Book SummaryThe 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, by Al Ries and Jack Trout

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

The most successful companies are the ones with the highest-quality products and biggest marketing budgets, right? Wrong. While quality products and large cash reserves certainly help, they don’t determine a company’s success. In this 1993 book, marketing experts Al Ries and Jack Trout outline the 22 laws that govern what works and what doesn’t in marketing. Ries and Trout spent more than 25 years studying the best-known (and many little-known) brands to discover which strategies lead to success and which lead to failure. Through their research, they discovered common principles that they’ve distilled into these 22 immutable laws.

(Shortform note: For added context, we’ve renumbered the laws and grouped them into six themes:

1. Convince consumers that you’re the only viable option: Position your product as the top choice within your market.
2. Focus your message: Create a unique, targeted marketing message.
3. Leverage your market position: Learn how markets generally behave and how to use that insight to inform your marketing strategy.
4. Be consistent: Position your product as the best in its category and build your marketing around that product so customers know what to expect from your brand.
5. Be strategic about your overall marketing plan: Aside from the specifics of your marketing message, be strategic with your overarching tone and approach.
6. Get on top and stay there: Beyond the marketing arm of your business, ensure that your organization remains healthy for lasting success.)

Convince Consumers That You’re the Only Viable Option

The first four laws of marketing focus on how to be the top choice within your market. In every major product category, there’s one brand that immediately comes to consumers’ minds. For chocolate, it’s Hershey’s. For cellophane tape, it’s Scotch tape. The most successful brands are those that are considered the defaults in their categories. Use the following laws to make sure your product is consumers’ first choice.

Law #1: Be the First in Your Field

People remember firsts, and companies that are first to enter their markets are typically more successful than those that follow, even if the latecomers have better products. Furthermore, the first entrants in a particular market tend to remain the market leaders over time, even if late entrants have higher-quality products.

Law #2: If You Can’t Be First, Create a New Category

If you have a great product but another company was already first in that market, create a new category in which you are first. You don’t have to entirely change your product—just find something that sets it apart. For example, when Charles Schwab opened a brokerage firm, instead of competing with existing firms, he made his the first discount brokerage firm.

Law #3: Be the First Brand in Consumers’ Minds

Although Law #1 states that you need to be the first in the marketplace, Law #3 amends that principle: Above all, you need to be first in consumers’ minds—when consumers think of the product you sell, they should immediately think of your brand. Being first in the market merely gives you a head start to get into the public’s mind.

Law #4: Perception Trumps Fact

In the battle for prospective customers’ minds, you must fight not only to be first in mind but also best in mind. Contrary to popular belief, your most potent weapon in marketing is not the quality of your product, but rather the public’s perception of your product. Simply put, perception is reality: No matter what research and performance tests reveal, your marketing will only be successful if consumers believe that your product is the best. Build your marketing plan around the way people form perceptions by using some of the laws we’ll discuss later (such as laws #8 and #15). Marketing manipulates people’s perceptions and, thus, their realities.

Focus Your Message

The marketing laws in the second category address the importance of focusing your marketing message. In order to get consumers to notice and remember your product, you need to broadcast a unique, focused message that sets you apart from your competitors. Marketing with a focused message for a specific audience gets the most traction. Use these laws to define your product in a way that’s concise and appealing to customers.

Law #5: Pick One Word to Define Your Brand

To create a powerful, lasting perception in the mind of the public, you need to center your marketing plan around a single word. This word should sum up the primary message you want consumers to remember about your brand—whether it’s “reliability,” “affordable,” or “service.” A successful marketing strategy can create a universal association between your word and your product. For example, Mercedes built its success on the word “engineering” by boasting state-of-the-art features and innovations. When choosing a word, consider these tips:

• Make it simple. Even if your product or market is complex, a single, simple word is more effective than multiple words. Creating this narrow focus takes discipline.
• Be specific. Choose a word that sets you apart from your competitors. A word like “quality” is too vague to be tied to any one brand, because every company is going to claim to have a quality product.
• Use a loaded word. Effective words create a halo effect, meaning that they imply that your product also has other desirable characteristics. For example, if you market your cars as “reliable,” that word can also imply that the car is safe, long-lasting, and easy to maintain.

