What things may be failing your business? How to get into a competitive category, and become it’s leader? Those are a few of the questions that the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing By Al Ries and Jack Trout make a point to answer.
With 25 years of experience as Marketing Consultants (As of 1994) they claim that:
The same way a plane couldn’t take off if it didn’t consider the laws of physics, so can’t a business without considering the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing.
P.S. The content was written most carefully in order to help you decide whether this book is for you. Including a Summary, Review and Rating.
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Table of Contents (Audiobook)
Introduction (00:05:25)
1. The Law of Leadership (00:10:47)
2. The Law of the Category (00:05:32)
3. The Law of the Mind (00:05:23)
4. The Law of Perception (00:10:54)
5. The Law of Focus (00:12:03)
6. The Law of Exclusivity (00:04:51)
7. The Law of the Ladder (00:08:49)
8. The Law of Duality (00:08:05)
9. The Law of the Opposite (00:08:08)
10. The Law of Division (00:09:18)
11. The Law of Perspective (00:09:16)
12. The Law of Line Extension (00:12:17)
13. The Law of Sacrifice (00:12:24)
14. The Law of Attributes (00:05:23)
15. The Law of Candor (00:05:33)
16. The Law of Singularity (00:07:27)
17. The Law of Unpredictability (00:08:51)
18. The Law of Success (00:08:05)
19. The Law of Failure (00:04:16)
20. The Law of Hype (00:08:34)
21. The Law of Acceleration (00:04:02)
22. The Law of Resources (00:07:24)
Warning (00:04:08)
Attributes of The Book
Authors: Jack Trout and Al Ries.
Subject: Marketing
Length: 143 pages/ 3hrs 6min
Release year: 1994
About Jack and Al
Jack and Al are Marketing consultants.
Jack worked with firms that also include AT&T, Apple, Citicorp, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Xerox. (Sourced from Wikipedia and Trout’s Official Site)
Al worked with Samsung, Illy, Georgia Pacific, proactiv Solutions, Bomgar.
Ries Official website
They also co-authored multiple Marketing Books, individually and together.
Including the book Positioning: The Battle for your Mind.
Decision Process
Here’s what I considered, while picking the book, hopefully it could help you as well.
Length
Just as the last book I reviewed, Building a StoryBrand, this book is not at all long (3h/143page), and this allows for a faster production of a review.
The subject I concentrate on - Marketing
It has the word Marketing, and I currently concentrate on Marketing books.
Social Proof
It has Social Proof ( 750 reviews on Amazon ) – by the way “Social Proof” is one of the 6 principles that Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion discusses as extremely persuasive principles. Read More about Influence…
Bestselling authors
The authors have a bestselling book – Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind.
22 Immutable Laws of Marketing - Brief Overview of each Law.
Law 1: The Law of Leadership
The Brand that is first to market is most often the one that takes the leadership long afterwards.
For example what do you think is the leading University in the US today? Many would say Harward – It is also the first.
Law 2: The Law of Category
Didn’t make it to the top first? Doesn’t mean you’re doomed.
Look for a sub-category you could be first in and promote it.
It may take some time, but trying to beat the leader would take a lot longer, and is highly unlikely to pull off.
Law 3: The Law of The Mind
Better be first in the Mind than first in the marketplace.
Some Brands come up with a new product first, but lose the battle of getting first into the prospect’s mind to the competition.
Money is needed in that endeavor. (Law 22 – Law of Resources)
Law 4: The Law of Perception
Marketing is a battle of Perceptions (what prospects believe is true), not Product quality.
For Example
Many researches that CocaCola conducted proved it was the worst tasting Cola of all competitors, yet people choose CocaCola over and over again.
Law 5: The Law of Focus
One of the strongest things a Company could do is own a Word in the prospects mind.
For Example Xerox – Copy Machines
Law 6: The Law of Exclusivity
Two companies can’t own the same word in the mind of a prospect. Yet many companies make the mistake of trying to go for the leaders word, and end up with nothing.
Law 7: The Law of The Ladder
Every category has a brand ladder in prospects minds, for example in rentacars it used to be 1.Hertz 2.Avis 3.National. You must accept your place on the ladder, and continue marketing efforts from there.
For example Avis’s successful campaign was, we’re only number 2 in rentacars, so why go with us? We try harder.
Law 8: The Law of Duality
In the long run there will always be 2 big brands leading the industry, if there are more, they will have a very small market share.
Law 9: The Law of the Opposite
A good number 2 could take over the leadership by positioning as the opposite, and turning leader’s strength into a weakness.
For example
Pepsi positioned as “young generation Cola” in contrast to CocaCola’s “old and reliable” positioning.
Law 10: The Law of Division
Categories divide over-time, creating sub-categories. The way for a leader to maintain a hold on the new category is create a seperate brand name to compete in it.
Law 11: The Law of Perspective
Many things that appear to be positive in the short term, are bad in the long term.
Examples include:
Constant Sales (Discounts).
