An Expert Advice on How To Place, Position and Market your product Without Spending $200.
The 22 immutable laws of marketing.
Marketing isn’t a battle of product rather its a battle of perception.
I hate the word marketing, but not anymore.
To make your product or services stand out from the rest, you need good marketing. And marketing, if you must know, is a battle.
What marketing isn’t: Not a battle of product.
What marketing is: A battle of perception.
Marketing is a battle of perception because once you can get your product to stick in people's minds, it’s going to be difficult to convince them to change their minds about it. So good marketing is a race to get to the mind of the people first and not a race to show them your product.
Do you need to make your product perfect? should you start big or small? Do you look for investors first? All these are questions I often ask myself? Yet, at its core, building a product or rendering services boils down to one thing. Good marketing.
I recently stumbled upon a book by Ryan Holiday in which he recommends the 22 immutable laws of marketing by Ai rise and jack Strout. Irrespective of what you do, the book is a must-read for everyone.
Without much ado here are the laws from the book as summarized.
1. The Law of leadership.
It is better to be first than it is to be better.
One thing with marketing been a battle of perception and not a product is that you want to create a category in which you can be first in.
This is because it is 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. The leading brand in any category is always the first brand in the prospect’s mind.
One reason why the first brand tends to maintain its leadership is that the name often becomes generic. Xerox and coke are examples of companies that follow this law.
2. The Law of Category.
If you can’t be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in.
Most people ask themselves the wrong questions before they launch their product and this leads to disaster for them. When you launch a new product, the first question to ask yourself is not “How is this new product better than the competitor? but “first what? What category is this new product first in?
When you’re the first in a new category, promote the category. In essence, you have no competition.
What’s the name of the third person to fly the Atlantic Ocean solo? You probably don’t know. Yet you do. It’s Amelia Earhart. But she isn’t known for that. She is known as the first woman to do so.
Always remember that everyone is interested in what’s new. Few people are interested in what’s better.
3. The Law of the Mind
It is better to be first in the mind than it is to be first in the market place.
If marketing is a battle of perception, not product, then the mind takes precedence over the market place.
Learn to make your product first in the mind of the prospect before the market place because the single most wasteful thing you can do in marketing is trying to change a mind.
Having a simple, easy-to-remember name helps get into prospect’s minds.
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 but 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.
Marketing is a manipulation of these perceptions.
Marketing is a manipulation of these perceptions.
The only reality you can be sure of is your own perception. Only by studying how perceptions are formed in the mind and focusing your marketing programs on those perceptions can you overcome your basically incorrect marketing instincts.
A perception that exists in the mind is often interpreted as a universal truth. People are seldom, if ever, wrong. At least in their own minds.
5. The Law of Focus
The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospect’s mind.
The essence of marketing is narrowing the focus.
You become stronger when you reduce the scope of your operations. You can’t stand for something if you chase after everything.
The law of leadership enables the first brand or company to own a word in the mind of the prospect.
When you see Apple products, what comes to mind? Apple products are always different from their competitors. No wonder their slogan says “Think Different”.
Once you have your word, you must go out of your way to protect it in the marketplace.
6. The Law of exclusivity
Two companies cannot own the same word in the prospect mind.
When a competitor owns a word or position in the prospect’s mind, it is futile to attempt to own the same word.
Toyota owns let’s go places, Honda owns the power of dreams. Same companies different words in the prospect mind.
It’s wrong to think that if you spend enough money, you can own the idea.
7. The Law of the ladder
The strategy to use depends on which rung of the ladder you occupy.
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 number 2 and number 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.
Because the mind is selective, prospects use their ladders in deciding which information to accept and which information to reject. In general, a mind accepts only new data that is consistent with its product ladder in that category. Everything else is ignored.
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. Coca Cola and Pepsi, Mcdonald and Burger king.
In the long run, marketing is a two-game race and knowing that marketing is a two-horse race, in the long run, can help you plan strategy in the short run.
Successful marketers concentrate on the top two rungs.
