77 Quotes from The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries
''Almost no one is
willing to admit that there are any laws of marketing—certainly none that are
immutable.There are laws of nature, so why shouldn’t there be laws of
marketing? You can build a great-looking airplane, but it’s not going to get
off the ground unless it adheres to
the laws of physics, especially the law of gravity. You can build an
architectural masterpiece on a sand dune, but the first hurricane will
undermine your creation. So it follows that you can build a brilliant marketing
program only to have one of the immutable laws knock you flat if you don’t know
what they are.''
― Al Ries, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
''The Law of Leadership;It’s better to be first than it is
to be better.''
― Al Ries, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
''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 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 almost always the first brand into the
prospect’s mind. Hertz in renta-cars. IBM in computers. Coca-Cola in cola….Not
every first is going to become successful, however.Timing is an issue—your
first could be too late.For example, USA
Today is the first national newspaper,but it is
unlikely to succeed. It has already lost $800 million and has never had a
profitable year. In a television era, it may be too late for a national
newspaper.''
''People tend to stick with what they’ve got. If you meet
someone a little better than your wife or husband,it’s really not worth making
the switch, what with attorneys’ fees and dividing up the house and kids.''
''Gillette was the first safety razor. Tide was the first
laundry detergent. Hayes was the first computer modem. Leaders all.One reason
the first brand tends to maintain its leadership is that the name often becomes
generic…. If you’re introducing the first brand in a new category, you should
always try to select a name that can work generically.''
''Benchmarking is the process of comparing and evaluating your
company’s products against the best in the industry. It’s an essential element
in a process often called 'total quality management.' Unfortunately,
benchmarking doesn’t work.Regardless of reality, people perceive the first
product into the mind as superior.
Marketing is a battle of perceptions,not products.''
― Al Ries, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
''If you’re second into the prospect’s mind, are you doomed to
languish forever with Buzz Aldrin, John Landy, John Adams, some unknown English
muffin,and some unknown sports drink? Not necessarily.Fortunately, there are
other laws.''
― Al Ries, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
''The Law of the category:If you can’t be first in a
category,set up a new category you can be first in.''
― Al Ries, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
''If you didn’t get into the prospect’s mind first, don’t give
up hope. Find a new category you can be first in.It’s not as difficult as you
might think….[For example],the most successful computer company of the
seventies and eighties, next to IBM, was Digital Equipment Corporation. IBM was
first in computers. DEC was first in minicomputers.''
''When you launch a new product, the first question to ask
yourself is not “How is this new product better than the competition?” but
“First what?” In other words, what category is this new product first in?...This
is counter to classic marketing thinking, which is brand oriented: How do I get people to prefer my brand?
Forget the brand. Think categories. Prospects are on the defensive when it
comes to brands.Everyone talks about why their brand is better. But prospects
have an open mind when it comes to categories.Everyone is interested in what’s new. Few people are
interested in what’s better.When you’re the first in a new category, promote the category.
In essence, you have no competition. DEC told its prospects why they ought to
buy a minicomputer,not a DEC minicomputer.''
''You want to change something in a computer? Just type over or
delete the existing material. You want to change something in a mind? Forget
it. Once a mind is made up,it rarely, if ever, changes. The single most wasteful thing you can do in marketing is try to change
a mind.''
''If you want to make a big impression on another person, you
cannot worm your way into their mind and then slowly build up a favorable
opinion over a period of time. The mind doesn’t work that way. You have to
blast your way into the mind.The reason you blast instead of worm is that
people don’t like to change their minds. Once they perceive you one way, that’s it. They kind of file you away in their
minds as a certain kind of person. You cannot become a different person in
their minds.''
''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.''
''What some marketing people see as the natural laws of
marketing are based on a flawed premise that the product is the hero of the
marketing program and that you’ll win or lose based on the merits of the
product.Which is why the natural, logical way to market a product is invariably wrong. 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.''
''The three largest-selling Japanese imported cars in America
are Honda, Toyota, and Nissan.Most marketing people think the battle between
the three brands is based on quality, styling, horsepower,and price. Not true.
