The essence of marketing is narrowing the focus.What won’t work is leaving your own word in search of a word owned by others.There comes a time when a company must change words. While words stick in the mind, nothing lasts forever.No matter how complicated the product, no matter how complicated the needs of the market, it’s always better to focus on one word or benefit rather than two or three or four.The most effective words are simple and benefit-oriented.Your word has to be “available” in your category.If you’re not a leader, your word has to have a narrow focus.The leader owns the word that stands for the category.The law of leadership enables the first brand or company to own a word in the mind of the prospect.You “burn” your way into the mind by narrowing the focus to a single word or concept.Simplest words are the best, words taken right out of the dictionary. Not a complicated word, or an invented word.The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospect’s mind.Xerox, the first plain-paper copier became the name for all plain-paper copies. One reason why the first brand tends to maintain its leadership is that the name often becomes generic.What’s the name of the leading college in the US? Most people would say Harvard, and that is indeed the name of the first college founded in America. You can always make a good guess by substituting leading for first. Imagine you didn’t know the name of the first college founded in America.The law of leadership applies to any product, brand or category.It’s much easier to get into the mind first than to try to convince someone you have a better product than the one who got there first.The basic issue in marketing is creating a category you can be first in. The basic issue in marketing is not convincing prospects that you have a better product or service.E.g Hertz in rent-a-cars, IBM in computers, Coca-Cola in cola. The leading brand in any category is almost always the first brand into the prospect’s mind.Marketing is the science of convincing us that What You Get Is What You Want. If the universe exists, it exists inside your own mind and the minds of others.” “The only reality you can be sure about is in your own perceptions. “Marketing is a battle of perceptions, not products.” Here is a short summary and nuggets of marketing advice from the book. In The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, Ries and Trout offer a compendium of twenty-two innovative rules for understanding and succeeding in the international marketplace. They are “fans” of football players, NBA stars, singers, actors.” These outside representations of the world seem more real than the reality inside their own minds…” They “belong” to clubs, organizations, institutions. They “live” in the arena of books, movies, television, newspapers, magazines. “ …to cope with the terrifying reality of being alone in the universe, people project themselves on the outside world. I believe Al Ries and Jack Trout really understand the people and human nature. Understanding marketing starts with understanding people.
It is a short read too, with only 143 pages. First published in 1993 by Al Ries and Jack Trout, the book is still relevant even after 25 years. Why then, shouldn’t there also be laws of marketing that must be followed to launch and maintain winning brands? 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing is a great start to learning marketing theory. You can build an impressive airplane, but it will never leave the ground if you ignore the laws of physics, especially gravity. This, I believe is, in fact, one of the reasons why some of the digital marketing campaigns fail.
Most of the digital marketers are literally clueless about marketing theory and the principles of marketing. I still remember that he had this to say this about the book “If Marketing were a religion, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing would be its Bible.” Wow. There are laws of nature, so why shouldn’t there be laws of marketing?Ģ2 Immutable Laws of Marketing first recommended to me by a marketing professor.
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