The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, Al Ries and Jack Trout, Harper
Collins, £7.99
Ries and Trout set out to destroy the idea that anything in marketing is achievable
“if you are energetic enough, or creative enough, or determined enough”.
Instead there is a set of marketing laws that you have to obey to achieve
success.
Why Choose It?
I selected this text from my library for three reasons.
Perception
Most of the 22 laws are based on the importance of perception in marketing
(and in business generally). In the case of the laws there are two areas where
perceptions count. Firstly how you as a player in the market perceive what’s
going in the market: where you and your products are positioned, what the
competitors are doing, what customers think of you and what customers want
to buy. Secondly, and far more importantly, what the customers perception
of the marketplace is: what do they want or need to buy and why, who should
they buy from, what are the alternatives?
So the laws major on the use of marketing as a tool to shape and realign customer
perceptions, in particular, to create a position of greatest advantage. For
instance, Law number 1, the law of leadership, says that “it is better
to be first than it is to be better”. However if you have been beaten
to it then the authors’ invoke law number 2, “if you can’t
be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in.”
I particularly like law number 9, the law of the opposite, which is about
understanding the strength of the market leader and then using that knowledge
to present the market with an alternative that negates that strength. For
example in the US Scope mouthwash was positioned as good tasting in opposition
to the effective but medicinal tasting and smelling Listerine.
Resources
There is a sting in the tail though. Law number 22 is the law of resources.
This one states that “without adequate funding an idea won’t
get off the ground”. If marketing is about perceptions and
the need to get into the mind of the customer then you need to spend some
money to get there. As Ries and Trout put it “You’ll get further
with a mediocre idea and a million dollars than with a great idea alone”!
To Read or Not to Read
The downside of The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing? Well the book is focused
on consumer marketing and brands. In a a business-to-business context these
laws don't always apply. Also since the book was first written (in 1993) some
of the examples provided to back up the laws have come unstuck.
Having said that, this is still a great introduction to what marketing is
really about. Well worth the price and the relatively short time it takes
to read it.
Return to the main Arrowsmith Marketing Business Book Competition page
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
 |
|
|
|
|
|||||
