Sometimes billions of dollars wasted on marketing programs couldn’t possibly work, no matter how clever or how big the budgets. Many managers assume that a well- designed & well financed marketing program will work, it’s not necessarily so. The best-known marketing strategists; AI Ries and Jack Trout came up with Laws of marketing. Violate these laws at your own risk. Below are the 22 immutable laws of marketing :
1.The Law of Leadership
“It’s better to be first than it is to be better”. As Coca-Cola was the first in the color category and dominates cola sales, no one remembers what the second was.
2. The Law of the Category
“If you can’t be first in the category – set up a new category”. IBM was the first in computers but Dell made its way into the computer market by being the first sell computers by phone.
3. The Law of the Mind
It’s better to be first in the mind than the marketplace”. IBM wasn’t first in the marketplace with the mainframe computer but the massive marketing effort, IBM got into the mind first and won the computer battle early.
4. The Law of Perception
“Marketing is not a battle of products; it’s a battle of perception”. Like People don’t want weight loss supplement they just want to feel great about having a slim body.
05. The Law of Focus
“Own a word in a prospect’s mind.” As Dominos owns a home delivery.
06. The Law of Exclusivity
“Companies cannot own the same word in a prospect’s mind”
07. The Law of The Ladder
“Your strategy depends on which rung you sit on the ladder”. Avis was second in the car rental category they acknowledge their position on the ladder & came up with the slogan why go with us we try harder, they started making lots of money as a result turn their position into an advantage.
08. The Law of Duality
“Every market eventually becomes a two-horse race”. In 1980s Nintendo dominated the video games market with 75%of the market share but over a no. of years Nintendo & Sager were on par with each other.
09.The Law of The Opposite
“If shooting for second place, your strategy is determined by the leader – don’t try to be better, be different”. Burger King came up with slogan the whopper beats the Big Mac and it was a great success instead of trying to make better Big Macs they opposed it with their whoppers.
10.The Law of Division
“Over time a category will divide and become two or more categories”. As beer categories into imported beer & domestic beer.
11.The Law of Perspective
“Marketing effects take place over an extended period of time”. In 1985 coca-cola introduced their line of clothes to the market place within 3 years they hit $250mn but the following year they were left with millions of dollars worth of unwanted clothing.
12.The Law of Line Extension
“When you try to be all things to all people, you inevitably wind up in trouble”. Soft drink cos. like 7up tried to extend their line with new flavors to get more market share this may work in short term but not the long term.
13. The Law of Sacrifice
“You have to give up something in order to get something”
14. The Law of Attributes
“For every attribute there is an opposite, effective attribute”. Cavity prevention is the most valuable attribute in toothpaste, once a company owns that in the mind of their prospects & if it’s taken you have to settle for another attribute.
15. The Law of Candor
“When you admit a negative, the prospect will give you a positive”. Listerine had a slogan ‘The taste you hate twice a day ‘ the negative has to be bad enough for your prospect to instantly agree .
16. The Law of Singularity
“In each situation, only one move will give you the result” you can use 10 different marketing strategies but only one is likely to work.
17. The Law of Unpredictability
“You can’t predict the future” unless you write competitors plans, you cannot predict the future.
18. The Law of Success
“Success often leads to arrogance, which leads to failure”. Donald Trump ego got the better of him he slapped his name on everything.
19. The Law of Failure
“Failure is to be expected and accepted”. Founder of WalMart, Sam Walton encouraged his employees to fail & then learn from those failures.
20. The Law of Hype
“Situation is often the opposite of the way it appears in the press”. In 1985 coca-cola introduces new form of coke it attracted $1 billion of free publicity but new coke was a failure
21. The Law of Acceleration
“Successful programs aren’t built on fads. They’re built on trends”. Trends like accessing the internet from mobile devices & taking selfies.
22. The Law of Resources
“Without adequate funding, an idea won’t get off the ground”. Steve jobs used mica mark Euler’s $91000 to put their idea of the Apple computer into a great success.
