The 22 immutable laws of marketing

1 Laws of Leadership It’s better to be first than it is to be better

 If you’re introducing the first brand in a new category you should always try to
select a name that can work generically.
 It’s better to be first than it is to better [product]
 Benchmarking: comparing and evaluating your company’s products against
the best in the industry.
 It doesn’t work
 Marketing is a battle of perceptions not products
Because it is easier to get into the minds of your potential clients or costumers first,
than it is to convince them that you are a better choice than the one that did get there
first.

2 The Law of Category If you can’t be the 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… Find a new category you can
be first in.
 Stop thinking “how is my product better”, but how is it different?
 Prospects have an open mind when it comes to categories not who is better
 When you’re first in a new category, promote the category.
• Don’t ask yourself how you are better than the competition; ask yourself in
what category you can be first. The example from the book is beer. A high priced
imported beer (Heineken) was a huge success. New category? High priced domestic
beer (Michelob), even greater success.

3 The Law of the Mind It’s better to be first in the mind than first in the
marketplace

 Don’t market to change someone’s mind – ‘Single most wasteful thing’

 People don’t like to change their minds
This law modifies the Law of Leadership with a clearer definition of where exactly
you should be the first. And that is within the minds of your prospects. Which is not
always the marketplace. So it’s sort of the same as #1 but with a “the race is not over
if they launch”-kind of thing attached to it.
4 The Law of Perception Marketing is not a battle of products, it’s a
battle of perception

 All that exists in the world of marketing are perceptions in the minds of the
customer
 People project themselves into area they live or belong within their minds
 Minds of customers or prospects are very difficult to change
 Marketing is a battle of perceptions, not products.
 People base their own buying perceptions on someone else’s perception of
reality – “Everybody knows” perception
The point here is that there is no objective reality, at least not from a marketing point
of view. So what matters is not how things are, but how people believe things are. (I
don’t want this blog to be about politics, but misleading and lying to people are wrong.
Just really wanted that said. /F)

5 The Law of Focus The most powerful concept in marketing is

owning a word in the prospect’s mind

 Associate a word with your brand

 If you can’t own your word own a narrowed focus [i.e. from bigger brands]
 It’s always better to focus on one word than 2,3 or 4
 You can’t take someone else’s word
 Don’t try to change/abandon your word
 Narrow the focus and you become stronger
 You can’t narrow the focus with quality or any other idea that doesn’t have
proponents for the opposite point of view
They say it’s the ultimate sacrifice, because in order to achieve it you have to put all
your efforts into one single product or notion. But the reward is worth it, because if
you manage to get your name associated with that one word, you are the go-to
guy/company for that one word. Examples in the book: “overnight” for FedEx, and
“drive” for BMW. So basically #5 is a way to achieve #3

6 The Law of Exclusivity Two companies cannot own the same word
in the prospect’s mind

 You can’t change people’s minds once they are made up – what you do is
reinforce your competitor’s position by making it’s concept more important.
 What leads marketers down this lane is research. Researchers don’t tell you
that someone else already owns the idea.
And there is no reason to try to get your name to replace the name that is already in
the minds of the prospects, because you can’t change people’s minds once they are
made up. What is more, going for that word often ends up reinforcing the position of
your competitor as you show the importance of the word itself.

7 The Law of the Ladder The strategy to use depends on which rung
you occupy on the ladder

 For each category, there is a product in the mind. On each rung is a brand
name
 You can be successful by relating yourself to the position of other brands in
the mind
 Prospects use their ladders in deciding which information to accept and which
to reject
 There’s a relationship between market share and your position on the ladder.
 What’s the maximum number of rungs on a ladder? There seems to be a rule
of 7 in the prospects mind
 It’s sometimes better to be no.3 on a big ladder than no.1 on a small ladder.
 Before starting any marketing program, deal realistically with your position on
the ladder.
If you are not on top, admit it to yourself and to your customers. And work that to
your advantage. Example: Avis was number two (beneath Hertz) in car rentals. They
acted like number one and lost money for 13 years. Then they switch advertising to
“Avis is No. 2 in rent-a-cars. So why go with us? We try harder” – this made them
(more than) profitable almost immediately.

