Violate Them at Your Own Risk. A summary of the book "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" by Al Ries and Jack Trout
1. The Law of Leadership
It’s better to be first than it is to be better.
The basic issue in marketing is creating a category you can be first in. It’s the law of leadership: It’s better to be first than it is to be better. It’s much easier to get into the mind first than to try to convince someone you have a better product than the one that did get there first.
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.
If you didn’t get into the prospect’s mind first, don’t give up hope. Find a new category you can be first in. It’s not as difficult as you might think.
3. The Law of the Mind
It’s better to be first in the mind than to be first in the marketplace.
Being first in the mind is everything in marketing. Being first in the
marketplace is important only to the extent that it allows you to get in the mind first.
4. The Law of Perception
Marketing is not a battle of products, it’s a battle of perceptions.
Many people think marketing is a battle of products. In the long run, they figure, the best product will win. There is no objective reality. There are no facts. There are no best products. All that exists in the world of marketing are perceptions in the minds of the customer or prospect. The perception is the reality. Everything else is an illusion. Changing a prospect’s mind is another matter. Marketing is not a battle of products. It’s a battle of Perceptions.
5. The Law of Focus
The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospect’s mind.
A company can become incredibly successful if it can find a way to own a word in the mind of the prospect. This is the law of focus. You “burn” your way
into the mind by narrowing the focus to a single word or concept. It’s the ultimate marketing sacrifice.
6. The Law of Exclusivity
Two companies cannot own the same word in the prospect’s mind.
Volvo owns safety. Many other automobile companies, including Mercedes-
Benz and General Motors, have tried to run marketing campaigns based on safety. Yet no one except Volvo has succeeded in getting into the prospect’s mind with a safety message.
7. The Law of the Ladder
The strategy to use depends on which rung you occupy on the ladder.
While being first into the prospect’s mind ought to be your primary marketing objective, the battle isn’t lost if you fail in this endeavor. There are strategies to
use for No. 2 and No. 3 brands. All products are not created equal. There’s a hierarchy in the mind that prospects use in making decisions.
Your marketing strategy should depend on how soon you got into the mind and consequently which rung of the ladder you occupy. The higher the better, of
course.
8. The Law of Duality
In the long run, every market becomes a two-horse race.
When you take the long view of marketing, you find the battle usually winds up as a titanic struggle between two major players—usually the old reliable brand and the upstart.
9.The Law of the Opposite
If you are shooting for second place, your strategy is determined by the leader.
In strength there is weakness. Wherever the leader is strong, there is an opportunity for a would-be No. 2 to turn the tables.
10. The Law of Division
Over time, a category will divide and become two or more categories.
A category starts off as a single entity. Computers, for example. But over time, the category breaks up into other segments. Mainframes, minicomputers, workstations, personal computers, laptops, notebooks, etc.
11. The Law of Perspective
Marketing effects take place over an extended period of time.
Chemically, alcohol is a strong depressant. But in the short term, by depressing a person’s inhibitions, alcohol acts like a stimulant.
Many marketing moves exhibit the same phenomenon. The long-term effects are often the exact opposite
of the short-term effects.
12. The Law of Line Extension
There’s an irresistible pressure to extend the equity of the brand.
One day a company is tightly focused on a single product that is highly profitable. The next day the same company is spread thin over many products and is losing money.
13. The Law of Sacrifice
You have to give up something in order to get something.
The law of sacrifice is the opposite of the law of line extension. If you want to be successful today, you should give something up. There are three things to sacrifice: product line, target market, and constant change.
First, the product line. Where is it written that the more you have to sell, the more you sell? The full line is a luxury for a loser. If you want to be successful, you have to reduce your product line, not expand it.
14. The Law of Attributes
For every attribute, there is an opposite, effective attribute.
Too often a company attempts to emulate the leader. “They must know what works,” goes the rationale, “so let’s do something similar.” Not good thinking.
It’s much better to search for an opposite attribute that will allow you to play off against the leader. The key word here is opposite—similar won’t do.
Coca-Cola was the original and thus the choice of older people. Pepsi successfully positioned itself as the choice of the younger generation.
15. The Law of Candor
When you admit a negative, the prospect will give you a positive.
It goes against corporate and human nature to admit a problem. For years, the power of positive thinking has been drummed into us. “Think positive” has been the subject of endless books and articles. So it may come as a surprise to you that one of the most effective ways to get into a prospect’s mind is to first admit a negative and then twist it into a positive.
16. The Law of Singularity
In each situation, only one move will produce substantial results.
Many marketing people see success as the sum total of a lot of small efforts beautifully executed. They think they can pick and choose from a number
of different strategies and still be successful as long as they put enough effort into the program. If they work for the leader in the category, they fritter away their resources on a number of different programs. They
seem to think that the best way to grow is the puppy
approach—get into everything.
History teaches that the only thing that works in marketing is the single, bold stroke. Furthermore, in any given situation there is only one move that will
produce substantial results. Successful generals study the battleground and look for that one bold stroke that is least expected by the enemy. Finding one
is difficult. Finding more than one is usually impossible. It’s hard to find that single move if you’re hanging around headquarters and not involved in the process.
17. The Law of Unpredictability
Unless you write your competitor’s plans, you can’t predict the future.
Implicit in most marketing plans is an assumption about the future. Yet marketing plans based on what will happen in the future are usually wrong.
Failure to forecast competitive reaction is a major reason for marketing failures. When Pickett was asked which Confederate leader was responsible for the defeat at Gettysburg, he replied, “I’ve always thought the Yankees had something to do with it.” Yet there are those who would say that America’s
big problem is the lack of the long view, that American management is too short term in its thinking. Won’t eliminating long-term plans make things
even worse?
18. The Law of Success
Success often leads to arrogance and arrogance to failure.
Ego is the enemy of successful marketing. Objectivity is what’s needed.
19. The Law of Failure
Failure is to be expected and accepted.
Too many companies try to fix things rather than drop things. “Let’s reorganize to save the situation” is their way of life. Admitting a mistake and not doing anything about it is bad for your career. A better strategy is to recognize failure early and cut your losses.
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.
A fad is a wave in the ocean, and a trend is the tide. A fad gets a lot of hype, and a trend gets very little. Like 1.The Law of Leadership It’s better to be first
than it is to be better.
Many people believe that the basic issue in marketing is convincing prospects that you have a better product or service. Not true. If you have a small market share and you have to do battle with larger, better-financed competitors, then your marketing strategy was probably faulty, in the first place. You violated the first law of marketing. The basic issue in marketing is creating a category you can be first in. It’s the law of leadership: It’s better to be first than it is to be better. It’s much easier to get into the mind first than to try to convince someone you have a better product than the one that did get there first.
22. The Law of Resources
Without adequate funding an idea won’t get off the ground.
Even the best idea in the world won’t go very far without the money to get it off the ground. Inventors, entrepreneurs, and assorted idea generators seem to
think that all their good ideas need is professional marketing help.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Marketing is a game fought in the mind of the prospect. You need money to get into a mind. And you need money to stay in the mind once you get there.
Warning
The law of perception runs counter to the corporate culture of most companies where trying to be better is deeply ingrained. People are forever running around and “benchmarking” the leader in the category and then setting out to “beat their specs.” It’s what the quality movement is all about.
If you violate the immutable laws, you run the risk of failure. If you apply the immutable laws, you run the risk of being bad-mouthed, ignored, or even ostracized. Have patience. The immutable laws of marketing will help you achieve success. And success is the best revenge of all.
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