The latest book that I finished reading was the 22 Immutable Laws Of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout. Not only these laws are essential to success, not following them is a sure path to failure. Following are the laws and a short description of them. I actually had to read the book (listen to it) for a second time to complete this article.
1. The Law of Leadership
The law of leadership is about being first in a category. People knows the number one player/company in their product category of interest. Once you are number one, it is much harder for number two to take over – even if the number 2 has a better product.
This law of course has exceptions but mostly due to companies breaking other immutable marketing laws.
2. The Law of the Category
The law of category restates the importance of the law of leadership in a different way. It says if you are not number 1 in a category, invent a new category that you can be number 1 in. It is so important to be number 1 in a category, that you are better off to be number one in a new category (that you invent) than to be number 2 or 3 in an existing category.
For example instead of trying to be the best entrepreneur blogger I try to be the best Iranian entrepreneur blogger.
3. The Law of the Mind
This law states that “it is more important to be first in the mind than first to marketplace.”
When I was reading the law of leadership, I figured when you are first to the market you are naturally first to the mind too. However, that is not true. So simply being first to the market is not enough. You should make sure customers know you are there and that you are the first.
4. The Law of the Perception
This laws states that perception is more important than quality. In other words “marketing is a battle of perception and not a battle of products”. The best products/websites don’t always win the marketing battles. In fact many times a product becomes a best seller before it actually (if ever) becomes best in its category.
This is not to say forget about making a better product, but keep in mind that it is better to be “better” in a specific category than to be “better” in general. You are much better off if you can make a product that solves one specific problem and market your product around that specific improvement, than to simply make a product that is slightly better in every feature and market your product to be simply “better” than the competition.
5. The Law of Focus
The law of focus “the most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospect’s mind.” This is extremely important. If you can associate your service/product with one word and make that word stick to customers mind you are a natural winner.
What company do we all thing of when we think of “overnight”? (FedEx).
Some points to remember regarding this law are:
- When picking your magic word, pick a word that is common and easy to remember.
- Don’t associate yourself with a word that is already associated with another product.
- “You can’t stand for something if you chase everything”.
6. The Law of Exclusivity
The law of exclusivity says that “Two companies cannot own the same word in the prospect’s mind”.
7. The Law of the Ladder
While it is important to be first into the mind of the customers, if you are second or third you haven’t lost all your chances. This law states that every category has a ladder of leaders. As long as you follow the correct marketing strategy for your position in the ladder you can become successful. That is to say that if you are 2nd in your category, don’t follow the same strategies as the number 1 would.
The main strategy regarding this law is to acknowledge your position in the ladder. For example, if you are 2nd in the category don’t advertise your products to be the first and best. Acknowledge your position in the ladder to your customers and perhaps campaign “we know we are number 2 but we try harder”.
8- The Law of Duality
This law states that in the long run the battle become a battle between two major players.
9. The Law of Opposite
Law of opposite states that if you are shooting for 2nd place, your marketing strategy is determined by the company in 1st place. Study the strengths of the 1st place product and see how you can turn that strength against it. ” As the book puts it, “like a wrestler uses its opponents strength against him, you should do the same if you are number 2 in a category.”
- Don’t try to be better or copy the leader – be different.
- Position yourself against the number 1. Many times the customers are either end of liking or not liking a brand. So offer an alternative to number 1.
10. The Law of Division
The law of division states that each original category will divide and become several smaller categories.
For example at first we had a category “computer” but now many categories such as “personal”, “business”, “super computer”, etc. “Cars” was a general category in the old time. Now we have “luxury cars”, “coupe”, “sedan”, “van”, etc.
The lesson to learn from this law is that if you are going to offer a new line of product
- Don’t go against the leader in a category, create a new sub-category if possible.
- Try to use a different brand name than your current one if your current brand is already associated with a different category. For example, when Honda wanted to get into the luxury car market, they didn’t simply make Honda MDX, they started a new brand called “Accura”. They even set different dealerships for the two different brands to not cause any confusion.
11. The Law of Perspective
The law of perspective states that “marketing effects take place over an extended period of time”. In other words the short term effects are often opposite to the long term effects. For example a bank robbery might earn you $100,000 in one day, but you will spend 10 years in jail. So you either made $100,000 in one day or $10,000 a year for 10 years – depends on the perspective.
It is important to pay attention to this law as successful marketing takes place over long time. The book gives an interesting example of “line extension”. When companies extend their product line it usually translates in short term high profits, but in long term this will translate to disaster. This can be seen in beer companies that keep adding new beer lines as it inevitably creates competition for the older beer and might cause customers to not be able to connect the beer to the main brand anymore.
