Trends, on the other hand, can go on for years. For example, instead of a fad diet, the trend of eating healthy organic food is sure to go on for much longer.

Not all first movers succeed, especially if they have bad timing or a bad idea. Still, there’s a significant first mover advantage in marketing. Rather than try to watch the market then develop a better product than competitors, focus on developing an entirely new category altogether. LAW 2: THE LAW OF THE CATEGORY People always recognize the product that got there first as the leader in the market and the better product — and marketing is a clash of perceptions, not products and services. The mind is selective. Prospects use their ladders in deciding which information to accept and which information to reject. Many marketers see success as the sum of many small steps in the right direction. But, as a rule, only one bold action works in marketing. There is only one place where a competitor is vulnerable. And this is the place that should be your goal. To find a single idea or concept, marketers need to know what is happening in the market. They need to be up to date. The Law of Unpredictability Once a strong brand is etched in a customer’s brain, it’s tough to erase it. A better strategy for a company is to make a splash with a product early on, when the market is fluid and there are mult

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing Summary

There’s no easy way to put this — but drop things that don’t work. What most companies will do is to try and fix things or “reorganize” to fix the situation, which rarely ever works.

A company can become incredibly successful if it can find a way to own a word in the mind of the prospect. Not a complicated word. Not an invented one. The simple words are best, words taken right out of the dictionary.When launching a new product or service, don’t be focused on how this product is better than what the competition has, but rather what category is this product a “first” in. The idea is to always be first. If you can’t be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in. When you introduce a new product to the market, you should ask yourself the question What category is this new product first in?

Admitting a mistake and not doing anything about it is bad for your career. A better strategy is to recognize failure early and cut losses. No matter how complicated the product, no matter how complicated the needs of the market, it’s always better to focus on one word or benefit rather than two or three or four. The Law of Category If you can't be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in.

Buy The Book: The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

This is a softenedversion of the idea from Zero to One to go vertical in progress, instead of horizontal. Lesson 3:Never forget that each product comes with a big opportunity cost. Focus is important. You have to prove a positive statement to the prospect’s satisfaction. No proof is needed for a negative statement. Since you can't change a mind once it's made up, your marketing efforts have to be devoted to using ideas and concepts already installed in the brain. Listerine brilliantly invoked the law of candor:“The taste you hate twice a day.” Without adequate funding, an idea won’t get off the ground. Marketing is a game that takes place in the mind of a prospect. To get into the mind, you need money. And you need money to stay conscious after you’ve penetrated it. You will go further and faster with a weak idea and a lot of money than with a brilliant idea without money. Ideas without money are useless. But you have to use your idea to find the money, not the marketing help. Marketing will be added later. In consumers’ minds, , there’s a decision-making hierarchy, like the rungs of a ladder, and each rung is occupied by a brand. The future is unpredictable, and companies need to be prepared for unexpected changes in the market. For example, Kodak failed to adapt to the shift from film to digital photography, which led to its downfall.