The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

For anybody interested in expanding their business, marketing is a necessity. You can have the greatest product in the world, but if nobody knows about it... it won't sell.

Obviously marketing can be a complex subject. Nobody wants to spend time coming up with marketing campaigns and running split tests to learn that their amazing product is selling as poorly as $1,000 hamster wheels, but every person who manages and engages in business should obtain at least a basic understanding of marketing/advertising principles.

Just for now, let's skip those creative marketing campaigns and pesky split tests. Read The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing. If you want to expand your business and make more money, then you need to read this book. Twice.

If you're reading this, then your probably a hustler trying to fill up your brain with as much information as you can so that you can have some of that elusive freedom that money can bring. You are likely busy and I appreciate your time. Although I can't read the book for you, I can give you a basic summary of its contents. If you're in a hurry, just read the laws and skip the brief explanation.

1. "The Law of Leadership: It's better to be first than it is to be better." What do you take for a headache? Advil. What was the name of the first brand of ibuprofen? (Advil)
2. "The Law of the Category: If you can't be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in." What's the name of the third person to fly the Atlantic Ocean solo? You know the name... just not in the context of this category. Who was the first woman to fly the Atlantic Ocean solo? Yep. Amelia Earhart. Interesting how the mind works, isn't it?
3. "The Law of the Mind: It's better to be first in the mind than to be first in the marketplace." This doesn't mean that there is something wrong with law 1, but The Law of the Mind modifies it. Being first in the mind is everything in marketing. Being first in the marketplace is important only to the extent that it allows you to get in the mind first. The world's first personal computer was the MITS Altair 8800. Personal computing today is dominated by who? Apple/Microsoft because they found a way to become first in the mind.
4. "The Law of Perception: Marketing is not a battle of products, it's a battle of perceptions." Many people think that marketing is a battle of products; whoever has the better product will win. This is not the case. It's all an illusion. There is no objective reality. There are no best products. All that exists are perceptions in the minds of the customer. Marketing is a battle of perceptions, not products.
5. "The Law of Focus: The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospect's mind." Tissues = Kleenex, Bleach = Clorox, Mercedes = German Engineering, BMW = Driving Machine, Volvo = Safety... you get the picture.
6. "The Law of Exclusivity: Two companies cannot own the same word in the prospect's mind." Years ago Burger King launched a campaign based on the word "fast", which was the most popular attribute for fast food. Little did Burger King know, McDonald's was already perceived as being the fastest hamburger chain in the country. The campaign was a disaster. Burger King suffered tremendously. The business was sold soon after. Violate the laws at your own peril.
7. "The Law of the Ladder: The strategy to use depends on which rung you occupy on the ladder." While being first into the prospect's mind ought to be your primary marketing objective, the battle isn't over if you fail to achieve the number one spot. For example: Avis Rental Cars lost money for 13 years straight until it admitted to being number 2. "Avis is only No. 2 in rent-a-cars. So why go with us? We try harder." Magically, Avis started to make a lot of money. Shortly after, Avis was sold to ITT, which promptly ordered the advertising theme, "Avis is going to be No.1". "No, they're not," said the prospect. "They are not number one on my ladder." The campaign was a disaster.
8. "The Law of Duality: In the long run, every market becomes a two-horse race." In the early stages of a new category, there are many rungs on the ladder. Gradually, the ladder becomes a two-rung affair. Think Coke vs. Pepsi, Nike vs. Adidas, Heinz vs Hunts. What keeps the two brands in the lead? The customer's belief 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."
9. "The Law of the Opposite: If you're shooting for second place, your strategy is determined by the leader." If you want to establish a firm foothold on the second rung of the ladder, study the firm above you. Turn its strength into a weakness. In other words, don't try to be better, try to be different. It often becomes the upstart versus old reliable. There seems to be two kinds of people when you look at customers in a given product category: those who want to buy from the leader, and those who don't want to buy from the leader. A potential number 2 needs to appeal to the latter group. Pepsi could not have broke through the market to the number 2 slot if it had appealed to the same demographic as Coca-Cola, a 100+ year old product. They went after the youth. "The choice of a new generation: the Pepsi Generation." Now, if old people drink coke, and young people drink Pepsi, there's nobody left to drink Royal Crown cola.
10. "The Law of Division: Over time, a category will divide and become two or more categories." The automobile started off as a single category. Three brands (Chevrolet, Ford, and Plymouth) dominated the market. Then the category divided. Today we have: luxury cars, moderately priced cars, and inexpensive cars; full-size, intermediates, and compacts; sports cars, four-wheel-drive vehicles, RVs, and minivans. Many CEO's are under the false impression that categories are combining. Synergy and corporate alliance are buzzwords in the boardrooms of America. Make no mistake about it. Categories are dividing, not combining.
