The 22 immutable laws of marketing: highlights

The 22 immutable laws of marketing. If you ignore them, it is at your own peril!

I open this article dedicated to an incredibly beautiful book written by Al Ries and Jack Trout. Easy, smooth, interesting, but most of all true.

Because the rules set forth in this book are basic, fundamental to leading our Companies to success.

When I read this book, one of the things I appreciated most was the simplicity with which concepts, even complex ones, were conveyed, especially for those who are not familiar with the world of Marketing.

That is why I recommend that everyone read The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, small and large Entrepreneurs, shopkeepers, restaurateurs.

I think it is strategic to know some basic rules for implementing your marketing and communication strategy, especially when you decide to rely on a Consultant or a Marketing Agency.

To better understand what they are telling you and asking you and to make the most of the activities you decide to do together.

But before I leave you with this beautiful reading, a special thanks to Alessandro DePau, author of this article.

We met through his Instagram page “Book Juice” an idea that I think is nothing short of genius.

Alexander summed up the essence of this book in a few sentences, making it even more direct.

I could say a “chancel” to keep in your pocket at all times, because, as you will discover in this interesting read, these 22 Laws of Marketing, are really basic.

The 22 immutable laws of marketing: a detailed summary

Yes, it takes courage to ignore the laws that marketing dictates today.

Everything is changing so fast that companies are struggling with ever-changing fashions, customers with ever-changing needs, and increasingly tight budgets.

It therefore becomes crucial for businesses to discover and master the fundamentals of marketing encapsulated in 22 immutable laws.

Firm, must-have staples for entrepreneurs and managers who want to build a successful marketing strategy.

Here, then, is the summary of the 22 fundamental and immutable laws. Follow them if you want to be successful.

The law of leadership

It is better to be first than better than others.

There is a belief that the important thing is to have the best product. This is not decisive.

The question on the contrary is: finding a category in which to be first.

It is much easier to get into people’s heads first instead of convincing them that your product is better than the first one that came along.

People tend to stick to what they have. They hardly change.
It is not enough to arrive first, but it is important to arrive on time.

The law of leadership applies to any brand, product or category. The first brand also tends to become a generic term. For example Kleenex for tissues, Velcro, Scotch, Scottex.

Not only does the first mover become the leader, but often the order of sales aligns with the order of arrival in the market. Marketing is a battle of perceptions, not products.

The law of the category

If you cannot be the first in a category, invent a new one in which to become one.

If you do not come first in the mind of the potential customer, you must create a new category in which to be first.

The old Commodore was a nobody in the PC arena until it offered the Amiga as the first multimedia computer.

The first question to ask when creating a new product is not, “How is it better than the competition?” but, “In what category is it first?” Forget about the brand. Think about categories.

The law of the mind

It is better to be first in mind than first in market.

It may seem a contradiction to the first law, but the important thing is not so much to come first in the market, but to come first in the mind of the customer.

In fact, being first in the market is only about being first in the mind. Being first in the mind of the customer is everything in marketing.

It is not possible to change people’s perceptions once they have already made up their minds. So you have to be firm in wanting to get into people’s minds, because they don’t like to change their minds.

Once an opinion is made about us, then this thought is filed away, and is no longer editable.

That is why it is also helpful to have a simple and easy-to-remember name: Apple, Commodore, IMSAI 8080, MITS Altair 8800, and Radio Shack TRS-80: who will have won?

The law of perception

Marketing is not a battle of products, it is a battle of perceptions.

Objectivity in marketing, there is no such thing, there are no facts, there are only perceptions in the mind of the customer. Reality is perception. The rest is all an illusion. Marketing must face this reality.

So you have to study how perceptions take shape in people’s minds and you have to focus business programs on them.

People then, think they are always right, so if they have a negative opinion of your product, they are unlikely to change it.

Also, one factor to consider is this: opinions are endemic, they spread easily. For example, “everyone knows that Japanese cars are more reliable than American cars.”

