A Guerrilla Approach to Market Intelligence

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can utilise a ‘guerrilla’ approach to market and competitive intelligence (MI & CI) to outmanoeuvre their larger rivals, and gain competitive advantage. This introductory blog calls on the thoughts of some leading guerrillas with regards to intelligence operations, applying those to a business context to begin to outline a framework for guerrilla MI.

The broader guerrilla marketing discipline – which originated to help small businesses compete with their larger rivals, primarily focused on advertising – is well-founded, particularly in the USA. So much so that Google has more hits for ‘guerrilla marketing’ than it does for ‘guerrilla warfare’! However, the theory and practice of this discipline has only paid lip service to the notion of MI & CI, with generalised talk of market and customer research and how it can be done cheaply – mostly platitudes that could come straight from any business text book.

There is very little about the specifics of a guerrilla approach, despite the primacy of intelligence in historical guerrilla warfare efforts. 

Arguably, the requirement for intelligence is even more acute in SMEs, where the impact of large competitors can be fatal and where scarce resources can best be directed through accurate intelligence. Fortunately, turning to the analogy from which guerrilla marketing derives, certain experts agree. Below are the reflections of perhaps the three most infamous guerrillas, who can lay the foundation for a guerrilla market intelligence approach: Che Guevara (idolised on t-shirts and posters the world over), T.E. Lawrence (of Arabian fame), and Mao Zedong.

