The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing – Violate Them at Your Own Risk!
When this book came out back in 1993, I was contracted to the marketing arm of a major Australian telecoms company – which itself was under fire in a newly created open competitive market after federal government de-regulation.
What I read in the book by – Al Ries and Jack Trout was to me mind blowing material. As I had seen first hand what the mistakes were that the company I was with at the time were doing. Plus it helped me to see the simple mistakes of small business marketing in a way I could understand their results – or the lack of results in some cases.
The “laws” in the book are just as valid today as when they first came out. Business hasn’t changed a bit since then, and marketers are still making the same mistakes (and yes some are getting it right too). See if you can see some of your business successes or failures when you apply the laws below;
Summary
The 22 “immutable” laws of marketing:
1. The law of leadership: you want to be first in a category rather than “best” in a category.
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.
3. The law of the mind: even more important than being first in the marketplace is being first in the mind.
4. The law of perception: perceptions count for more than products.
5. The law of focus: owning a word in the prospect’s mind is the most powerful thing there is in marketing. For instance, “kleenex” with paper tissues, “google” with search on the internet, or “xerox” with copiers.
6. The law of exclusivity: two companies cannot both own the same word in the prospect’s mind.
7. The law of the ladder: your strategy depends on where you are on the ladder. On top? One rung down? Your product’s location on the ladder determines what strategic options are available to you.
8. The law of duality: with time, all markets become two-horse races.
9. The law of the opposite: if you are aiming for second place, your strategy is determined by the market leader.
10. The law of division: with time, a given category will split, and become two, or more categories.
11. The law of perspective: the effects of marketing are not immediate and need time to be effective.
12. The law of line extension: the pressure to extend a brand is irresistible, causing what was once a tightly focused product to be a thinly spread line of many products.
13. The law of sacrifice: in order to get something, you must be willing to give up something else.
14. The law of attributes: for every attribute, there is an opposite effective attribute
15. The law of candor: when you admit a negative, the prospect will give you a positive. The example given is of Avis admitting that they are number 2 in rental cars.
16. The law of singularity: for every situation, only one move will produce substantial results.
17. The law of unpredictability: “unless you write your competitor’s plans, you can’t predict the future.”
18. The law of success: “success often leads to arrogance, and arrogance to failure.” Never stray too far from your customers.
19. The law of failure: failure is to be expected and accepted, so don’t be afraid to take risks. You must also be ready to cut your losses when confronted with failure, however.
20. The law of hype: your 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.”
21. The law of acceleration: “successful programs are not built on fads, they’re built on trends.”
22. The law of resources: “without adequate funding, an idea won’t get off the ground.”
As you can see it makes great reading, better still it well worth printing this page and posting it smack in front of you on your desk or some place you’ll see it often just to remind you not to get carried away with your own ego in the marketing process.
What to me sounds silly is that most business owners are simply not interested in marketing or see any form of selling as “beneath them”. Thus they run from even the mere thought of doing any marketing skills education or the willingness to pay to learn about it. As a result they wind up perpetuating the most frequent mistakes again and again in the business and never see the fullest potential they could or worse still hardly get by or they go out of business.
The answer is to see your business as a much bigger player than you are now. And to see your own marketing the way your industry peers do, if they take it seriously, why not you too?