Line extention (Explained in Law 12)
Law 12: The Law of Line Extention
When a company extends its line to different categories it loses focus, and as a result – profit. It is almost as if the executives call from the commanding bridge “Full speed ahead in all directions”, and end up with no direction.
Law 13: The Law of Sacrifice
You have to give something up in order to gain something else.
This is the opposite to line extention.
Examples of possible sacrifices: Product Line, Target Market, Constant Change.
Law 14: The Law of Attributes
You should own an attribute for your product whether you own the main word in the category or not. In accordance with previous laws, your attribute is best when it opposes leader’s. Also, you should not go for an owned attribute.
For example
Heinz owned Ketchup but it owned “Slowest” aswell.
Pragoo Sphagetti Sauce company owned “Thicker”.
Law 15: The Law of Candor
Use a negative trait your product has in your advertising and turn it around into a positive. People will accept a negative trait a lot faster than they do a positive one.
Law 16: The Law of Singularity
In marketing strategy, there’s usually one place where the opponent is weak ,and that is where you have to direct all your force. Not a bit everywhere.
For example this happened in many historical military clashes, one of them is
The battle of Normandi in WWII, the whole invasion force pushed in 1 place.
Law 17: Law of unpredictability
You can’t predict the future unless you write your competitions plans.
Don’t try to make predictions by quarterly reports or research
Instead, focus on a word and take a long term angle towards that direction (Not Fixed plan) so that you can adjust.
Law 18: Law of Success
Success leads to a rise of ego which often leads to failure,
many line extensions begin this way.
Don’t let the ego take over, you must always try and see the market from the prospect’s perspective.
Law 19: The Law of Failure
Failure is a natural occurrence that will hit any company sooner or later.
Learn to go for. your Ideas, but in case of failure, try to recognize it early and cut the losses early
Law 20: The Law of Hype
The real situation is often opposing to what the press says.
Real change doesn’t usually come with hype, but quietly and slowly.
Law 21: The Law of Acceleration
A Fab is like a wave and a Trend is like the Tide in the ocean. A wave rises and drops quickly, while the tide takes time to build but lasts. You should go with the stable Trends.
Law 22: The Law of Resources
Without money, your Idea won’t go anywhere, marketing needs money as a car needs fuel.
2 Takeaways/Implications
1. Law of Leadership – Strive to be the leader, not 2-nd, 3-rd or just to meet ends at the end of the month
2. Law of Resources – Widen focus on paid advertising to measure impact of content better
| Law | Takeaway |
|---|---|
| 1/Leadership | Strive to be the leader, not 2-nd, 3-rd or just to meet ends at the end of the month |
| 22/Resources | Widen focus on paid advertising to measure impact of content better |
My general experience
Quite old
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing was written in 1994 and therefor many of the companies discussed inside it have changed or do not exist.
Big Business perspective
Many of the concepts inside it are important to understand, such as the law of leadership, category, focus. All those are essentials for success in the big market, and opened up my perception to a different thinking. While I usually think in small business terms, this showed more laws that are based upon big business.
In relation to online entrepreneurs
My goal is to develop my web presence, and though the 22 immutable laws of marketing still apply for this endeavor, except for maybe the law of hype, I will be able to use many of them only further down the road, so a big portion of the book is to develop a vision, not act now.
In addition, as mentioned earlier, the examples mentioned are of big business, and you’ll need to connect the dots yourself.
Some chapters with subtle differences
Another thing to point out is that some of the laws have subtle differences between them. And feel like they’re repeating themselves until you understand the differences. I.E. 14-5, 2-10
Describing certain laws by other laws
In some cases certain laws are described by other laws, which is a bit confusing.
Rating
Content
Most of the content is Useful and relevant for building an online presence. Though a lot has changed, and the companies discussed are not the same status as they were those days. And clearly the text wasn’t written with internet business in mind… Also I find the law of hype not that relevant to our endeavor. (26 years passed…) Law of attributes is explained better in the Law of Focus than it is in it’s own chapter. 14/20
Narration
Fluency – 5/5
Clarity – 5/5
Engaging – 5/5
Expressing Emotion – 5/5
Total – 20/20
Plot
Examples
This book is packed with examples, in fact I would say that approximately 70% of it are examples, therefor they leave little place to wonder about what the authors meant, though occasionally it is hard to relate to because of the book’s date of publishment. 18/20
Headline Division
Each law has it’s headline, period. 20/20
Drive to Implicate
Final Rating
Conclusion
Conclusion
I picked the book “The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing” quickly and without many hesitations, I found out that it has interesting new perspectives, of which I wasn’t aware earlier.
Though the book is still relevant for Internet Entrepreneurs, unfortunately It doesn’t speak directly to us.
Moreover, this is more of a book for perspective and general knowledge.
Meaning – In many cases it doesn’t provide the exact steps you need to take, but it still has enough value in order for it to be worth a read.
"If violating any of the laws would be a punishable offence, a large portion of corporate America would be in jail. By far the most violated law in our book is the law of Line Extension."
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