The lesson to be learned is to be patient. Don’t be so concerned with quarterly report that would cause you lose touch with long term goals.
12. The Law of Line Extension
Line extension is dangerous. Don’t get into every business that you have the capability to. It is very tempting to do line extension when your company is successful. Take General Electric for example. They make everything from light bulbs to Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) to airplane engines, to refrigerators, and biomedical equipment. They make everything and offer every service and are not strong anywhere.
- “It is better to be strong in one category than to be weak in every category.”
- “The leader in every category is the one without line extension.”
- Line extension is a sure way to failure in long term but more profit in short term. Don’t fall for it.
13. The Law of Sacrifice
This law states that you have to give up something in order to get something. There are 3 main sacrifices that are required for a successful long term marketing campaign.
- 1. Concentrate on one service and/or product and sacrifice the others.
In terms of online business, focus on the website that is making you money. If you want to start a new website/project, establish it as a separate business as if the first one didn’t exist, but don’t use the resources of the first website to constantly fund the second project even if the second website is losing money. I have done that in many of new websites and it has always failed. Now, when I start a new website other than the first capital that I put into it, it has to fund itself from that point on. Very rarely do I put more money into it from my other site’s earnings.
- 2. Concentrate on one targeted market. Don’t market to everyone.
For example, don’t try to market your product to everybody, concentrate on one target (by age, gender, income level, region, etc). Targeting one market doesn’t necessarily mean that only that market will buy your product. For example, when Pepsi targets teenagers in their Pepsi ads, it doesn’t’ translate into only teenagers buying the prdocut; everybody will. The 50 year old guy that wants to feel young will buy Pepsi too. However it is imporant to adjust your marketing campaign toward one particular target.
- 3. Don’t make constant changes. “The best way to keep a successful campaign is to not change it at all.”
This happens to many companies when they become successful and are tempted to get into new businesses and offering more and every product/service. This will cause the company to lose track of what it has always been standing for and possibly lose their place in the customers mind.
14. The Law of Attributes
This law states that “for every attribute, there is an opposite, effective attribute.”
Instead of following the leader in a category and offering the same attributes, try to find a new and opposite attribute and offer that to your customers.
15. The Law of Candor
“When you admit a negative the prospect will give you a positive.” If you admit a negative you can much easier turn into positive and profit.
I strongly agree with this law. Negative statements about yourself are instantly accepted by people but positive statements need proof. If your product has negative attributes in the mind of customers it is very hard to change those perspective. By admitting the negatives of your product you create a feeling of trust with the customer and unconscionably cause the customers mind. With their minds open you can much easier change the negative to positive.
A good example is Listerine accepting that their mouth wash tastes bad (negative) but at the same time connecting it to better cleaning mouth (positive).
16. The Law of Singularity
The law of singularity states that “in each situation only one move will produce substantial results.” This is to say that you can’t use the same strategy as the number of 1 company in a category (or any successful company) and expect the same results. Each solution is unique to specific company and can not be copied line by line for an identical result.
17. The Law of Unpredictability
This law states that you can’t predict what your competitors do, so don’t try. Understand that making decisions based on predictions of what your competitor will do is different than making calculated risks. Don’t plan on details of what you think the competitor will do as they will surprise you.
“It is different to predict the future and make plan than to take a chance on future.”
18. The Law of Success
The law of success states that “success often leads to arrogance, and arrogance to failure”. This law warns you not to fall far from your customers when you become successful. Many small companies have great customer service and pay close attention to keeping the customers happy; when they grow due to their good customer service, they lose touch with those same customers and go on a path of failure.
19. The Law of Failure
This law states that “failure is to be expected and accepted”. This is pretty obvious. Any success will inevitably bring failure sooner or later. We, as entrepreneurs take risks and that is exactly why we are successful. But the lesson to learn is that when you realize you have failed, cut your losses. If your website is losing money, accept it and stop putting more and more money into it for
20. The Law of Hype
The law of hype states that “history is filled with marketing failures that were successful in the press”. Don’t get hyped up over media coverage or press releases as they don’t necessarily translate into profit.
21.The Law of Acceleration
“Successful programs are not built on fads, they’re built on trends”.
“Fads are A fashion that is taken up with great enthusiasm for a brief period of time; a craze.” Fads accelerate very quickly, but often don’t last long. Chasing them is expensive and it is important to be able to differentiate between fads and trends and try to turn fads into trends.
22. The Law of Resources
This law states that “without adequate funding, an idea won’t get off the ground”. You need money to get into people’s mind and more money to stay there.
- Use the new idea that you have to find funding and not marketing. The marketing will come later.
- Be prepared to give up a lot to find funding. This particularly applies to many of us, internet entrepreneurs.