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 number 2 to turn the tables. If your strategy is determined by the leader while aiming for second place then you need to be different and not better.
If you want to establish a firm foothold on the second rung of the ladder, study the firm above you. Where is it strong? And how do you turn that strength into a weakness? You must discover the essence of the leader and then present the prospect with the opposite. (In other words, don’t try to be better, try to be different.)
Yet, too many potential number 2 brands try to emulate the leader. This usually is an error.
You must present yourself as an alternative. Marketing is often a battle for legitimacy. The first brand that captures the concept is often able to portray its competitors as illegitimate pretenders.
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, over time, the category breaks up into other segments. Mainframes, minicomputers, workstations, personal computers, laptops, notebooks, pen computers.
Three brands (Chevrolet, Ford, and Plymouth) dominated the market. Then the category divided. Today we have luxury cars, moderately priced cars, and inexpensive cars. Full-size, intermediates, and compacts. Sports cars, four-wheel-drive vehicles, RVs, and minivans.
Social media, for example, LinkedIn rules the co-operate social space. YouTube rules the video sharing community, while Instagram rules the picture sharing community.
Each segment is a separate, distinct entity. Each segment has its own reason for existence. And each segment has its own leader, which is rarely the same as the leader of the original category.
11. The Law of perspective
Marketing effects take place over an extended period of time.
Is alcohol a stimulant or a depressant?
If you visit almost any bar and grill on a Friday night after work, you’d swear that alcohol was a stimulant. The noise and laughter are strong evidence of alcohol’s stimulating effects. Yet at 4:00 in the morning, when you see a few happy-hour customers sleeping it off in the streets, you’d swear that alcohol is a depressant.
Chemically, alcohol is a strong depressant. But in the short term, by depressing a person’s inhibitions, alcohol acts as a stimulant.
Many marketing moves exhibit the same phenomenon. The long-term effects are often the exact opposite of the short-term effects.
In the short term, overeating satisfies the psyche, but in the long run, it causes obesity and depression. In many other areas of life (spending money, taking drugs, having sex) the long-term effects of your actions are often the opposite’ of the short-term effects.
Marketing on the surface looks easy but it isn’t marketing a game for amateurs.
12. The Law of Line extension
There is an irresistible pressure to extend the equity of the brand.
When a company becomes incredibly successful, it invariably plants the seeds for its future problems. Because there is a need to branch out and put your name on everything.
In a narrow sense, line extension involves taking the brand name of a successful product and putting it on a new product you plan to introduce. Ever wonder what happened to Dangote juice, Dangote pasta, Dangote paste, etc. Its because it violates the law of line extension.
When you try to be all things to all people, you inevitably wind up in trouble.
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 mind. Invariably, the leader in any category is the brand that is not line extended.
A line extension is a loser in the long term, but it can be a winner in the short term (remember Law 11: The Law of Perspective).
For many companies, line extension is the easy way out. Launching a new brand requires not only money but also an idea or concept.
For a new brand to succeed, it ought to be first in a new category (chapter 1: The Law of Leadership). Or the new brand ought to be positioned as an alternative to the leader (chapter 9: The Law of the Opposite).
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.
Product line: If you want to be successful, you have to reduce your product line, not expand it.
The world of business is populated by big, highly diversified generalists and small, narrowly focused specialists. If line extension and diversification were effective marketing strategies, you’d expect to see the generalists riding high. But they’re not. Most of them are in trouble. The generalist is weak.
Target market: Where is it written that you have to appeal to everybody? The target is not the market. That is, the apparent target of your marketing is not the same as the people who will actually buy your product.
Constant change: The best way to maintain a consistent position is not to change it in the first place. If you try to follow the twists and turns of the market, you are bound to wind up off the road. Good things come to those who sacrifice.
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 keyword here is opposite — similar won’t do.
Marketing is a battle of ideas. So if you are to succeed, you must have an idea or attribute of your own to focus your efforts around. Without one, you had better have a low price. A very low price. Your job is to seize a different attribute, dramatize the value of your attribute, and thus increase your share.
