The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing - Al Ries and Jack Trout
Violate Them at Your Own Risk
1. The Law of Leadership: It’s better to be first than it is to be better.
[bq] “The basic issue in marketing is creating a category you can be first in.”
If you’re the leader, your name might turn synonymous with the product.
[bq] “Marketing is a battle of perceptions, not products.”
2. The Law of the Category: If you can’t be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in.
When launching a product, don’t ask what it’s better inn, but what category it is first in.
3. The Law of the Mind: It’s better to be first in the mind than to be first in the marketplace.
The Law of Leadership only applies if you can actually get a product in people’s minds.
[bq] “Once a mind is made up, it rarely, if ever, changes.”
Many companies waste tons of money on that but it rarely works. You have to be there first.
[bq] “When you have an open mind to work with, even a small amount of money can go a long way.”
4. The Law of Perception: Marketing is not a battle of products, it’s a battle of perception.
Marketing people are often too occupied with facts, research, and benchmarks.
5. The Law of Focus: The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospect's mind.
Own a word associated with your product. Should be real and simple, and benefit oriented.
Focusing on one word allows/forces you to be more focused overall.
If you focus on one thing, there must be competitors focusing on the opposite. E.g. it doesn’t make sense to focus on “quality” because no other company focuses on “unquality". Everyone cares about quality so it’s meaningless.
6. The Law of Exclusivity: Two companies cannot own the same word in the same prospect’s mind
7. The Law of the Ladder: The strategy to use depends on which run you occupy on the ladder.
Not everyone can/should be number one in a market. Need to accept your position and sell yourself accordingly, not pretending you’re number one.
8. The Law of Duality: In the long run, every market becomes a two-horse race.
9. The Law of the Opposite: If you’re shooting for second place, your strategy is determined by the leader.
Too many number two brands try to emulate the leader. Instead should present oneself as a different alternative (e.g. Pepsi).
10. The Law of Division: Over time a category will divide and become two or more categories.
11. The Law of Perspective: Marketing effects take place over an extended period of time.
Just like alcohol seemingly first stimulates before becoming a depressant, the effects of macerating often look the opposite in the short and long run.
12. The Law of Line Extension: There’s an irresistible pressure to extend the equity of a brand.
[bq] “When you try to be all things to all people, you inevitably end up in trouble.”
Instead of taking the name of a successful brand and using it for a product in a new category, launch that new product under an entirely different name/brand.
[bq] “Less is more. If you want to be successful today, you have to narrow the focus in order to build a position in the prospect’s mind.”
13. The Law of Sacrifice: You have to give up something in order to get something.
Three possible sacrifices:
Product line
Target market
Constant change
14. The Law of Attributes: For every attribute, there is an opposite, effective attribute.
15. The Law of Candor: When you admit a negative, the prospect will give you a positive.
16. The Law of Singularity: In each situation, only one move will produce substantial results.
Just trying harder rarely works in marketing. Instead need a “single bold stroke.”
17. The Law of Unpredictability: Unless you write your competitors’ plan, you can’t predict the future.
Long term plans in marketing are a waste of time and just make you slow/unwilling to react to the ever-changing reality.
[bq] “Market research can be more of a problem than a help. Research does best at measuring the past.”
18. The Law of Success: Success often leads to arrogance, and arrogance to failure.
[bq] “Brilliant marketers have the ability to think like a prospect thinks.”
19. The Law of Failure: Failure is to be expected and accepted.
Recognize failure early and cut your losses rather than perpetually trying to fix things.
20. The Law of Hype: The situation is often the opposite of the way it appears in the press.
21. The Law of Acceleration: Successful programs are not built on fads, they’re built on trends.
If your product is part of a fad it actually helps trying to dampen the fad and it might stretch out into a trend.
22. The Law of Resources: Without adequate funding an idea won’t get off the ground.
[bq] “You can’t save your way to success.”
[bq] “Success is the best revenge of all."