It’s what people think about a Honda, a Toyota, or a Nissan that determines which brand will
win. Marketing is a battle of perceptions.''
''Marketing is a battle of perceptions, not products. Marketing
is the process of dealing with those perceptions.''
''The Law of Focus;The most
powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospect’s mind.''
''If you’re not a leader, then your word has to have a narrow
focus. Even more important, however, your word has to be “available” in your
category. No one else can have a lock on it.You don’t have to be a linguistic
genius to find a winner. Prego went against leader Ragu in the spaghetti sauce
market and captured a 27 percent share with an idea borrowed from Heinz.
Prego’s word is thicker.The most effective words are simple and benefit oriented. No
matter how complicated the product, no matter how complicated the needs of the
market, it’s always better to focus on one word or benefit rather than two or
three or four….Whether the result of a deliberate program or not,most
successful companies (or brands) are the ones that 'own a word' in the mind of
the prospect.''
''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.
Some companies accept the need to narrow the focus and try to
accomplish this strategy in ways that are selfdefeating.'We’ll focus on the
quality end of the market.We won’t get into the low end where the emphasis is on price.' The problem is that customers don’t believe you unless you restrict your
business to high-priced products only, like Mercedes-Benz or BMW.''
''Everybody stands for quality. As a result, nobody does.You
can’t narrow the focus with quality or any other idea that doesn’t have
proponents for the opposite point of view. You can’t position yourself as an
honest politician, because nobody is willing to take the opposite position
(although there are plenty of potential candidates). You can, however, position
yourself as the pro-business candidate or the pro-labor candidate and be instantly accepted as such because there is support for the
other side.''
''The law of focus applies to whatever you’re selling,or even
whatever you’re unselling. Like drugs, for example. The antidrug crusade on
television and in magazines suffers from a lack of focus. There is no one word
driven into the minds of drug users that could begin to unsell the drug concept. Antidrug advertising
is all over the map.You’d think the antidrug forces (who, after all, are
professionals) would have taken a leaf from the amateurs fighting the abortion
issue. Both sides of the abortion issue have focused on single, powerful words—pro-life and pro-choice.The
antidrug forces should do the same—focus on a single powerful word. What the
campaign ought to do is make drugs what cigarettes are today, socially
unacceptable. One word that could do this is the ultimate down word, loser.
Since drug usage causes all kinds of losses (of job, family, self-esteem,
freedom,life), a program that said 'Drugs are for losers' could have a very powerful impact, especially on the recreational
user, who is more concerned with social status than with getting high.''
''The Law of Exclusivity;Two companies cannot own the same
word in the prospect’s mind.''
''When a competitor owns a word or position in the prospect’s mind,
it is futile to attempt to own the same word….[for example], Volvo owns safety.
Many other automobile companies, including Mercedes-Benz and General Motors,
have tried to run marketing campaigns based on safety. Yet no one except Volvo has
succeeded in getting into the prospect’s mind with a safety message.''
''The Law of Duality;In the long run, every market becomes a two-horse race.''
''In a maturing industry, third place is a difficult position to
be in.Take the domestic automobile industry. In spite of heroic measures
undertaken by Lee Iacocca, Chrysler is in trouble. In the long run, marketing is a two-car race.''
''Knowing that marketing is a two-horse race in the long run can
help you plan strategy in the short run.It often happens that there is no clearcut
No. 2.What happens next depends upon how skillful the contenders are. Take the
laptop computer field. Toshiba is in first place with 21 percent of the market. But there are
five companies in second place.''
''Successful marketers concentrate on the top two rungs. Jack
Welch, the legendary chairman and CEO of General Electric, said recently: “Only
businesses that are No. 1 or No. 2 in their markets could win in the
increasingly competitive global arena. Those that could not were fixed, closed, or sold.” It’s this kind of
thinking that built companies like Procter & Gamble into the powerhouses
they are. In 32 of its 44 product categories in the United States, P&G
commands the No. 1 or No. 2 brands.''
