Alexander the Great is one of history’s best strategists and The Battle of Guagamela put his proficiency for battlefield strategy on full display. Pitted against King Darius III of Persia Alexander was out numbered and on a battlefield well suited to the Persian army’s strengths of chariots and cavalry. King Darius is estimated to have been surrounded by over 100,000 soldiers 10,000 of which were known as the Immortal Guard designed to protect the king should the battle not go in their favor. Alexander won this battle by using an ingenious move. He forced the tightly packed Persian army to break their lines by moving his own cavalry out along the right flank, when the crack in the Persian line formed he instructed his army to form a wedge and drove his cavalry into the crack stunning the Persians. The Macedonians also hid what were known as “aggitators” light foot soldiers armed with crows feet, sharp rocks, and metal shards they ran along the right-side of the charging cavalry tossing their weapons on the ground to stop the Persian army from quickly closing back in. Alexander got close enough to toss a spear at King Darius missing by only inches, forcing the king to retreat and causing chaos in his army which quickly dispersed. It wasn’t only this incredible feint, Alexander also knew the Persians would be up all night awaiting a night attack as was custom for an army facing an enemy on a battlefield where the enemy held the advantage. Instead he instructed his troops to sleep well and made sure they were well fed and even slept in himself. This undoubtedly gave the Macedonians an advantage taking on weary soldiers the next day.

This marketing strategy should be used by a company that is going up against a bigger company with more resources and home field advantage. The idea is to get your opponent to move resources away from their main objective and then to attack the main objective with your full might while working to keep your opponent from closing the gap quickly.

One of the best ways to pull this off is to get your competitor to copy something you’re doing that requires quite a bit of resources. For example let’s say that your research shows the client base for your business and your competitors business reward human-based customer service over Artificial Intelligence based service. You might then make a series of small investments in A.I. services and then run a PR campaign talking about how great this A.I. service will be for your customers, as soon as your get your competitors to commit to developing their own A.I. services switch instead to human-based customer service and promote your strength of human to human communication backed by A.I. instead of only A.I.

Pros vs. Cons
Pros: The Battle of Guagamela strategy can be very sneaky granting a quick and decisive victory when done correctly.

Cons: There’s a chance that your competitors won’t commit to the thing you’re trying to trick them into and there is also a chance that when they do commit to it that customers in the market will like their solution better than the the one you have planned. Be very careful about the research backing this decision and make absolutely sure before starting this strategy, once you start going down this path it is difficult to turn back or stop.