CFerseta’s Blog

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

1. The Law of Leadership
- your remember the first of everything (first man on moon, first man to fly over the Atlantic etc. you cant name the seconds)
- its better to be first then to be better (product)

2. The Law of the Category
- if you cant be first, open up your category and be first there
- the first woman to fly over the atlantic, the first woman in space etc..

3. The Law of the Mind
- its better to be first in the mind of the consumer than to be first in the marketplace
- its important that your concept/idea to be introduced easily in the mind of the consumer

4. The Law of Perception
- marketing is not a battle of products its a battle of perception
- there is no real reality, everybody is looking through their own eyes at the world
- people usually think they are right, its hard to convince they are mistaken

5. The Law of Focus
- the most powerfull concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospects mind
- Xerox – copy machine, Google – search, Coca-Cola – cola, etc

6. The Law of Exclusivity
- two companies can not own fully the same word in the prospects mind
- dont fight on taken words – choose your own

7. The Law of the Ladder
- prospects has a ladder of products/brands in their mind, you should be aware where on that ladder are you situated
- your strategy should depend on your place on the ladder

8. The Law of Duality
- in the long run, every market becomes a two horse race (coke, pepsi – who’s third?)
- customers think like: “they must be the best, they are the leaders”

9. The Law of the Opposite
- if you are going for/from the second place you strategy is determined by the leader
- put yourself in opposition with the leader – give customers a choice (coka cola is for everybody, pepsi is fo young people)

10. The Law of Division
- over time, a category will divide and become two or more categories (categories are not combining they are DIVIDING)
- do not make the mistake to try to take your established brand name in one category and try to own other categories

11. The Law of Perspective
- marketing effects take place over an extended period of time
- focus on long term, not quick fixes

12. The Law of Line Extension
- this is the most violated law
- its impossible to fight with the same brand on different fronts
- the antidote for line extension is corporate courage – launch new brands

13. The Law of Sacrifice
- you have to give up something to get something
- federal express gave up large packages to focus on one thing – overnight delivery of small packages

14. The Law of Attributes
- find and own your attributes – for every attribute is an opposite, effective attribute
- ex, toothpastes: one fights cavity, other gives you fresh breath, other whitens your teeth

15. The Law of Candor
- when you admit a negative a prospect give you a positive
- the single messages which dont need any sustainable evidence is negative statements (when you admit you screwed up, nobody will question you – when you say you are the greatest – nobody believes)
- you have to attach a positive spin to the negative statement: ex: The 1970 VW will stay ugly longer, With a name like Smucker’s it has to be good, Avis is only number 2 in rent-a-car, so we try harder

16. The Law of Singularity
- in each and every situation there is only one move that can make the greatest impact
- many marketing people see succes as the sum total of a lot of small efforts beautifully executed. WRONG!
- the only thing that works well in marketing is a single bold stroke

17. The Law of Unpredictability
- unless you write your competitors plans, you cant predict the futures – dont try, just be prepared
- dont focus on quarterly, monthly results, think of the big picture
- dont assume current trends to last into the future

18. The Law of Succes
- succes often leads to arrogance, and arrogance to failure
- dont overestimate your strength/abilities based on past succeses

19. The Law of Failure
- failure si to be expected and accepted
- dont try to fix everything, you can just drop things

20. The Law of Hype
- the situation is often the opposite of the way it appears in the press
- usually big changes in industry comes as a tide (almost unnoticeable) and not as a big way on the front pages of newspapers

21. The Law of Acceleration
- succesful program are not built on fads they are built on trends
- fad is like a wave – it evaporates fast, trend is slower but can rise many ships and lost a lot longer (like a tide)

22. The Law of Resources
- you can have any great idea if you dont have the resources to back it up , sustain it for a period – it just wont fly

Mersi rash.