''The customer
believes that marketing is a battle of products. It’s this kind of thinking
that keeps the two brands on top: 'They must be the best, they’re the leaders.' ''
''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 No. 2 to turn the tables.Much like a
wrestler uses his opponent’s strength against him, a company should leverage the leader’s strength
into a weakness.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.) It’s often the upstart versus old reliable.Coca-Cola is a
100-year-old product….Coca-Cola is the old, established product. However, using
the law of the opposite, Pepsi-Cola reversed the essence of Coca-Cola to become
the choice of a new generation: the Pepsi Generation.''
― Al Ries, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
''When you look at customers in a given product category,there
seem to be two kinds of people. There are those who want to buy from the leader
and there are those who don’t want to buy from the leader. A potential No. 2
has to appeal to the latter group.In other words, by positioning yourself against the leader,
you take business away from all the other alternatives to No. 1. If old people
drink Coke and young people drink Pepsi, there’s nobody left to drink Royal
Crown cola.''
''The law of the opposite is a two-edge sword. It requires
honing in on a weakness that your prospect will quickly acknowledge. (One whiff
of Listerine and you know that your mouth would smell like a hospital.) Then quickly
twist the sword. (Scope is the good-tasting mouthwash that kills germs.)''
''A good No. 2 can’t afford to be timid….Take the sad story of
Burger King in recent years. Burger King’s most successful years came when it
was on the attack. It opened with 'Have it your way,' which twitted McDonald’s
mass-manufacturing approach to hamburgers. Then it hit McDonald’s with 'Broiling,
not frying' and 'The Whopper beats the big Mac.' All these programs reinforced
the No. 2, alternative position.Then, for some unknown reason, Burger King ignored
the law of the opposite. It got timid and stopped attacking McDonald’s….Burger
King’s sales per unit declined and have never returned to the level they were
when it was on the attack.''
''The Law of Division;Over time, a category will divide and
become two or more categories.''
― Al Ries, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
''A category starts off as a single entity. Computers,for
example. But over time, the category breaks up into other segments. Mainframes,
minicomputers, workstations,personal computers, laptops, notebooks, pen computers….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. IBM is the leader in mainframes,DEC in minis, Sun in
workstations, and so on.Instead of understanding this concept of division,many
corporate leaders hold the naive belief that categories are combining.''
― Al Ries, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
''Companies make a mistake when they try to take a well-known
brand name in one category and use the same brand name in another category. A
classic example is the fate that befell Volkswagen, the company that introduced
the small-car category to America. Its Beetle was a big winner that grabbed 67
percent of the imported-car market in the United States.Volkswagen was so
successful that it began to think it could be like General Motors and sell bigger, faster,
and sportier cars. So it swept up whatever models it was making in Germany and
shipped them all to the United States. But unlike GM, it used the same brand,
Volkswagen, for all of its models.'Different Volks for different folks,' said the advertising, which
featured five different models, including the Beetle…. Needless to say, the
only thing that kept selling was the “small” thing, the Beetle.Well, Volkswagen
found a way to fix that. It stopped selling the Beetle in the United States and started selling a
new family of big, fast, expensive Volkswagens….Unfortunately for Volkswagen,
the small-car category continued to expand. And since people couldn’t buy a
long-lasting, economical VW, they shifted to Toyota, Honda, and Nissan.Today
Volkswagen’s 67 percent share has shrunk to less than 4 percent.''
― Al Ries, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
''The Law of Perspective;Marketing effects take place over
an extended period of time.''
''Does a sale increase a company’s business or decrease it?
Obviously, in the short term, a sale increases business. But there’s more and
more evidence to show that sales decrease business in the long term by
educating customers not to buy at 'regular' prices.Aside from the fact that you can buy something for less, what
does a sale say to a prospect? It says that your regular prices are too high.
After the sale is over,customers tend to avoid a store with a 'sale' reputation.''
''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. Why then is it so
hard to comprehend that marketing effects take place over an extended period of
time?''
''The Law of Line Extension;There’s an irresistible
pressure to extend the equity of the brand.''
