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I’ve picked up a book called The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries & Jack Trout, and I’m blogging a summary of each chapter.

Chapter 4. The Law of Focus

The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospect’s mind.

“Owning” a word like Xerox owns “copy”, Kleenex owns “tissue”, and Volvo owns “safety”, is the most powerful concept in marketing. Just recently I linked to a site called Brand Tags (see also the Volvo and Xerox links) which might be a useful sort of word association tool to see if a brand has achieved the focus they are going for.

It should be a simple word, with a narrow focus. The word should also be benefit oriented.

Achieving this isn’t simply a matter of advertising. If a firm want to obtain this kind of obiquity, it should reduce the scope of its offering(s) to narrow their focus instead of chasing after everything.

Also, it helps if the word is an “opposing” word. It’s not a good idea to go after a word like “honesty” because no one is going after after “dishonesty”. Words like “honesty” and “quality” are merely table stakes.

Now that I’m at #5, what do you think about this book? Should I continue summarizing the remaining 17 chapters?

I’ve picked up a book called The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries & Jack Trout, and I’m blogging a summary of each chapter.

Chapter 4. The Law of Perception

Marketing is not a battle of products, it’s a battle of perception.

This chapter is a bit existential, and at times it seemed rather silly to see in a marketing book. Points such as:

• There is no objective reality
• All truth is relative
• Most people think they are better perceivers than everyone else
• People project to cope with being alone in the universe

The basic point is this: purchasing decisions are not based entirely on objective facts. The reasons for this are rooted in psychology, but it boils down to people being unique, having unique opinions, and have unique perspectives. Slap different logos on the exact same product, and you won’t necessarily get a 50-50 spread in choices. Put the same logo on two different flavors of soda and people will tell you there’s a difference between the flavors.

But whether or not perception actually is reality, a marketer should behave as if it is.

I’ve picked up a book called The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries & Jack Trout, and I’m blogging a summary of each chapter.

Chapter 3. The Law of Mind

It’s better to be first in the mind than to be the first in the marketplace.

Being first to market doesn’t really matter if you aren’t first in the mind of the consumer. For instance, the Altair 8800 is largely considered the first mass market PC, but it was largely eclipsed by later PCs such as the Apple II.

The role of money in marketing is important, but this law shows that money isn’t necesarily everying. It’s hard to overcome first imprssions and well-formed opinions, no matter how much money is spent.

The law of leadership still matters, but only to the extent that it usually provides access to the mind of the consumer.

I’ve picked up a book called The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries & Jack Trout, and I’m blogging a summary of each chapter.

Some commenters from chapter 1 were really chomping at the bit with counterexamples. There are 21 other laws, people!

Chapter 2. The Law of Category

If you can’t be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in.

This is really just a more specific application of the first law. If you can’t be first in computers, be first in personal computers. If you can’t be the first to fly solo over the Atlantic, be the first woman to fly solo over the Atlantic (Amelia Earhart).

Instead of being a “me too” or an “also ran” brand that gets lost in the shuffle, invent a new category and be first in it. Sometimes even a better product isn’t the key. The question isn’t “How is this brand better than the competition?”, but “What is the brand first in?”

That’s all there is to that law.

This is the start of a new series of posts here at mgroves.com.

I’ve picked up a book called The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries & Jack Trout. It’s a shortish book with 22 easy to digest chapters, and I think I can squeeze out 22 even shorter blog posts in summary.

Does this sound boring? We’ll see how far this goes. I might not make it to 22.

Okay, on with the first chapter. If you’re really impatient, you can get a full summary here, but it’s much shorter.

Chapter 1. The Law of Leadership

It’s better to be first than it is to be better.

Who remembers #2? Who was the second man to cross the Atlantic ocean by solo flight? Who was the second man on the moon? You get the picture.

People tend to stick with what they have. This is partly because people are somewhat risk averse and partly because there may be a switching cost involved (which may not even be monetary).

So, because of this law, the “first” brand becomes the “leading” brand, with corresponding shares of sales. This also might lead to brand names becoming generic names for a product category: It’s not paper copying, it’s “Xeroxing”. It’s not facial tissue, it’s Kleenex. It’s not soda, it’s Coke. It’s not plastic wrap, it’s Saran Wrap. Etc.

One important thing to talk about, since this is the first of (maybe) 22 posts: this law isn’t the only law of marketing, because I’m sure you can think of some counterexamples to this first law that are probably covered in the other 21. We’ll see. I haven’t read the whole book yet.