company’s invention.

Assessing Your Own “Moral Influence”

Before you “go to war” – start your marketing campaign – you need to be sufficiently together; enough to have your own compelling sense of “moral influence.” You will know that you are ready – not when you have sufficient money in the bank, or a “finished enough” book/product/service – but rather, when you can say “yes” to these criteria:

Temple Council Approval: Your “temple council” – your private advisory “inner circle” – gives you the “go-ahead,”
You’re Sufficiently “Benevolent”: You are absolutely convinced that your book/product/service is “benevolent” – it will bring value to other people’s lives – and you can specify how, and
Your People Have Confidence in You: The people closest to you – those whom you’ll rely on for support through thick and thin (and there will assuredly be “thin”) – give you their confidence in specific, tangible ways – such as reading and critiquing your manuscript, giving you encouragement to take your product public, and/or helping you out financially.

This morning, I received a sympathy card and a gift from my sister. My much-beloved cat, “Cuddles,” had died two weeks ago. She did this to encourage me; she had “confidence” in me. Other friends had banded together to help me get Cuddles’ remains cremated. They took me to the crematorium, and one of them picked up the box of ashes the next day. Another brought by a picture of me with my cat; it had been taken when we were both glowing with healthy vigor.

Any one of these people could have said, “Why are you putting yourself through the stress of a new start-up company? Why aren’t you getting a ‘day job’? Why aren’t you going for financial security; a job with good pay and nice benefits?”

Instead, they had confidence in me – and in the “benevolence” of my vision. I’ve shared with them what I’m sharing with you; insights about how to launch a well-structured, orderly, solid business and marketing campaign. They see that my approach is solid, and when the challenges come, they support me.

Before you launch, be certain that your “temple council” believes in you, and that your “people” have “confidence” in your vision and in your ability to bring your vision into being.

With whole-hearted best wishes for your own success –

Alianna

Alianna J. Maren, Ph.D.
Founder & Creative Visionary, Mourning Dove Press

Do Not Fight in “Dispersive Ground”: Advice from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War