Marketing Judo Book Review

John Barnes & Richard Richardson

Pearson-Prentice Hall, £9.99

All organisations complain about the lack of financial resources. Those in the social sector, and especially the smaller organisations, have more reason to complain than most. The lack of finance is often cited as the reason for stasis “…we can’t do anything because we have no, or not enough, money”. How often are we extolled to think smarter and how often is this ignored because it is preached at us by those who have no practical experience of managing let alone starting enterprises?

Here is a gem of a book, short, punchy, witty and practical based on real life experience - a book on how to lever other people’s strengths or assets to your own advantage – hence Marketing Judo. An ideal metaphor for the social sector - how to get results regardless of size or depth of resources.

Barnes and Richardson bought the famous Harry Ramsden Fish and Chip shop in Yorkshire. From this small beginning they created a global franchise as well as branding a successful supermarket frozen meal. The strategies they used are distilled into this book. The authors’ own experience is supplemented by examples from other businesses. The practical principles can be applied to areas other then marketing and brand building and the concepts are very easily transferable into the social economy.

The book shows how the business did the unexpected and seized opportunities. However this was only possible because Barnes and Richardson had laid the groundwork to achieve this. Some of the lessons were: Create and live the vision, believe in it passionately only then will you get others to support you. Create an internal culture that is supportive and proactive - involve everyone to come up with and commit to ideas, consider all of them but then get a consensus on which ones to pursue. Make sure that you are prepared to expect the unexpected. Create a fan club out of your community; exploit the media to achieve this, the fan club then magnifies your message.

Ensure that when you pick partners and opponents you pick the right ones. The wrong partner, because of indifference or complacency, can be as damaging as a smart opponent. Your size doesn’t matter – as in judo so long as you remain fit, fast and focussed and don’t turn into a sloth yourself you can use your opponent’s size, inefficiency and arrogance to your advantage.

The book comes with a chapter summary and action plan. Go for it!

Uday Thakkar
Red Ochre