Customer Reviews

Think Two Products Ahead: Secrets the Big Advertising Agencies Don't Want You to Know and How to Use Them for Bigger Profits

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you've never tried to sell anything then this book is a must read. In a nut shell, the message is to think beyond and deeper than your product or your ego. The point that is continuously made is that your product is more than it may seem. What it is, what it does, its benefits, how its packaged, how you sell it, the words you use to sell it, its color etc etc, all play a part in how successful your marketing effort will be. In short think deep and multi layered.

Think two products ahead is a powerful book, it will completely change your view of what branding is, how it works and whether or not you should do it.

You probably fall into one of five categories:

1. Branding is a waste of money
2. My company is too small to worry about branding
3. Branding is difficult and requires specialized attention from ad agencies
4. You are a direct marketer who lives by the idea that branding should NEVER be done in conjuction with direct marketing.
5. You have a feeling that you should be directing your brand but are not quite sure how.

And, if you've had any of those thoughts you need to read this book. Mack reveals the truth about big ad agencies and their "proprietary" branding strategies (and he should know, he worked on some of the biggest brands in the world, Cingular, Yomega Yo-Yos, and dozens more).

The book makes a very powerful point, your brand is not your logo or your colors or your tag lines, Ben calls those brand accessories. Your brand is actually something very palpable in the mind of your customers, it is the associations and attachments that they have with the experience you provide them, it is real in the way that they interpret it . . . and they'll interpret it however they want if you don't take control. Branding isn't about trying to get millions of people to remember your name or recognize your logo by the effective matching of pantone colors in an ad, it is getting people to have an experience that they'll remember, that they'll talk about through a conversation and words you'll control. Brands are influential and persuasive to the extent that you can control the experience of the person interacting with you and your company. Tell them what to say about you and how to say it and they will. Leave them to their own devices and they'll simply say whatever comes to mind or forget about you all together.

Think Two Products Ahead walks you through the process of creating your own legend platform, the basis from which you story is told and grows. The legend platform is crucial to the success of your brand, it is the base of the pyramid from which the rest of the structure of your messaging will be built and seen.

What I love about this book is the methodical approach, the way Ben sets up, draws you through and then systematically reveals what your legend, your brand really is. And he shows you how to make your brand know regardless of the size of your company or marketing budget.

This is a must read marketing book and I'm confident destined to become an entrepreneurial classic.

The book is interesting enough. Nothing new. The main reason for the low rating is the terrible website that is mentioned throughout the book as offering additional resources.

To look at the web site, you have to give your email address, then they send you a link to a video that you could have gotten on You Tube without needing to give personal information.

Next, you have to give your Amazon receipt information - did that too, and it takes me to yet another page requiring my email and name. I signed up - and this time it takes me to a page saying there has been multiple sign ups from my computer - go figure - and that I might be an automated robot, so please fill in the code number from the image. Did that, and it takes me to a payment page - my "FREE" gift is now on special - only $47... What a bargain. Obviously this "marketing genius" misread his dictionary about the meaning of "free".

This book and website are a waste of time. There are much better books covering the same topic. Don't waste your money on this one.

It's relatively easy to get someone to make a single purchase from you. But how do you instill that long-term loyalty and love that causes people to refuse to buy from anyone else? Ben Mack talks about that and many other branding issues in the book Think Two Products Ahead: Secrets the Big Advertising Agencies Don't Want You to Know and How to Use Them for Bigger Profits. It's an unconventional book that doesn't mince words...

Contents:
Pool Hall Wisdom; Brand Misinformation versus Back-End Thinking; The Common Thread and Thinking Two Products Ahead; Branding? Be Good to Your Gander; Branding Processes Are Strikingly Similar; What's a Brand Essence?; Legendary Branding; Extracting a Brand Essence; The Kama Sutra of Marketing - Five Basic Positions; Framing to the Right Target Audience; Structured Creativity - Framing Tools; Creativity on Demand - Why Ad Agencies Can't Brainstorm; Feed Their Passions; Plan to Have Many Conversations; Everything Communicates; Storytelling - Letting the Genie Out of the Bottle; Branding and Thinking Two Products Ahead; Myth, Magic, and Making Money the Old-Fashioned Way; AKS; Jeff Lloyd's Secret to Commercial Residential Real Estate Sales; How to Turn Every First Sale into a Residual Stream of Income; Direct Response Branding; Acknowledgements; Index

Mack states that successful branding comes when you start thinking two products ahead of the current sale. In other words, you need to be thinking about the overall story and impression that your company and product leaves with a customer. This collection of legends and perceptions defines your brand, not the cute logo or corporate colors you stick on your products. What that means is that you *have* a brand whether you think you do or not. You need to bring your customer into the "marketing funnel", which is a four stage process: intrigue, consider, interested, and buy. When you get them to buy, then the "two products ahead" mindset turns them from one-off buyers to loyal customers. It's all a matter of managing your brand... the story that your customers tell about your company and product.