8 The Law of Duality In the long run, every market becomes a two-
horse race

 Marketing is a two game race

 Third place on the ladder is bad news
 Knowing marketing is a two horse race in the long run can help you plan
strategy in the short run
 Customer’s want the leading brand, based the naïve assumption that leading
brand must be better
Examples from the book: Burger King and McDonalds. Coke and Pepsi. Kodak and
Fuji. Nike and Reebok. And on a distant third place we have a company way fewer
people have heard about. But the authors also suggest that these market shares are
unstable; the leader will lose shares as the runner up will gain. And that a new
number three pops up every now and then as the old number three goes out of
business when it looses the battle against number 2 and number 1. Although this is
a problem most companies will never have.
9 The Law of Opposite If you’re shooting for second place, your
strategy is determined by the leader

 Don’t try to be better try to be different

 Study the firm above you – how is it strong? How do you turn that strength
into a weakeness?
 Too many no.2 brands copy the leader, you must present yourself as an
alternative
 As a product gets old, it often accrues some negative language
 There has to be a ring of truth about the negative if it is to be effective
 Marketing is a battle of legitimacy. The first brand that captures the concept
is often able to portray its competitors as illegitimate pretenders
[Note: case study on Burger King vs. McDonald’s p.55]

In realizing in what way the leader is strong – the essence of it – you can turn this
strength into a weakness. How? There are two types of people, those who want to
buy from the leader and those who don’t. Find a way to appeal to the latter by
highlighting how you are the opposite of the leader.

10 Law of Divisions Over time, a category will divide and become two
or more categories

 Instead of understanding this concept of division, many corporate leaders

hold the naïve belief that categories are combing.
 The way for the leader to maintain its dominance is to address each emerging
category with a different brand name.
 Timing is also important, you can be too early to exploit a new category
 It’s better to be early than late. You can’t get into the prospect’s mind first
unless you’re prepared to spend sometime waiting for things to develop.
The marketing arena is an ever-expanding ocean of categories, for the reasons
mentioned above. But also because we invent new things, variations of a
predecessor that better meet the needs – as the needs themselves become more
specific as a consequence of the predecessor existing in the first place, or
advancements in other fields.

11 The Law of Perspective Marketing effects take place over an

extended period of time

 Sales [seasonal] decrease business because they teach customers not to buy
at regular prices
  Any sort of couponing, discounts or sales tends to educate customers to buy
only when they can get a deal
 Big winners are companies that practice everyday low prices e.g. walmart,
Kmart
 Unless you know what to look for, it’s hard to see the effects of line extension
especially for managers focused on their next quarterly report
The long term-effects of marketing are often the opposite of short-term effects, and
the example used to illustrate the point is the use of sales. In the short run, lowering
prices increase the business, but in the longer run it educates people into only buying
when there is a sale. Short-term gains mean long-term losses.

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
 When you try to be all things to all people you inevitably wind up in trouble
 One reason that line extension is attractive to management is because it can
be a winner in the short term – always a loser long term.
 Management is blinded by an intense loyalty to the company or brand
 What does IBM stand for? Used to be “mainframe computers.” Today it stands
for everything, which means it stands for nothing
 Launching a new brand requires not only money but also an idea or concept
12.1 Be first in a new category

12.2 Be positioned as an alternative to the leader

The reasoning here is that you can’t be all things to all people, and that it isn’t really
the brand name that is stuck in people’s minds, but the product itself. Which means
that when you put your name on another type of product, people will not
automatically buy it. But if you focus all your efforts into making one product fantastic,
you have a much better chance of building a position in the prospect’s mind.