The law of focus

he most powerful concept in marketing is to possess a word in the mind of the potential customer.

Just one one word in the mind of the potential customer can lead the company to incredible success. Better to choose simple, benefit-oriented and commonly used words.

In this way, we break through the mind by narrowing the focus to a single word or concept.
The result of the first law of leadership allows this one to come true next.

The important thing is that the word is available in our category. A few examples:

Volvo – safety;
Domino’s – home delivery;
Atari – video game.

What is the worst mistake a brand can make? Abandoning a word for which it is already positioned to look for a different one that already belongs to others. The essence of marketing is focus.

Once we have a word, we must do everything to protect it.

The law of exclusivity

No two companies can own the same word in the mind of the potential customer.

When a word already belongs to another company, there is no point in trying to appropriate it!

Not only do people not change their minds, but there is also the danger of strengthening the position of competitors.

The law of scale

The strategy to use depends on which rung of the ladder you occupy

Aren’t you first in your category? All is not lost, there are strategies for numbers 2 and 3 as well. The brand ladder is made up of numerous rungs, you have to see which one you occupy.

Of course, higher is better. The ladders with the most steps are those of products with high interest and that arouse much pleasure and pride in having them.

The maximum number of steps on a ladder in the mind of the potential customer is 7. In fact, 7 is the number of units that can be managed simultaneously by our brain.

Sometimes it is better to be step number 3 on a big ladder than step number 1 a very small ladder.

The law of duality

In the long run, every market becomes a two-horse race.

Usually two big names emerge and do battle with each other. They have variable and unstable market shares, so the latter at some point comes to gain on the former.

If this law is not obeyed, a lot of resources are wasted in wrong categories.

For example, at the time of the authors’ writing there are 130 laptop brands. How many will survive?

At first, positions 3 and 4 are attractive, but then people get cultured (or think they get cultured). Therefore, they look for the leading brand, thinking it is the best.

The law of the opposite

If you are fighting for second place, your strategy is dictated by the leader.

Are you the second on the ladder? Good! Then you will need to study the company above you:

Where is it strongest?
How can you turn your strengths into weaknesses?

One must present the opposite of the leader’s essence to the potential customer. In this way you take customers away from all alternatives to number 1.

Emulating the leader is always a mistake; one must present oneself as an alternative.

But beware. The law of opposites is a double-edged sword, so it must be used to the best advantage. You have to find a weakness recognizable quickly by the potential customer, and then sink the blow.

The law of division

Over time, a category will divide into two or more categories

It is history: each category begins as a single entity, but then it branches out.

For example, computers then became PCs, laptops, notebooks, workstations, and so on. The categories are divided, not combined.

Timing is crucial, because you have to take advantage of the new category at the right time. However, better to be early than late.

The law of perspective

The effects of marketing are felt over an extended period of time.

Here’s what often happens in marketing: long-term effects are often contrary to short-term effects.

For example, sales in the short term increase sales, but in the long term they decrease them, because they teach the customer to buy only at reduced prices.

The only way then to survive at that point becomes to dispense coupons continuously, so that the customer can always buy. But it becomes continuous declining.

Once started, it is almost impossible to stop the decline.

The law of line extension

There is an irresistible pressure to extend brand assets.

This is by far one of the 22 most overlooked immutable laws of marketing.

Brands are focused at first on a single profitable product, and then put too much meat on the fire with marketing campaigns of several products, losing capital.

One cannot be all things to all things. It is definitely better to be strong in some things than weak in everything.

A few examples:

BIC lighters/BIC tights
Chanel – Chanel Men
Heinz ketchup – Heinz baby food
Blue jeans Levi’s – shoes Levi’s

You were probably unaware of even the existence of the second product.

Line extensions can be successful in the short run, because the company takes advantage of the brand name already known, but then positioning is lost in the mind of the potential customer.

The law of sacrifice

You have to give up something to get something.