Observation	Assessment	Business relevance
Che Guevara, Guerrilla Warfare (1961)
“Nothing gives more help to combatant forces than correct information.”	This quote clearly demonstrates the primacy of intelligence in guerrilla efforts!	For, “combatant forces”, read, “SMEs”!
“This [intelligence] arrives spontaneously from the local inhabitants, who will come to tell its friendly army...but in addition it should be completely systematized.” “Though all inhabitants are intelligence agents for the guerrilla band in the places where it is dominant or makes incursions, it is wise to have persons especially assigned to this duty.”	Everyone is a potential source of information and/or a collector of information. But there must be a process in place for collecting, collating, analysing, disseminating and utilising that as intelligence. Even in the smallest of organisations, it should be systematised.	‘Local inhabitants’ might be customers, prospects, suppliers, employees or other industry contacts. Everyone in the business is gathering information from all of these sources on a daily basis – but how is it internalised as company knowledge, cross-referenced and used? SMEs can systematise this cost-effectively, using CRM or even Excel, and can use monthly sales meetings – for example – to discuss and take action upon it.
“An intelligence service also should be in direct contact with enemy fronts…they should be in permanent contact with soldiers and gradually discover what there is to be discovered.”	Information can be gathered from both observation and direct contact with rivals and, with patience (“gradually”), it can be invaluable.	Do your sales staff speak to competitors (e.g. at trade shows)? They often all know each other – are you harvesting this information? Who else is in contact with your competitors? Perhaps your customers and suppliers are part of your intelligence ecosystem too.
“This intelligence will be concerned principally…with the front line of fire…but it ought also to develop…increasing its depth of operation and its potential to foresee larger troop movements in the enemy rear.”	Intelligence is, primarily, operational in nature and should be focused on informing tactical decisions. Yet it also has a strategic role, with a wider picture often built-up through the former. ‘Foresee’ is the operative word – intelligence outputs are future-focused and actionable.	An MI programme should be founded on tactical tools: sales analysis, lead generation, pricing intelligence, win/loss analysis, competitor battlecards, etc. Especially within the guerrilla marketing discipline, with its emphasis on profit and margins. It will develop to become strategic, informing market sector strategies, competitive positioning, and horizon scanning.
T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1922)
“The corollary of such a rule was perfect 'intelligence', so that we could plan in certainty. The chief agent must be the general's head; and his understanding must be faultless, leaving no room for chance.”	With limited resources the importance of intelligence is magnified in a guerrilla effort in order to plan with certainty. Importantly, there should be a close link between intelligence and those responsible for decision-making: the chief intelligence agent and the general.	Intelligence is perhaps more important for SMEs than larger businesses, where decisions must be well-informed in order to best commit limited resources. Indeed it may even function better as, in SMEs, it is easier to establish that link between the ‘general’, e.g. an owner-manager, and the intelligence operation. This potentially yields competitive advantage with a shortened time-frame between producing actionable insight and actually taking action.
“We must take more pains in the service of news than any regular staff.”	Importantly, guerrillas must, “take more pains”, in the collection and use of intelligence than their regular enemies.	As alluded to previously, intelligence is even more important for SMEs than it is for their larger rivals, and should be given greater attention.
“Morale, if built on knowledge, was broken by ignorance. When we knew all about the enemy we should be comfortable.”	Knowledge of rivals ensures that one can act from a position of confidence. It also boosts morale where, importantly, lack of such knowledge is demoralising.	Knowledge of a company’s rivals is a source of competitive advantage and potentially morale-boosting, particularly for those sales staff that can use that knowledge to win deals against the competition. Being first to the punch is a great confidence-booster! Likewise, losing business to rivals without a clear understanding of why is demoralising.
“We on the Arab front were very intimate with the enemy. Our Arab officers had been Turkish Officers, and knew every leader on the other side personally. They had suffered the same training, thought the same, took the same point of view. By practising modes of approach upon the Arabs we could explore the Turks: understand, almost get inside, their minds.”	Utilising those members of your organisation that have intimate knowledge of the opposition is essential. And war-gaming is one excellent way of utilising this knowledge. This will help you to understand the opposition and the mechanics behind their decision-making.	Who have your employees previously worked for? If a competitor – often likely – what knowledge of that organisation do they bring and how could you utilise it? Business war games are well established in multinationals – why not in SMEs too? ‘Getting inside their minds’ is a tenet of Porter’s 4 Corners analysis: motivations of competitors. (Subject of a future blog).
“Relation between us and them was universal, for the civil population of the enemy area was wholly ours without pay or persuasion. In consequence our intelligence service was the widest, fullest and most certain imaginable.”	Again, everyone is a source or collector (civil population), and there is no reason why a guerrilla organisation’s intelligence collection and utilisation cannot be superior to that of a large organisation – the widest, fullest and most certain imaginable.	SMEs can have the widest, fullest and most certain intelligence operation. Evaluate your intelligence ecosystem (data, employees, customers, suppliers, competitors) and how you can harvest and process information from it. Utilise all of these in your intelligence operation.
Mao Zedong, On Guerrilla Warfare (1937)
The introduction to the US Marine Corps’ version of Mao’s authoritative book states that, “Intelligence is the decisive factor in planning guerrilla operations.” And, in terms of process, that, “Guerrilla intelligence nets are tightly organised and pervasive...every person without exception must be considered an agent.” Mao also includes an Intelligence Section in all of his guerrilla organisational charts, reporting directly to an Executive Officer. Yet thereafter he talks infrequently about the subject specifically, although reading between the lines it does permeate much of what he says, particularly in terms of gathering information – included as part of the role of almost all of his troops – and the sources of that information, i.e. almost everyone with whom they are in contact, and friendly locals in particular.
“Guerrilla strategy must be based primarily on alertness. It must be adjusted to the enemy situation, the terrain, the existing lines of communication, the relative strengths, the weather and the situation of the people.”	Guerrillas must be alert to their environment and adaptable to changes in it. But in order to base strategy on these, one must first know about them, and this is where intelligence comes in.	SMEs must be alert to their market environment, which requires constant monitoring and reporting on markets, customers and competitors. These alerts may come through market signals analysis; but the information must firstly be collected and fed-back into the business.

So it’s clear that these infamous guerrillas put intelligence front and centre in their operations, and this should be no different for SMEs deploying guerrilla marketing to compete. There are a number of main themes that emerge from these musings, which we can take forward to help establish certain principles for ‘guerrilla market intelligence’:

1. SMEs can utilise intelligence much quicker as a source of real competitive advantage, as T.E.
   
   Lawrence alluded to, and must do so for the success of their operations...
2. ...with a primary focus on tactical applications of intelligence, profits and profit margins, inevitably informing the strategic picture secondarily...
3. ...where everyone and everything in an SME’s ecosystem is a source of information, which is readily collectible...
4. ...but there must be a systematic process for collecting, collating, and analysing that information, then disseminating and utilising it as intelligence.

Each of these will form the subjects of future blogs. But, before any of that, one last one from Che Guevara: “The peasants, not accustomed to precise battle language, have a strong tendency to exaggerate, so their reports must be checked.” Always triangulate the information that you gather; have you ever known someone (a salesman, for example) exaggerate the size of a project, or the nature of an opportunity? Consider, also, that it might be in a customer’s best interests to tell you that your competitor is cheaper than they actually are!