13 The Law of Sacrifice You have to give up something in order to get

something

 If you want to be successful tpday, you need to give something up.

 g. Product line, target market, constant change
 The world of business is populated by big, highly diversified generalists and
small, narrowly focused specialists.
 There seems to be almost religious belief that the wider net catches
more customers, in spite of many examples on the contrary
  Constant change: where is it written that you have to change your strategy
every year at budget review time?
 The best way to maintain a consistent position is not to change it in the first
place
The opposite of line extension. By sacrificing “product lines, target market and
constant change” you increase your chances of doing one thing (or something) very
well, to a dedicated group of people. And have them remembering you. Example
from the book: Fed Ex. When the other shipping companies tried to ship every thing
in every way, Fed Ex focused on small packages overnight. Today they are doing
pretty well.

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
work” goes the rationale, “so lets do something similar.” Not good thinking
 You must have an idea or attribute of your own to focus your efforts around.
Without one you had batter have a low price. A very low price.
 You must try and own the most important attribute
 Your job is to seize a different attribute (to leader), dramatize the value of
attribute and thus increase your share
 You can’t predict the size of a new attributes share, so never laugh (Case
study p.86)
This is basically law #1, #2, #5, #6 and #9, but framed around the selling point of
your product. Or “the attribute” as the authors call it. The goal is to own the selling
point, and if your specific selling point is already taken, the advice from the authors
is to find a new one (just as with law #2, where you invent a new category to be first
in), or have a really, really, low price.

15 The Law of Cander When you admit a negative, the prospect will
give you a positive

 When you admit a negative, your prospect will give you a positive.
 Every negative statement you make about yourself is instantly accepted as a
truth
 Marketing is often a search for the obvious
 When a company starts a message by admitting a problem. People tend to
almost instinctively open their minds. [Case study p91 on Listerine]
 The Law of Cander must be used carefully and with great skill. Your
“Negative” must be widely perceived as a negative. Then, quickly shift to a
positive
The idea here is to first admit something negative, and then spin that into something
positive. The reason why it works is because it is so unexpected, and therefor very
disarming. And since you were so honest people are likely to believe what you say
next. But keep in mind that it has to be something that is generally viewed as
negative, otherwise people will just think that you are weird.

16 The Law of Singularity In each situation, only one move will

produce substantial results

 They seem to think that the best way to grow is the puppy approach – get into
everything
 There is only one place where a competitor is vulnerable. And That place
should be the focus of the entire invading force. What works in marketing is
the same as what works in the military: the unexpected.
There is an idea floating around that if you just put enough work into something it
will work out eventually. This is wrong, according to the authors. At least when it
comes to marketing and war (which for some reason is mentioned quite a lot in this
chapter). The reasoning here is that there is always something that your competitor
is expecting the least, and that this is your opportunity for one single, bold stroke. In
other words, be strong where the competition is weak.

17 The Law of Unpredictability Unless you write your competitors’

plans, you can’t predict the future

 Failure to forecast competitive reaction is a major reason for marketing

failures
 Most corporation’s problems are not related to short-term marketing thinking.
The problem is short term financial thinking.
 Companies that live by numbers die by numbers
 Good short term planning is coming up with that word or angle that
differentiates your product or company. Then set-up a coherent long-term
marketing direction that builds a program to maximise that idea or angle.
 You can get a handle on trends, which is a way to take advantage of change.
One example of a trend is America’s growing orientation toward good health
 A company must be flexible enough to attack itself with a new idea. Change
isn’t easy, but it’s the only way to cope with an unpredictable future.
 There’s a difference between “predicting” the future and “taking a chance” on
the future.
Again a law that is very focused on what your competitors are doing (and not on your
costumers per se), but anyway, the point here is that long-term planning doesn’t
work because you can’t predict the future. What the authors want you to do is some
creative short-term planning and turn that into a long-term marketing direction. Yes,
I know, it sounds like planning. But they insist it is not.

