Al Ries and Jack Trout, two world-renowned marketing consultants and bestsellin
g authors, present the definitive rules of marketing in The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk!
Here are four innovative rules for understanding and succeeding in the international marketplace:
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.
Creating a category you can be first in
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 mind first than to try to convince someone 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
After IBM became a big success in computers, many other companies (and their entrepreneurial owners) became rich and famous by following a simple principle: If you can’t be first in a category, set up a new category you can be 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 world’s first personal computer was the MITS Altair 8800. The law of leadership would suggest that the MITS Altair 8800 (an unfortunate choice of names) ought to be Nº1 personal computer brand. Unfortunately, the product is no longer with us.
The law of the mind follows from the law of perception. If marketing is a battle of perception, not product, then the mind takes precedence over the marketplace. Thousands of would-be entrepreneurs are tripped up every year by this law. Someone has an idea or concept he or she believes will revolutionize an industry, as well it may. The problem is getting the idea or concept into the prospect’s mind.
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.
Marketing people are preoccupied with doing research and ‘getting the facts.’ They analyze the situation to make sure that truth is on their side. Then they sail confidently into the marketing arena, secure in the knowledge that they have the best product and that ultimately the best product will win.
It’s an illusion. 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 all illusion.
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