Law #6: Don’t Use Another Brand’s Word

When you choose your word, make sure that none of your competitors is already using it. The goal is to create an undeniable association between the word and your brand, and you can’t achieve that if another firm is using the same word. Even if you have a lot of money to throw at...

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing Summary Introduction

The most successful companies are the ones with the highest-quality products and biggest marketing budgets, right? Wrong. While quality products and large cash reserves certainly help, they don’t determine a company’s success. In reality, there are laws that govern what works and what doesn’t in marketing. A beautifully constructed airplane that doesn’t adhere to the laws of physics won’t get off the ground, and neither will a cleverly designed product that breaks the laws of marketing.

Authors Al Ries and Jack Trout are marketing experts who spent more than 25 years studying marketing successes and failures. Through their research, they discovered common principles that they’ve distilled into 22 laws that lead to success. Each of the following chapters is devoted to explaining one of these laws and illustrating the principle with anecdotes about well-known...

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing Summary Convince Consumers That You’re the Only Viable Option

The first four laws of marketing focus on how to be the top choice within your market. In every major product category, there’s one brand that immediately comes to consumers’ minds. For chocolate, it’s Hershey’s. For cellophane tape, it’s Scotch tape. The most successful brands are those that are considered the defaults in their categories. Use the following laws to make sure your product is consumers’ first choice.

Law #1: Be the First in Your Field

Do you know who piloted the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean? Charles Lindbergh. Do you know who flew the second flight across the Atlantic? If not, you’re not alone. People remember firsts—whether it’s the first person to walk on the moon or the first company to offer a new product. For this reason, companies that are first to enter their markets are typically more successful than those that follow, even if the latecomers have better products. Furthermore, the first entrants in a particular market tend to remain the market leaders over time. In fact, the rankings of the top-selling companies in an industry tend to match the order in which they launched their products—the innovator has the highest sales, the...

Shortform Exercise: How Can You Stand Out in Your Category?

Consider how you could leverage the laws of first entry, first in mind, and perception to improve your position in the market.

In your product category, which brand is the first in mind in your market?

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing Summary Focus Your Message

The marketing laws in the second category address the importance of focusing your marketing message. In order to get consumers to notice and remember your product, you need to broadcast a unique, focused message. Marketing with a focused message for a specific audience gets the most traction. Use these laws to define your product in a way that’s concise and appealing to customers.

Law #5: Pick One Word to Define Your Brand

To create a powerful, lasting perception in the mind of the public, you need to center your marketing plan around a single word. This word should sum up the primary message you want consumers to remember about your brand—whether it’s “reliability,” “affordable,” or “service.” A successful marketing strategy can create a universal association between your word and your product. The word can relate to various aspects of your product or service:

• Audience (such as “professionals”)
• Benefits (such as “safety”)
• Sales (such as “top-rated”)
• Services (such as “convenience”)

When choosing a word, consider these tips:

• Make it simple. Even if your product or market is complex, a single, simple word is more effective than multiple...

Shortform Exercise: What’s Your Word?

Reflect on how effectively you’re using the laws of focus and chosen attributes in your marketing.

What word have you chosen for marketing your product or service? If you don’t have a single word, what’s your main marketing message?

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing Summary Leverage Your Market Position

The next category of marketing laws explain how markets generally behave and how to use that insight to inform your marketing strategy. Every company wants to be a market leader, but few companies can be. Be aware of your position in the market, and use that to inform your message to consumers. These laws explain how to leverage your position for more effective marketing.

Law #8: Use a Message That Reflects Your Market Position

While it’s ideal to be first in consumers’ minds, you can still have an effective marketing strategy if you’re not the market leader—the key is to know your position in the market and acknowledge it in your advertising. Every product category has a hierarchy of brands. Think of this as a ladder: The market leader is the first in the public’s mind and has the highest market share, and so it’s on the top rung. The product that’s second in consumers’ minds and has the second-highest market share is on the next rung, and each descending rung is occupied by the next-best-selling brand.

