Review: “Differentiate or Die” by Steve Rivkin and Jack Trout

Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin pen this powerful book and whether you call it “differentiation” or “positioning” the battle is still for the mind of the consumer.  Differentiation is something that every business does.  It is this very problem that is causing a “creeping commoditization”.

“In general, why is this creeping commoditization happening?  Because marketers are acting in ways that are diluting brands instead of building them.”

In their rationale for this they remove the idea of promotions leading to increased sales after the promotion period.  Second they strike down letting ad agencies have free reign over your message as they will corrupt it and skew your perceptions.  Thirdly they review what makes the mind work, how it can be confused, lose focus, and is difficult to change.

To differentiate yourself you need a “Unique Selling Proposition” something that defines you in your message.  To emphasize the importance of a unique selling proposition they turn to psychology.

“Choosing among multiple options is always based on differences, implicit or explicit.  Psychologists point out that vividly differentiated differences that are anchored to a product can enhance memory because they can be appreciated intellectually.”

To bring home the point that differentiation must occur and can occur with anything the authors relate how commodities can be differentiated.  So long as you have an actual difference as well as a unique selling proposition you can differentiate anything.

The authors provide a great deal of information on what won’t work.  Quality and services cannot work.  People are influenced not by single markets, instead there is a vast marketplace which we all exist in.  If one area provides excellent service then you will expect the same level elsewhere.  Quality is a given now.  If you want to provide better services you will have to constantly improve upon it which is costly.

Creativity will not work.  The authors contend that these commercials which entertain instead of supply a unique selling proposition are a waste of time.  The most effective advertisements are those that are “warm, human, and above all, right-on strategy.”  Having something creative is wonderful but letting it get out of hand and distort your position.  The authors use psychology to prove their point.

“Emotion depends on an appraisal of personal meaning.  Without meaning, without emotion, there is no emotion.”

Therefore creativity is important!  Attaching your message to happiness, sadness, or any other emotion will help you.  As a marketer you need to balance the emotion with your message.  The two need to exist together.

“This means that if an advertisement presents emotion and leaves out a reason to buy, all that emotion is a waste of money.”

The authors then give the steps to differentiation.

1. Make sense in the context
2. Find the differentiating idea
3. Have the credentials
4. Communicate your difference

Using these steps anyone can differentiate anything.  Failing to do so in this highly competitive world you can easily fail.  Next the authors provide many ways to differentiate which works.  Being first, assigning negative attributes to other companies, leadership, heritage, being a specialist, and being the latest.  Each one of these tactics are supported by the authors experiences from their consulting work.

The book is ended with tips on how growth can destroy your differentiation.  Sacrifice is a part of differentiation.  You can’t be everything to everyone so you’ll have to spick and choose what you can and will do.  Maintaining that difference is a skill for those who can incorporate their difference in all of their communication.

“Once you’ve established what makes you different, your next assignment is to reflect that difference in everything you do.  They single mindedness will influence not only your customers but your own employees as well.”

This book puts everything into a great frame of mind and is a very good read.  This book along with “The New Positioning” will give you powerful information and steps on who to complete a differentiating strategy.  Dealing with the right people is key to getting a successful strategy up and running.  This book will help you get around difficulties and give you a reference point when going against processes that wouldn’t work.

Review: “The New Positioning” by Steve Rivkin and Jack Trout

This is an “updated” version of “Positioning: The battle for the mind” written by Al Ries and Jack Trout in the mid 1980’s.  The first book written by Trout was largely a collection of experiences and what has and hasn’t worked in the past.  “The New Positioning” is absolutely wonderful as it uses scientific research to further explain what is going on in the consumers mind.

The book is broken into three parts.  The first part focuses on the mind and explains how inflexible peoples perceptions can be.  It touches on how minds can be confused, how memory works with emotions, how we can lose focus.

Loss of focus is really all about line extension.  And no issue in marketing is so controversal.

Trout discusses Line extension to a great degree in his books.  Using the same name for multiple products with very different desired positions is devastating to a company in the long run.  He emphasizes the idea of taking on one section of the market and becoming a “specialist”.  In doing so you unlock several “weapons” (an allusion to their previous “Marketing Warfare” book) such as

“First, the specialist can focus on one product, one benefit, one message.  This focus enables the marketer to put a sharp point on the message that quickly drives it into the mind.

The lesson is that if you want to put out a new product then you need a new name.  Otherwise it leads to confusion in the prospects mind.  Line extension will only lead to the consumer to confuse what your company means to them.

In the second portion of the book the authors discuss Repositioning.  They use a great deal of cases to emphasize how they got into their situation as well as how they got out of it (or how they should have gotten out of it).  Repositioning does not always stem from a bad thing.  “The best defensive strategy is the courage to attack yourself”.  Some companies may decide that the future lies in another section and see an opportunity for them to switch gears to this new market.

Changing focus mid-market is one of the trickiest maneuvers in marketing, as your timing must be exquisite.  First you must delicately balance your internal resources, as you shift.  Then you must figure out how you slow down support for the original business, while you use resources to ramp up your business of the future.  Then comes the real work: dealing with all the internal egos who see their future threatened.

My favorite case was one involving an Accounting firm who knew they were excellent at Global business but never used it as a “selling point” for themselves.  They used this strength and developed a strategy around it where they created new products and services to emphasize the strength.

