Making Marketing Work

As a business we often need to undertake marketing as well as sales activity (short term and long term views). But how do we do it? What can we learn from the giant international companies and brands?

While waiting for a conference call, I noticed this book on my book shelf, and dug it out for a quick read – its been some times since I last looked at it. As I was thumbing through I realised that there was actually some great and practical ideas here so thought – I must but this on the blog!

So here is the 22 laws as describes with a simple one line explanation (below). If you want more then I recommend the book!

1. The law of leadership
2. The law of the category
3. The law of the mind
4. The law of perception
5. The law of focus
6. The law of exclusivity
7. The law of the ladder
8. The law of duality
9. The law of the opposite
10. The law of division
11. The law of perspective
12. The law of line extension
13. The law of sacrifice
14. The law of attributes
15. The law of candor (candour)
16. The law of  singularity
17. The law of  unpredictability
18. The law of  success
19. The law of failure
20. The law of  hype
21. The law of  acceleration
22. The law of  resources

What do each of these mean?

The law of leadership
Better to be first than it is to be better. In history we can remember the first man to walk on the moon, or the first home PC, but what was the second?

The law of the category
If you cannot be the first in a category, develop a new category you can be first in

The law of the mind
It is better to be first in the mind of your (potential) customers than to be first in the marketplace

The law of perception
Marketing is not a battle of products, its a battle of perceptions

The law of focus
The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospect’s mind

The law of exclusivity
Two companies cannot own the same word in the prospects mind (cola = ??? Coke or Pepsi?) 

The law of the ladder
The strategy to use depends on which rung of the ladder you occupy, are you brand position #1, #2, #3 etc…

The law of duality
In the long run, every market becomes a two horse race

The law of the opposite
If you are aiming for second place, your strategy is determined by the leader

The law of division
Overtime a category will divide and become two or more categories – Eg. laptops-> netbooks & laptops

The law of perspective
Marketing effects take place over an extended period of time – much like alcohol, marketing activities have a different effect in the short & long terms. Sometimes the short term is the opposite of the long term

The law of line extension
There is often an irresistible pressure to extent the equity of the brand – more flavors (flavours), different markets, more options

The law of sacrifice
You often have to give up something in order to get something else (where is it written that the more you have to sell, the more you sell?)

The law of attributes
For every attribute, there is an opposite, effective attribute ( link with law of exclusivity, if you don’t have the word look at the opposite – not similar)

The law of candor (candour)
When you admit a negative, the prospect will give you a positive, (think Marmite)

The law of  singularity
In each situation, only one move will produce substantial results. Here focus is critical, take the bold approach. What works in marketing… the unexpected!

The law of  unpredictability
Unless you write your competitors’ plans, you cannot predict the future

The law of  success
Success often leads to arrogance, and arrogance to failure

The law of failure
Failure with any given strategy is to be expected and accepted, and learned from. Often its better to drop something than it is to attempt to “fix” it. 

The law of  hype
The situation is often the opposite of the way it appears in the media. When a company is very successful you do not hear from them, when things start going wrong, they communicate, communicate, communicate… 

The law of  acceleration
Successful marketing programmes are not built on fads, they are built on trends. If a fad is like an ocean wave, then a trend is the tide, the wave its the headlines, but the strength of the tide is often not newsworthy. Until it is too high!

The law of  resources
Without adequate funding an idea wont get off the ground. Even the best idea cannot progress until it is in the mind of your prospects. You need cash resources to get it into peoples minds, and you need resources to keep it in their minds.

Based on the book The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries & Jack Trout. Worth a read!