This book started off as an e-book that the author marketed himself (for a much higher price). His style of writing and communication is frank and blunt, with no room for dancing around an issue. As such, it's a lot of fun to read. Since I don't have a marketing background, I found it a little difficult to keep the finer points of marketing vs. branding vs. selling straight at times. But overall, I got the message that your brand is a priceless asset, and it's important to do everything you can to make sure that brand says the right thing to your customer.

A valuable read for any business, but especially for the small business owner who doesn't think he has a brand... he does.

Like Jay Conrad Levinson changed small business marketing with Guerrilla Marketing, Ben Mack has leveled the playing field for small business branding. Mack makes branding usable, doable and profitable for small business owners.

An expert storyteller and former ad agency brand strategist, Mack tells the stories of large corporations branding themselves with ad agency help. As a bonus, Mack provides step-by-step exercises for the small business owner to develop and refine their brand for their company. The stories and examples alone make entertaining reading, but the exercises makes this book a must for small business owners.

Whether your company is a one-person show or a hundred-plus person team, this book provides the tools to deliver a consistent message and experience for your customer. It comes down to this:
*Consistency builds longstanding trust.
*Trust builds loyalty and passionate loyal customers.
*Loyal customers=sustainable results and profits
Isn't this what every owner wants for their business?

Warning: This is not an academic textbook. The exercises at the end of each section will, if you do them, give you a clear, usable and ultimately profitable brand. If you are willing to take a blank notebook, some reading and thinking time; Ben Mack in Think Two Products Ahead will guide you through the steps to develop a consistent, enjoyable and, yes, a profitable brand.

There's a fair amount of interesting, fundamental marketing information in here.

Unfortunately, the entire book reads like ad copy. It's frequently a bunch of short, choppy sentences strung together without any flow, or clear organization. I found myself wondering if he just dictated the book, and transcribed it without much editing.

Pro:content
Con:writing

Think two products ahead is a compelling book that can help you completely define your perception of your business and what it is deeply about once and for all.

Yes, it's about branding but in a way that when you hold the mirror up to your business, you see it from an entirely new perspective. This perspective will increase your understanding, clarify your message, and deepen your commitment to your business.

Follow Ben Mack's process for defining your brand as an essence that is visible to your clients and customers more than to you. Once you "see" it you will be able to put it to use intentionally. Until then, it is in use but not as powerfully since it is there by default. Your essence is the core of your business and exists regardless of how you manage it. Increase it's power by defining it and merging it into everything you do. Ben Mack's book, Think Two Products Ahead, will be the access to your increased clarity and results.

I love the approach Ben Mack has taken to this subject as it calls to your soul and moves you in a way that you KNOW what you're doing now. You can be yourself and win. And as a result of Ben's way of wording his concepts, you can feel peace over your future. Knowing your essence and the pillars that go along with it, sets you free from concern. It gives you the creative surge you need to go to a newer level of success.

I agree with Dave Lakhani when he says:
... I'm confident (Think Two Products Ahead is) destined to become an entrepreneurial classic.

This book gets to the heart and brain of what is arguably your most important asset, your Brand.

Mack does a great job of making it clear that brand is not a logo or any marketing message. It is about all messages, all products and their packaging plus every hire. Does that give you a clue to how important brand and branding is to you and your company?

This book is full of actionable content and has extremely useful exercises that guide you through the process of understanding your own platform and reasons why you are in business. Get ready to believe in and create your own legend.

Beyond mere story, your legend will be the platform from which you can build, craft and communicate your long term story that gets better over time. Need a quick fix or a tactical campaign? Don't look here. This is about new life from old wisdom that creates lasting and loving bonds with your customers.

The concepts are reachable and worth discussing and sharing with others. Luckily you can do that too at http://thinktwoproductsahead.ning.com

Here's to making new Legends.

The strange thing about this book is that Mack consistently berates big agencies as not being able to help you (meaning a small business owner) but he's a product of the flashy big agency world. He likes to gush about his achievements (awards and U.N. appearances), but if that doesn't irritate you- there is some really good stuff in this book- a lot of it common sense (your Po-dunk shop shouldn't use the same marketing strategy as coca-Cola) and some other unique perspectives like billiards players thinking two shots ahead and the Kama Sutra of Marketing.

There wasn't much on the psychology of marketing, which I found in "How to Take Advantage..." by Morse (very good book for consumers and small busniess owners) by the way. All around, though, this is a great, easy read! If you're a marketer, you almost have to buy this book.

Fin

I know more about marketing having read this book then I could have learned in any number of courses. By the way anyone in the people business can benefit from this insight. Think Two Products Ahead was even better than I expected.