11. "The Law of Perspective: Marketing effects take place over an extended period of time." Don't be so concerned with the short term profits that bastardize your long term goals. For example, a sale on a product may increase revenue in the short term, but studies have proved that sales often have the opposite effect long term. It says that your regular prices are too high. After the sale is over, customers tend to avoid a store with a "sale" reputation.
12. "The Law of Line Extension: There's an irresistible pressure to extend the equity of the brand." This is the most violated law. 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. Some examples of line extensions: Bic lighters... Bic Pantyhose? Coors beer... Coors water?
13. "The Law of Sacrifice: You have to give up something in order to get something." There are three things to sacrifice: product line, target market, and constant change. A business can't be everything to everybody. The following example is a sacrifice to target market: Let's look at cigarette advertisements, particularly old cigarette advertisements. Invariably both a man and a woman are shown. Why? Initially most smokers were men and cigarette companies wanted to get women too. But what did Philip Morris do? It narrowed the focus to men only. Then it narrowed the focus even more to a man's man, the cowboy. The brand was named Marlboro. It is the largest-selling cigarette among men and women. The wider net does not always catch more fish. The target of Marlboro advertising is the cowboy, but the market is everybody. The man who wants to be the cowboy will buy the cigarette. The woman who wants the "Cowboy" buys the cigarette.
14. "The Law of Attributes: For every attribute, there is an opposite, effective attribute." Too often, companies try to emulate the market leader. "They must know what works," goes the rationale. No bueno. It's much better to search for an opposite attribute that will allow you to play off against the leader. OPPOSITE. Similar will not do. Coca-cola was the original and thus the choice of older people. Pepsi successfully positioned itself as the choice of the younger generation. Since Crest owned cavities, other toothpastes avoided cavities and jumped on other attributes like taste, whitening, etc. Remember, 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.
15. "The Law of Candor: When you admit a negative, the prospect will give you a positive." It goes against both human and corporate nature to admit a problem. So it may be a surprise 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. Example: "Avis is only No. 2 in rent-a-cars.", "With a name like Smucker's it has to be good.", "The 1970 VW will stay ugly longer."
16. "The Law of Singularity: In each situation, only one move will produce substantial results." 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. Finding one is difficult. Finding more than one is usually impossible. So it is in marketing. Most often there is only one place where a competitor is vulnerable. And that place should be the focus of the entire invading force.
17. "The Law of Unpredictability: Unless you write your competitors' plans, you can't predict the future." Implicit in most marketing plans is an assumption about the future. Yet marketing plans based on what will happen in the future are usually wrong. Good short-term planning is coming up with that angle or word that differentiates your product or company. Then you set up a coherent long-term marketing direction that builds a program to maximize that idea or angle. It's not a long-term plan. It's a long-term direction. Note: There's a difference between "predicting" the future and "taking a chance" on the future.
18. "The Law of Success: Success often leads to arrogance, and arrogance to failure." Ego is the enemy of successful marketing. Objectivity is needed. When people become successful, they often substitute their own judgment for what the market wants.
19. "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. Sometimes you need to pivot. Xerox had a line of computers. It lost a lot of money. They should have recognized their mistakes, dropped the computers, and doubled down on their copiers. Admit the mistakes, fix (or drop) them, and keep on truckin' baby!
20. "The Law of Hype: The situation is often the opposite of the way it appears in the press." When things are going well, a company doesn't need the hype. When you need the hype, it usually means you're in trouble. No soft drink ever received more hype than New Coke, introduced in 1985. By one estimate, New Coke received more than $1 billion worth of free publicity. Add that to the hundreds of millions spent to launch the brand and New Coke should have been the world's most successful product. Less than 60 days after the launch, Coca-Cola was forced to come back with the original formula, now called Coca-Cola Classic. At the time of this writing, Classic outsold New by about 15 to 1.
21. "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. Like a wave, a fad is very visible, but it goes up and down in a big hurry. Like the tide, a trend is almost invisible, but it's very powerful over the long term. 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. Think of Social Media, for example. Connecting on Myspace was a fad. The interconnectivity of the world through online Social Media as a whole is a trend.
22. "The Law of Resources: Without adequate funding an idea won't get off the ground." Even the best idea in the world won't go very far without the money to get it off the ground. Inventors, entrepreneurs, and assorted idea generators seem to think that all their good ideas need is professional marketing help. Nothing could be further from the truth. Marketing is a game fought in the mind of the prospect. You need money to get into a mind. And you need money to stay in the mind once you get there. You will get further with a mediocre idea and a million dollars than with a great idea alone.

Take your money and your marketing seriously. Al Ries and Jack Trout are absolute marketing geniuses. Don't limit yourself to just reading this article, as I have merely tried to summarize the book and many of these laws require a more nuanced discussion supported by case studies. Read the book: The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing.

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