You canвЂ™t narrow the focus with quality or any other idea that doesnвЂ™t have proponents for the opposite point of view. What wonвЂ™t work in marketing is leaving your own word in search of a word owned by others.

There comes a time when a company must change words. They can be benefit-related (captivity prevention), service-related (home delivery), audience-related (younger people), or sales-related (preferred brand). No matter how complicated the product, no matter how complicated the needs of the market, itвЂ™s always better to focus on one word or benefit rather than two or three or four. The most effective words are simple and benefit orientated. Even more important, however, your word has to be вЂњavailableвЂќ in your category. If youвЂ™re not a leader, then your word has to have a narrow focus. You can test the validity of a leadership claim by a word association test. The leader owns the word that stands for the category. The simple words are best, words taken right out of the dictionary. Summary: The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospectвЂ™s mind.ДЄ company can become incredibly successful if it can find a way to own a word in the mind of the prospect. Instead of using their own perceptions, they base their buying decisions on someone elseвЂ™s perception of reality. What makes the battle even more difficult is that customers frequently make buying decisions based on second-hand perceptions. Only by studying how perceptions are formed in the mind and focusing your marketing programs on those perceptions can you overcome your basically incorrect marketing instincts. Summary: Marketing is not a battle of products, itвЂ™s a battle of perception.ДЄll that exists in the world of marketing are perceptions in the minds of the customer or prospect. You have to blast your way into the mind. If you want to make a big impression on another person, you cannot worm your way into their mind and then slowly build up a favorable opinion over a period of time. The single most wasteful thing you can do in marketing is trying to change a mind. You canвЂ™t change a mind once a mind is made up. Summary: ItвЂ™s better to be first in the mind than to be first in the marketplace.Д«eing first in the marketplace is important only to the extent that it allows you to get in the mind first. When youвЂ™re the first in a new category, promote the category. Few people are interested in whatвЂ™s better. When you launch a new product, the first question to ask yourself is not вЂњHow is this product better than the competition?вЂќ but вЂњFirst what?вЂќ In other words, what category is this new product first in?Д®veryone is interested in whatвЂ™s new. ItвЂ™s not as difficult as you might think. If you didnвЂ™t get into the prospectвЂ™s mind first, donвЂ™t give up hope. Summary: If you canвЂ™t be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in. Marketing is a battle of perceptions, not products. If youвЂ™re introducing the first brand in a new category, you should always try to select a name that can work generically. One reason the first brand tends to maintain its leadership is that the name often becomes generic (e.g. People tend to stick with what theyвЂ™ve got. Timing is an issue-your first could be too late. Not every first is going to become successful.

The leading brand in any category is almost always the first brand into the prospectвЂ™s mind. In todayвЂ™s competitive environment, a me-too product with a line extension name has little hope of becoming a big profitable brand. ItвЂ™s much easier to get into the mind first than to try to convince someone you have a better product than the one that did get there first. Summary: ItвЂ™s better to be first than it is better. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing Summary

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