Customer Reviews

Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, 20th Anniversary Edition

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

A classic in marketing how-tos, the authors explain the importance of offering something for sale that appeals to the buyer, not to the seller, creator, or manufacturer. The product is positioned relative to the consumer, and her needs and viewpoints of value. The basic theory is that you get into the mind of your consumer, and position your product accordingly. And on that point, almost anyone would have to agree.

You will not find the gory details in this book that you'll need to execute a marketing plan, though, but the general theme is examined, as well as various positioning examples (everything from Kleenex to Heinz Ketchup - or was that pickles?).

I was particularly disappointed about a lack of methodology to reach a positioning statement, other than some fairly broad "rules", lightly applied throughout the book. There were six questions at the end that were helpful, but did not constitute a rigorous method - well, any method really - to create a "position". If anything, I would have wished for the method that could be used to create positioning for a product, or to test a company's current positioning, rather than have as many examples of positioning failures.

Some of the author's examples seemed contradictory, and especially when the authors claimed that brand extension amounts to a virtual see-saw - one product steals the brand identity from another (Heinz Ketchup vs. Heinz Pickles - who is Heinz!?). From hindsight, it can be seen that some brand extensions have been extremely successful, while others aren't. It should shock no one that people don't want to use baking soda as anti-perspirant, for instance, and therefore completely explaining why we use Arm & Hammer to cook and deodorize the refrigerator, but do not think of it as a personal hygiene brand. I can't think of anything that I would remove from the refrigerator and rub under my arms.

In any case, this remains a quick, good read with short chapters. The examples illustrate the concepts, but you'll need to follow this up with other positioning and marketing examples in order to position your product within your industry.

Positioning is a concept that has been coined by Ries and Trout in the late 1970s. Today (2000), Positioning has become one of the most commonly used marketing terms.

Like all other books by Trout and Ries, "Positioning" is straight-forward, common-sensical and easy to read. The book is full of real market example of positioning attempts that succeeded and failed.

This book belongs on the bookshelves of marketers just as much as the laws of trigonometry belong on the shelves of mathematicians

Positioning is the idea that shook Madison Avenue to its core in the 1970s. Ries and Trout published what the high priests of Madison Avenue deemed as heresy. These two upstarts dared to take the voodoo out of marketing - and marketing has not been the same since.

Over the years I have given away countless dozens of Positioning. I have found two types of recipients: (1) Those who view it as a book on marketing, and (2) those who truly "get it."

Positioning is not actually about marketing, though that is its platform. It is about how the human mind works. The principals taught in this book apply across all of our lives - from how we are viewed by our friends to why we affiliate with a particular political party or other social cause. Learning how Positioning works is learning about life.

Yes, this is the renowned marketing classic, revered for bringing to light the now ubiquitous strategy of positioning. If you're in business, you probably have at least a fuzzy notion of what the term means. If you're in marketing, you probably hear the word used at least five times a day. (Seriously, try counting.) But in terms of defining positioning and explaining how to use it as a foundation for your strategy, nobody has done a better job than Al Ries and Jack Trout in this original. Of course, the book does have a slightly historical flavor to it now, since the most contemporary business examples cited arrive from the 1970s and 1980s. While a lot has changed since then, a lot hasn't. You'll be surprised how similar this book sounds to the marketing missives of 2001, despite the fact that it was written before the arrival of the Internet, globalization and other buzzwords du jour. We [...] recommend that any executive charged with product development or general business strategy join those in marketing, advertising and sales by taking a few hours to read this book, and get back to the basics.

I discovered this book in 1994 and it changed my business life. It opened my eyes to a facet of marketing that is too often overlooked, and it's the most important facet. Positioning is more than branding, it's the key to success. Luckily, most companies don't do proper positioning, which is why there's always room for new companies to start up, get it right, and be very successful.

If you don't read this book, you're chances at success are like everyone elses: 1 in 10. Read and learn positioning, and the odds are with you. Simple as that.