Each rung on the ladder generally has twice as many sales as the rung below and half as many as the rung above. The number of rungs on your market ladder depends...

Shortform Exercise: Where Are You on Your Market Ladder?

Reflect on your position on your market ladder and how this is reflected in your marketing.

Think about your market ladder. Which rung are you on?

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing Summary Be Consistent

While focusing your message is important, so is focusing your product offerings. If you concentrate your effort on positioning your product as the best (or one of the best) in its category and building a marketing campaign around that product, consumers will know what to expect from your brand. By contrast, if you change your offerings or your strategy, your customers won’t know what to expect—and they’ll turn to a more familiar alternative. Use the following laws to maintain your consistency.

Law #11: Use a Different Brand Name for Each Category

Over time, as the number of companies in a market shrinks, the category tends to divide into more specific categories. For example, what was once a single “computer” category eventually divided into mainframes, minicomputers, personal computers, laptops, and notebooks. Even popular music evolved from one general category into the multiple categories, including jazz, R&B, dance, latin, country, and pop. Each new category then develops its own hierarchy of brands. If a market leader wants to enter one of these emerging categories, it needs a new brand name for that category. Although it seems logical to extend the same,...

Shortform Exercise: Are You Exercising Adequate Discipline?

Evaluate whether you’re being disciplined about your offerings or if you’re trying to be everything to everyone.

How many products or services do you sell under the same brand name?

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing Summary Be Strategic About Your Overall Marketing Plan

Aside from the details of your marketing campaign—such as your word and your primary message to consumers—be strategic with your overarching tone and approach. Use these laws to consider the big picture of your marketing plan.

Law #15: Turn Your Negatives Into Positives

Despite all your effort to choose an attribute and connect it with your brand, you can’t help it if your competitors attach a different, negative attribute to your name. However, all is not lost: When competing brands and consumers call out something negative about your product, acknowledge it and turn it into a positive. Just as you need to acknowledge your position on the market ladder (Law #8), you must acknowledge widely held beliefs about your product—especially negative ones. Whereas people are often skeptical of positive claims, when companies make negative admissions about their products, the public generally accepts them as facts.

If you try to deny the negative—especially when it’s a widely acknowledged fact—you’ll lose credibility. The challenge is to find a way to show that the negative attribute implies other positive attributes. For example, Scope mouthwash claimed “good-tasting” as...

Shortform Exercise: Is Your Marketing Strategy Honest, Bold, and Flexible?

Consider how effective your overall marketing strategy is.

What is a negative attribute that is commonly acknowledged about your product?

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing Summary Get on Top and Stay There

While the laws we’ve discussed so far will help you craft your overall marketing plan and message, these final laws address more general advice about how to approach your business.

Law #18: Don’t Underestimate the Need for Funding

If you have a great idea and you’re ready to apply these laws and watch your business take off, take a step back. No matter how brilliant your idea is, you need money in order to successfully market it. Marketing is about getting your product or service into the minds of consumers, and you need money not only to reach them in the first place but also to stay in their minds. Marketing is a constant—and expensive—battle. Even household names like Procter & Gamble and General Motors spend billions each year to stay in consumers’ minds.

Leverage your idea to find funding. You could:

• Pitch venture capitalists, but be warned that few entrepreneurs secure sufficient funding this way.
• Pitch your idea to an existing company, in which case your best bet is to pursue smaller companies. Large companies seldom accept ideas from outside the organization.
• Franchise your idea. Tom Monaghan took this route to get Domino’s Pizza off the...

Shortform Exercise: Are You Positioned for Lasting Success?

Use the previous laws to reflect on whether you’ve developed the mindset necessary for enduring success.

If you haven’t launched your business yet, how much funding do you think you’ll need, and how did you come up with that number?