Marketing in the Round: How to Develop an Integrated Marketing Campaign in the Digital Era

8. When to Deploy Flanking Techniques

The approaches discussed so far—the middle, top, and bottom—are all from the social, public relations, networking, or direct marketing disciplines. Each takes the tactical knowledge from those disciplines and approaches the customer from a unique standpoint to afford an advantage.

But sometimes your marketing round has no community in place at all, little opportunity to engage with the media and influencers, and no time or means to use a direct approach. That is when you use communications disciplines to flank your customers, approaching them in unexpected ways.

Flanking is the traditional military approach of going around an enemy’s side, either the right or the left, to attack in an unexpected fashion. ...