If you are building a brand or a business you need to think about positioning and branding. What is it that you want to stand for that is unique and different in the market place? Positioning isn't just for big brands - it is for any brand (even your personal brand.

I would definitely recommend this book - it is well worth the read, but I would probably only give it 3.5 stars out of 5. The main reason is that the examples are WAY out of date (the book is 30 years old). The principles still apply today, however it is tough to follow a book that is referencing examples from when I was 2 years old.

I have also read another book by the same authors "The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding" and I liked this MUCH more.

So, bottom line: It is a good book, worth a read, solid principles, but out of date. This book is especially relevant if you work for a big company (most of the examples are big company examples), but the principles can also be applied to any business, or your personal brand.
Key Points:

* The position of your brand or business is in the eyes of your prospect or customer. It doesn't matter what you think your business or brand stands for or is about. They key is the perception that your customers have. "Positioning is how you differentiate yourself in the mind of the prospect. That is, you position the product in the mind of the prospect."
* Our society is overcommunicated. Even 30 years ago there were so many commercials that you had to really work to break through the noise. "We have become the world's first overcommunicated society. Each year we send more and receive less"
* It is difficult to change minds If your positioning strategy involves changing that people already think you will have a difficult time. The best strategies are congruent with what people already think and set to add or move existing perceptions, not totally change them. Once a mind is made up it is almost impossible to change. The mind accepts only that which matches prior knowledge or experience.
* Create oversimplified messages. You are lucky if people can remember one message and associate it back to your product. Less is more. Oversimplify and stick to a single message. Link one concept to one product.
* Create a category you can win. Define the category differently so that you are the biggest/best/awesomest. It is better to be a big fish in a little pond and then expand the pond. Leadership matters. You have to be #1 or #2.
* Look for the hole. Then fill it. Where is the positioning white space? What are your competitors missing in how they are positioned. What are the customer benefits that are not being addressed or exploited by competitors? Don't fall in to the "everybody" trap. You can't be all things to all people. You will end up being nothing at all.
* 80% of learning takes place through the eyes. Words matter. Especially in the service business. You need to own a phrase. Visualize the words that you are using. The goal is to drive verbal ideas into the mind.
* Isolating a narrow target is usually the first step in finding an effective position. The narrower and better defined target the better. This will help clarify your position.

"Positioning" is a book written to appeal to the then burgeoning "marketing professional" a job description that I do not believe was well separated from advertising as of yet. Therefore, "positioning" caters to people who are involved in the selling of products and services, but that do not necessarily have any formal training in psychology. Although some of the bases of the theory of perception and memory are inherent in the concept presented as "positioning", the theoretical underpinning are not explored at all, and the authors either do not know about them, or make no effort to demonstrate they do, which in a way undermines the effectiveness of the contents of the book. This happens because, due to the lack of any theoretical basis for the concepts the authors claim to be effective, the book becomes a series of anecdotes that have not withheld the passing of time very well. This would not matter if there was some theoretical backing for the arguments presented, but leaving the whole support of the ideas to anecdotes from "successful" companies that have (in most cases unconsciously) applied the concept of positioning makes the book very weak after 20 years.

"Positioning" also falls for the logical trap of presenting all ideas as directives, and then copping out by establishing that, if it doesn't work, it must be the marketing practitioner's fault. The last chapter mentions that "To be successful at positioning, you have to have the right mental attitude... This requires patience, courage, and strength of character". Therefore, if the "positioning" strategy fails, it is your fault, not the concepts. Also, the examples that are not success stories are presented ambiguously enough to leave unclear whether the "directions" should be followed or not, but there are enough straightforward instructions to make you feel like the concept is foolproof, and that any failures in applying the techniques marked as "winners" are through the marketing manager's fault, not that the concept might be incomplete. The book is not without merit, since it does approach the subject quite clearly and concisely, and does give an approximation to a concept that is well known and well researched by now.

