To this day, Al Ries describes himself as a focusing consultant. Lesson 3: Never forget that each product comes with a big opportunity cost. This is a softened version of the idea from Zero to One to go vertical in progress, instead of horizontal. Instead of trying to come up with another kind of jam to put on your bread, Ferrero, the company behind it, came up with something new altogether: a chocolate hazelnut spread. It’s insanely popular in Germany, and is usually addressed with its name, rather than a descriptive term (“Hand me the Nutella, please” as opposed to “Hand me the chocolate spread”). Defining his own category worked out well for him. Walmart was the first chain of retail stores to offer vast discounts for all of its products. This is the Law of Category in action.įor example, Sam Walton didn’t invent the retail store, he innovated by coming up with the discount retail store. So what if you can’t do either of those things? Well, in that case, you can just come up with your own, entirely new category and you’ll automatically be first. Lesson 2: Avoid competition by coming up with your own product category and dominating that. Just think of the many products whose names have become synonymous with brand names, like “Kleenex,” “Tivo,” and “Google.” When your brand name enters the dictionary, you know you’ve made it. Once these assumptions have been made and forged into our brains, they’re hard to get rid of. When I say “ketchup” you think “Heinz,” when I say “whiskey” you might think “Jack Daniels” and when the term “electric car” falls in conversation, most people’s thoughts wander to “Tesla.”Įvery time we think of a certain product, one particular brand will pop up in our heads before any others – and that’s often the market leader. When that’s the case, focus on being first somewhere else: in the minds of your customers. However, that’s not the only way you can become a market leader. After all, if someone’s already made their move before you, you can’t be first any longer. The book starts with the Law of Leadership, which states that if your product is the first of its kind on the market, chances are high it’ll become the market leader. Simply by having the so-called first mover advantage, you can use the lag time competitors have to your advantage.
If you want to save this summary for later, download the free PDF and read it whenever you want.ĭownload PDF Lesson 1: Be first on the market, or first in peoples’ heads. I hope you’re in a marketing mood, because we’re about to talk about some real game-changers!