''One day a company is tightly focused on a single product that is
highly profitable. The next day the same company is spread thin over many
products and is losing money.Take IBM. Years ago when IBM was focused on mainframe
computers, the company made a ton of money. Today IBM is into everything and
barely breaking even…When you try to be all things to all people, you
inevitably wind up in trouble. ' I’d rather be strong somewhere,' said one
manager, 'than weak everywhere.' ''
''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.First, the product
line. Where is it written that the more you have to sell, the more you sell?...
Let’s discuss the second sacrifice, target market.Where is it written that you
have to appeal to everybody?... Finally, the third sacrifice: constant change.
Where is it written that you have to change your strategy every year at budget
review time?If you try to follow the twists and turns of the market, you are
bound to wind up off the road. The best way to maintain a consistent position
is not to change it in the first place.''
''People Express had a brilliant 'narrow' position to start
with. It was the no-frills airline that flew to nofrills cities at no-frills
prices. People used to get on a People Express plane and say, 'Where are we going?' They didn’t
care, as long as it was cheap enough. What did People Express do after it
became successful?It tried to be all things to all people. It invested in new
equipment, like 747s. It started to fly the heavily traveled routes to places
like Chicago and Denver, not to mention Europe. It bought Frontier Airlines. It
added frills, like first-class sections.People Express promptly lost altitude
and only escaped bankruptcy court by selling itself to Texas Air,which did it for them.''
''The Law of Attributes;For every attribute, there is an
opposite, effective attribute.''
''you can’t own the
same word or position that your competitor owns. You must find your own word to
own. You must seek out another 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 key word 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.Some say all
attributes are not created equal.Some attributes are more important to
customers than others. You must try and own the most important attribute.''
''Cavity prevention is the most important attribute in
toothpaste. It’s the one to own. But the law of exclusivity points to the
simple truth that once an attribute is successfully taken by your
competition,it’s gone. You must move on to a lesser attribute and live with a
smaller share of the category. Your job is to seize a different attribute,
dramatize the value of your attribute, and thus increase your share….If
McDonald’s owns kids, then Burger King has the opportunity to position itself for the
older crowd, which includes any kid who doesn’t want to be perceived as a kid.
That generally works out to be everyone over the age of 10 (not a bad market).''
''The Law of Candor;When you admit a negative,the prospect will give you a positive.''
''It may come as a surprise to you that one of the most effective
ways to get into a prospect’s mind is to first admit a negative and then twist
it into a positive….When a company starts a message by admitting a
problem,people tend to, almost instinctively, open their minds…..Now with that
mind open, you’re in a position to drive in the positive, which is your selling
idea. Some years ago, Scope entered the mouthwash market with a 'good-tasting' mouthwash, thus exploiting Listerine’s truly terrible taste.What should
Listerine do? It certainly couldn’t tell people that Listerine’s taste “wasn’t
all that bad.” That would raise a red flag that would reinforce a negative
perception.Things could get worse. Instead, Listerine brilliantly invoked the
law of candor: “The taste you hate twice a day.”Not only did the company admit
the product tasted bad,it admitted that people actually hated it. (Now that’s
honesty.)This set up the selling idea that Listerine 'kills a lot of germs.' ''
''The law of candor must be used carefully and with great skill.
First, your 'negative' must be widely perceived as a 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.''
''The Law of Singularity;In each situation, only one move
will produce substantial results.''
''Trying harder is not the secret of marketing success.Whether
you try hard or try easy, the differences are marginal….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.Successful generals study the
battleground and look for that one bold stroke that is least expected by the
enemy….To find that singular idea or concept, marketing managers have to know
what’s happening in the marketplace.They have to be
down at the front in the mud of the battle. They have to know what’s working
and what isn’t. They have to be involved.Because
of the high cost of mistakes, management can’t afford to delegate important
marketing decisions.That’s what happened at General Motors. When the financial
people took over, the marketing programs collapsed. Their interest was in the
numbers,not the brands. The irony is that the numbers went south, along with
the brands. It’s hard to find that single move if you’re hanging around
headquarters and not involved in the process.''
''The Law of Unpredictability;Unless you write your
competitor’s plans,you can’t predict the future.''