It is a shame that an interesting subject and an interesting topic is presented in such an unrewarding and unchallenging manner.

Although it has been many years since this book was first published (1993), it remains relevant to the contemporary business world and is probably more valuable now than ever before. It is truly a "classic" in company with Levitt's The Marketing Imagination and few others. The basic concept is that whatever you and your associates may think of what you sell, how it is perceived by those who are asked to buy is really what determines whether or not it will be purchased. Literally, the marketplace's perceptions (including those of competitors) are the decisive realities. To position a given product or service effectively, therefore, is to have it perceived to be superior to (or at least more desirable than) other purchase options. In an age when almost every product and service has become a commodity, "customer service" and "brand equity" have necessarily been re-defined but the principles affirmed by Ries and Trout remain unchanged. The challenge to marketers now is to differentiate with a more complicated multiple of components which include perceived value (rather than cost), perceived quality, perceived reliability (hence product or service credibility as well as credibility of seller), and perceived ease and convenience of doing business with the seller. There is one other component which should also be included: the pleasure of the purchase experience which Schmitt's explains brilliantly in Experiential Marketing as do Pine and Gilmore in The Experience Economy and Wolf in The Entertainment Economy.

When Ries and Trout wrote this book almost a decade ago, the positioning strategies they recommended were in response to a competitive marketplace quite different from the one they and we now survey. Nonetheless, the urgency of effective positioning remains...indeed is even greater today. This is one of the very few books on marketing which should be re-read at least every 3-6 months. (Ditto Levitt's book.) One final point: There is a direct correlation between customer expectations and their perceptions. As the former become higher (sometimes unrealistic), the latter change accordingly. Whatever you offer for sale, make certain that you fully understand customer expectations first before deciding how to manage customer perceptions. Those perceptions are within a frame-of-reference which constantly changes. Positioning is not a location; rather, a strategic imperative.

Jack Trout is a very good writer and has important insights about the importance of differentiation. I especially liked this book as the cases are very relevant.
But many ideas are getting a bit dated. That being said, if you haven't read anything by Jack Trout or Al Ries then this book, or one of the aforementioned books, is essential reading for marketing and brand managers. An updated book would be High Intensity Marketing by Idris Mootee, an ex-Mckinsey guy. I also like George Day, the Wharton professor who wrote a few good books in postioning.

I didn't want this book to end, because the authors have managed to combine humor, with an "in-your-face" reality about getting into the prospect's mind.

They suggest we set both the "four P's" (product, price, place, and promotion) paradigm and the idea of being creative aside, until we have researched and know what segment we can serve on a superior level - the we must know where the competition is, and where the hole is in their attributes.

This truly had me thinking about many things. Being a fairly new business, I had to overcome the idea that my business name really does not say what prospects will recognize as what I'm doing --- it was hard to see that the name, which I had chosen represented more about where I have evolved, and less about what I was in business to serve.

And once I accepted this, I was free to start asking people what they think of the new name that I have come up with. I also objectively listened, while I allowed myself time to come up with what really is 5 syllables or less; something that communicates to my prospects the benefits that I provide.

I kept asking myself what is in the minds of my prospects. And I saw more than I saw before. Which has netted me, a profit in my business bottom line, today.

Another point that surprised me was that Ford is not doing as well as I assumed it is doing. And my assumption was based upon the fact that of all automotive makers that exist, I have only read about the history of Ford. I haven't read about General Motors. Which I am sure that once I do read about GM, I will say, "Wow!"

A downside that this book has, as in many that I have read is that when it speaks of service, it's not talking about selling writing, speeches or consulting. So the reader must ask herself how the wonderful lessons could apply.

Yet, I truly recommend that everyone, 18 and over buy this book, because this book provides tools in convincing the right people to choose what you are offering, on terms that are mutually beneficial.