This law is the exact opposite of the previous law.

To be successful, one must give up something. In particular, one must be willing to sacrifice:

the product line, which is a loser’s luxury. The generalist is already dead.
the target market: you have to focus on a specific target audience. Pepsi had done that; it had become the Cola of young people.
Then she thought of broadening the target audience, and so she lost market share even among young people, who no longer recognized her.
the constant change: where is it written that one must change strategy every year? You don’t have to follow the curves and counter-curves of the market.
The best way to maintain a constant position is not to constantly change it.

The law of attributes

For each attribute there is an opposite and effective attribute.

It is necessary to look for an opposite attribute to contrast with the leader. Some attributes are more important than others: we are really interested in the most important one.

The law of sincerity

If you admit a negative quality, the potential customer will recognize a positive one.

OK! You know, admitting a mistake goes against human nature, especially nowadays.

One of the most effective ways to get into the minds of potential customers is to first admit a negative fact, and then turn it into something positive.

Sincerity is disarming, and every negative statement about yourself is perceived as the truth.

Positive statements, on the other hand, are considered dubious at best.

Admitting a problem opens people’s minds, and this then allows a positive concept to be included.

It takes skill to use this law of marketing: the negative element must be easily perceived as such and must be immediately recognizable.

In addition, one must contextually promote the positive element, the advantage that will be able to convince.

The law of singularity

In any situation only one move produces substantial results.

In marketing, the only thing that works is one bold move. You have to find just one, which the competitor does not expect.

You have to take what is perhaps his only vulnerable spot, and hit him there.

To do this one needs to know the “battlefield” in a direct way such as through a thorough competitor analysis.

The law of unpredictability

Unless you write your competitors’ plans, you cannot predict the future.

In marketing we often tend to want to predict the future, but this is obviously impossible. Not least because predictions never include the possible reactions of competitors.

In practice, one needs to define a short-term strategy and a long-term strategy that is both consistent and flexible. Flexibility is crucial. The unexpected can always happen.

The law of success

Success often leads to arrogance and arrogance to failure.

The important thing is to maintain objectivity despite success. A hint of presumption is certainly helpful, but it should not enter into marketing processes.

One must continue to put oneself in the shoes of one’s customers, without superimposing one’s own view of the market.

The law of bankruptcy

Failure must be accounted for and accepted

Admitting a mistake without fixing it is dangerous; the best strategy is to recognize it early to limit losses.

It is necessary, however, to put aside one’s pride and think as a team, to divide responsibilities.

The law of advertising hype

The situation is often the opposite of how it appears in the press.

Usually, a brand that works and does well does not need an advertising campaign. On the contrary, needing advertising campaigns usually means being in bad shape.

The advertising campaign often goes on forever.

There are many failures that were successful in the press: the personal helicopter, prefabricated houses, the video phone, for example.

Real revolutions don’t happen in broad daylight with a news report; they sneak up on you from behind.

The law of acceleration

Successful programs are not built on passing fads, they are built on trends.

To make a comparison that makes the idea well: a fashion is like a wave in the ocean, a trend is like its current. The trend is almost invisible but very powerful in the long run.

The only fashion that can be good for a company is a cyclical, repeating fashion, such as short skirts or double-breasted dresses.

If you are riding a fad, the best thing to do is to tone it down to a trend.

The law of resources

Without adequate funding, an idea cannot get off the ground.

You can have the best idea in the world but it takes capital to get it off the ground. It takes money to get into the mind of the customer and to stay there.

You get farther with a mediocre idea and a million dollars than with just a brilliant idea. An idea without money is worth absolutely nothing.

We have come to the last of the 22 immutable laws of marketing described by Al Ries and Jack Trout.

Whether you are a marketing veteran or a neophyte certainly these laws will always be at your fingertips to be consulted and put into practice in any project and marketing plan for your business.

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The 22 immutable laws of marketing: it takes courage to ignore them