18 The Law of Success Success often leads to arrogance, and

arrogance to failure

 Ego is the enemy of successful marketing

 When a barnd is successful, the company assumes the names is the primary
reason for success. So they promptly look for other products to plaster the
name on.
 Result of branding: early success, but long term failure e.g. Donald Trump
 The more you identify with your brand or corporate name the more likely you
are to fall into the line extension trap
 The bigger the company the more likely it is the chief Exec has lost touch the
front lines
 Cut back on meetings. Go out and see it for yourself. “It’s better to see once
than to hear one hundred times.”
“Ego is the enemy of successful marketing. Objectivity is what’s needed.” And
according to the authors, you lose your objectivity by having your ego inflated by
success. They don’t have a problem with having a big ego, as it can be a very useful
drive, but in order to succeed with your marketing you still need to know what is
going on in the real world – and not cling to your imaginary world of being a golden
god. They mention Donald Trump in this chapter

19 The Law of Failure Failure is to be expected and accepted

 Too many companies try to fix things rather than drop things
 Recognise failure early and cut your losses
 Teams: It’s a lot easier to live with “We were all wrong” than the devastating
“I was wrong.”
 Marketing decisions are often made first with the decision maker’s career in
mind and second with the impact on the competition or the enemy in mind.
 It’s hard to be first in a new category without sticking your neck out
You will fail, and when you do, realize it and accept it quickly. And move on to the
next approach. But why engage in crazy risk-taking? Why not just play everything
safe? Because in marketing and business, it’s hard to be the first without sticking
your neck out. And being the first in one way or another is, as mentioned in the first
couple of laws, a good thing.
20 The Law of Hype The situation is often the opposite of what it
appears in the press

 When things are going well, a company doesn’t need the hype, it usually
means you’re in a trouble.
 Capturing the imagination of the market is not the same as revolutionising the
market
 The situation is often the opposite it appears in the press
Although I don’t really understand the message here, what the authors state is that
when there is a big press coverage of something, that something is likely in need of
a big press coverage. Does that mean that you shouldn’t get a lot of press coverage
for your launch? Or your new product? Not sure. (Btw, it’s in this chapter where they
explicitly predict the failure of Steve Job’s NeXT computer/business: “Will NeXT be
a winner? Of course not. Where is the opening? NeXT is the first in the category of
what?”)

21 The Law of Acceleration Successful programs are not built on fads,

they are built on trends

 Successful programs are not built on fads, they’re built on trends

 By dampening the fad, you stretch the fad out and it becomes more like a
trend. [Good case study on Barbie vs. ninja turtles p.122]
 Forget fads. And when they appear try to dampen them. One way to maintain
a long-term demand for your product is never to totally satisfy the demand
 Most profitbale thing […] long term trend
The message here is that you shouldn’t confuse a fad with a trend. A fad is
something that is popular on a shorter period of time, whereas the subtle onset of a
trend can even go unnoticed, but keeps on gaining momentum. The authors
compare the two to a wave and a tide. And the point is that if you want to build
something, as opposed to make a quick buck or two, you should center your
marketing or business on a trend and not a fad.

22 The Law of Resources Without adequate funding an idea won’t get

of the ground

 Without adequate funding an idea won’t get off the ground

 Ideas without money are useless […] you have to use your idea to find the
money not the marketing help
 The more successful marketers front-load their investment. In other words,
they take no profit for two or three years as they plough all earnings back into
marketing
In 1993, before you could message anyone without knowing them first or build a
following of tens of thousands of people without spending anything but your time and
energy, you couldn’t get anything of the ground without a lot of money. And although
a lot of money certainly helps, you are now living in a digital age with a completely
different set of rules. Think about that instead of the ginormous ad-budget you don’t
have.

23 Warnings

 Many companies are “benchmarking” the leader in the category and setting
out to “beat their specs”
 So… Management won’t take kindly to any suggestions that will take the
emphasis off their better product strategy
 Don’t do any product tinkering (law of sacrifice)
 What word does your company own?
 Accountants will give you a hard time short term
 Line extension is biggest company killer, remain focused
 Management will not take kindly to any efforts to curtail their equity
expansions
 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.