― Al Ries, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
''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. One example of a trend is America’s growing orientation
toward good health.This trend has opened the door for a number of new products,
especially healthier foods. The recent runaway success of Healthy Choice frozen entrées is a clear example of
a product that took advantage of this long-term trend.''
''The danger in working with trends is extrapolation.Many
companies jump to conclusions about how far a trend will go. If you believed
the prognosticators of a few years ago, everyone today is eating broiled fish
or mesquite-barbecued chicken. (Hamburger sales are doing just fine, thank
you.)Equally as bad as extrapolating a trend is the common practice of assuming the future will be a replay of the
present. When you assume that nothing will change, you are predicting the
future just as surely as when you assume that something will change. Remember Peter’s Law: The
unexpected always happens.While tracking trends can be a useful tool in dealing
with the unpredictable future, market research can be more of a problem than a
help. Research does best at measuring the past. New ideas and concepts are
almost impossible to measure. No one has a frame of reference. People don’t
know what they will do until they face an actual decision.''
― Al Ries, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
''One way to cope with an unpredictable world is to build an
enormous amount of flexibility into your organization. As change comes sweeping
through your category, you have to be willing to change and change quickly
if you are to survive in the long term.Yesterday, General Motors was slow to
react to the small-car trend. It has cost the company dearly.''
''The Law of Success;Success often leads to arrogance and arrogance to failure.''
''Brilliant marketers have the ability to think like 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.) As
their successes mounted, companies like General Motors, Sears, Roebuck, and IBM
became arrogant. They felt they could do anything they wanted to in the
marketplace. Success leads to failure.''
''If you’re a busy CEO, how do you gather objective information
on what is really happening? How do you get around the propensity of middle
management to tell you what they think you want to hear?How do you get the
bad news as well as the good? One possibility is to go “in disguise” or
unannounced. This is especially useful at the distributor or retailer level. In
many ways this is analogous to the king who dresses up as a commoner and
mingles with his subjects. Reason: to get honest opinions of what’s happening.Like kings, chief executives rarely get honest
opinions from their ministers. There’s too much intrigue going on at the court.
Another aspect of the problem is the allocation of time. Quite often the CEO’S
time is taken up with too many United Way meetings, too many industry
activities,
too many outside board meetings, too many testimonial
dinners….No wonder chief executives delegate the marketing function. That’s a
mistake.''
''Marketing is too important to be turned over to an underling.
If you delegate anything, you should delegate the chairmanship of the next
fund-raising drive. (The vice president of the United States, not the
president,attends the state funerals.) The next thing to cut back on are the meetings. Instead of talking things over, walk
out and see for yourself. As Gorbachev told Reagan, 'It is better to see once
than to hear a hundred times.' Small companies are mentally closer to the front than big
companies. That might be one reason they grew more rapidly in the last decade.
They haven’t been tainted by the law of success.''
― Al Ries, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
''The Law of Failure;Failure is to be expected and accepted.''
''Too many companies try to fix things rather than drop things. 'Let’s reorganize to save the situation' is their way of life.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. American Motors should have abandoned
passenger cars and focused on Jeep. IBM should have dropped copiers and Xerox
should have dropped computers years before they finally recognized their mistakes.''
''The Law of Hype;The situation is often the opposite of the way it appears in the press.''
''When IBM was successful, the company said very little. Now it
throws a lot of press conferences.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 don’t arrive at high noon with marching bands and coverage on the
6:00 P.M. news. Real revolutions arrive unannounced in the middle of the night and kind of
sneak up on you.''
''The Law of Acceleration;Successful programs are not built
on fads,they’re 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…..A fad is a short-term
phenomenon that might be profitable, but a fad doesn’t last long enough to do a
company much good….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.You see this in the toy business. Some owners of hot toys want to put
their hot toy name on everything. The result is that it becomes an enormous fad
that is bound to collapse. When everybody has a Ninja turtle,nobody wants one
anymore…Forget fads. And when they appear, try to dampen them. One way to
maintain a long-term demand for your product is to never totally satisfy the
demand.''
''The Law of Resources;Without adequate funding an idea won’t get off the ground.''
''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….Here is the bottom line. First get the idea, then go get
the money to exploit it.''
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