15. The Law of candor
When you admit a negative, the prospect will give you a positive.
Every negative statement you make about yourself is instantly accepted as truth. Positive statements, on the other hand, are looked at as dubious at best. Especially in an advertisement. If your name is bad, you have two choices: change the name or make fun of it. The one thing you can’t do is to ignore a bad name.
You have to prove a positive statement to the prospect’s satisfaction. No proof is needed for a negative statement.
The law of candor must be used carefully and with great skill. First, your “negative” must be widely perceived as negative. It has to trigger an instant agreement with your prospect’s mind. If the negative doesn’t register quickly, your prospect will be confused and will wonder, “What’s this all about?” Next, you have to shift quickly to the positive.
The purpose of candor isn’t to apologize. The purpose of candor is to set up a benefit that will convince your prospect.
This law only proves the old maxim: Honesty is the best policy.
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. However, 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.
Trying harder is not the secret of marketing success.
Most often there is only one place where a competitor is vulnerable. And that place should be the focus of the entire invading force.
To find that singular idea or concept, marketing managers have to know what’s happening in the marketplace because 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 plan, 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.
How can you best cope with unpredictability? While you can’t predict the future, you can get a handle on trends, which is a way to take advantage of change. Change isn’t easy but its the only way to cope with an unpredictable future.
Good short-term planning is coming up with that angle or word that differentiates your product or company. Then you set up a coherent long-term marketing direction that builds a program to maximize that idea or angle. Not a long-term plan, but a long-term direction.
When you assume that nothing will change, you are predicting the future just as surely as when you assume that something will change. One way to cope with an unpredictable world is to build an enormous amount of flexibility into your organization by taking a “chance” on the future and not predicting it.
NOTE: There is a difference between predicting the future and taking a chance on the future.
18. The Law of success
Success often leads to arrogance and arrogance to failure.
Ego is the enemy of successful marketing. What is needed is objectivity.
When people become successful, they tend to become less objective. They often substitute their own judgment for what the market wants.
Success is often the fatal element behind the rash of line extensions.
When a brand is successful, the company assumes the name is the primary reason for the brand’s success. So they promptly look for other products to plaster the name on. The more you identify with your brand or corporate name, the more likely you are to fall into the line extension trap.
Actually, ego is helpful. It can be an effective driving force in building a business. What hurts is injecting your ego in the marketing process.
Brilliant marketers have the ability to think as a prospect thinks. They put themselves in the shoes of their customers. They don’t impose their own view of the world on the situation. (Keep in mind that the world is all perception anyway, and the only thing that counts in marketing is the customer’s perception.)
19. The law of failure
Failure is expected and accepted.
Too many companies try to fix things rather than drop things.
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.
When things are going well, a company doesn’t need the hype. When you need the hype, it usually means you’re in trouble.
Real revolutions in the industry don’t arrive at high noon with marching bands. They arrive unannounced in the middle of the night and sneak up on you.
21. The Law of acceleration
Successful programs are not built on fads, they are 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.
If you were faced with a rapidly rising business, with all the characteristics of a fad, the best thing you could do would be to dampen the fad. By dampening the fad, you stretch the fad out and it becomes more like a trend.
One way to maintain a long-term demand for your product is to never totally satisfy the demand. But the best, most profitable thing to ride in marketing is a long-term trend.
22. The law of resources
Without adequate funding, an idea won’t get off the ground.
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.
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.
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had a great idea. But it was Mike Markkula’s $91,000 that put Apple Computer on the map.
You have to use your idea to find the money, not the marketing help. Marketing can come later.
In marketing, the rich often get richer because they have the resources to drive their ideas into the mind. Their problem is separating the good ideas from the bad ones, and avoiding spending money on too many products and too many programs (law 5: The Law of Focus).
Money makes the marketing world go round. If you want to be successful today, you’ll have to find the money you need to spin those marketing wheels.
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 and the immutable laws of marketing will help you achieve success. And success is the best revenge of all.