This section also emphasized the difficulty of bringing people inside to change their minds about plans already made.  They touch on this again in their “Tricks of the Trade” section of the book.  Egos will be bruised but it is your job as the one pitching the repositioning to soften the blow and get the management to embrace the idea without fearing for their own position.

What I found most interesting in the book was its stance on Marketing Research.  Using research is important but the authors suggest it be used only to illuminate the situation rather than as a support for decisions.  That leaves me wondering what do they use to support decisions?

They mention the sheer complexity of Marketing Research.  I can agree to this idea as there is typically a great deal of information provided and it seems complex.  From my research experience it is better to provide all of the output with explanation rather than picking and choosing information.  That way the decision makers will can use what they will and the researcher will not be a gatekeeper to the data.

I strongly encourage this book to anyone involved in Marketing.  The section on the mind is thorough and easily understandable.  The section on Repositioning is a wonderful supplement to “Positioning: The battle for the mind” and those who have not read it will still find a great deal of useful information.  Lastly the “Tips and Tricks” section provides insight only those who have experienced the marketplace could give.  It seems to dispel the grand illusion that academia can instill in someone.  It also provides a basic understanding of how PR and positioning can work as well as how to deal with “Six Positioning Pitfalls”.

Review: “Marketing Warfare” byAl Ries and Jack Trout

The premise of this book is that Marketing is analagous to Warfare.  The field of battle is not a physical terrain instead it is the prospects mind.  It emphasises the idea that the prospects perception is the most important thing which you are “fighting” for.

The battle, the corporate war is the focus of this book.  How and Who your company should attack from a marketing perspective.   The authors challenge many “common sense” ideas that companies even today hold to be true.

Companies believe that with “better people” you can overcome any obstacle.  The authors expertly counter this thought

Any student of statistics would laugh at this belief.  Sure it’s possible to put together a small cadre of superior people.  But the larger the company the more likely the average employee will be average.

Others still believe that the all logical consumer will look for the better product and because the company thinks it has the best product they will be victorious.  They consider the “fact” that their product is the best to be truth.

What is truth?  Truth is the perception that is inside the mind of the prospect.  It may not be your truth, but it’s the only truth you can work with.  You may have to accept that truth and then deal with it.

The authors model “Marketing Warfare” off of Carl von Clausewitz, a Prussian military historian who wrote some of the quintessential books on war.  The authors use four styles of Marketing Warfare.

• Defensive Warfare
• Offensive Warfare
• Flanking Warfare
• Guerrilla Warfare

Each style is exceedingly powerful for when you are using it in the right situation.  “What’s good strategyfor a leader is bad strategy for an also-ran, and vice-versa.  So it’s important to constantly ask yourself what position you occupy in the marketplace before you apply strategy.”

Just to briefly cover some of their content I’ll go over what Leaders should be doing and then the small company that has no chance of being the leader.

Defensive Warfare

• Only the market leader should consider playing defense.

They related this to the battle field being a hall.  Only once you own the hill can you make an attempt at defending it.  The “best” part of this is that if you are not the leader you must make your own hill and become the leader in it.

• The best defensive strategy is the courage to attack yourself.

Making your own products or services obsolete with new ones will allow you to beat the competition.  It may cut into profits but it is better for you to make your own product obsolete than have someone do it for you.

• Strong competitive moves should always be blocked.

The competitior can cover if someone else makes a move.  The leader has the momentum to “always be right”.  If someone makes something first you should make something similar.  People will still attribute the development to you since you are most salient in their mind.

Guerrilla Warfare

• Find a segment of the market small enough to defend.

The authors discussed the “principle of force” where it is vastly important to have sheer numbers on your side during your fight.  A number they gave was you should only go into a fight when you have the odds stacked in your favor 3 to 1.

• No matter how successful you become, never act like the leader.

Many “large” companies have a great deal of employees servicing their other employees.  Their only purpose is to assist the sales force.  Smaller companies do not have such things as “career paths” or “organizational charts” and that’s a strength!

The lean organization is not just a tactic to put a higher percentage of the force into the battle itself.  It also dramatically improves teh “quickness” of a guerrilla to respond to changes in the marketplace itself.

• Be prepared to bug out at a moments notice.

Here’s where the advantage of flexibility and a lean organization really pays off.  A guerrilla can often take up a new position without the internal pain and stress that a big company goes through.

The beauty of being a guerrilla is that they can move quickly in a market and switch their strategy.  Now it must be kept in mind that you should not fall into the line-extension trap.  When switching gears do not change your position so abruptly as to cause confusion in the prospects mind.

The book was published in 1986 but its case studies are not so weak as to significantly show its age.  Cola, Computers, Burgers, all of which are still heated battles.  The authors provide insight into their own experiences and show what has worked in the past from their consulting.

I would like to see an updated version with more case studies of each different warfare style and up-to-date information on current events such as how did Dell supersede IBM as the Business Computer provider?  Was it a flanking maneuver (An uncontested area was attacked, the small business computer) or was it a full offensive strike (a weakness was found in IBM, what was it)?

If you are looking to think of Marketing in a brand new way without focusing on psychology or too much into the minds of consumers this is where you will find a good start.  The slugfest that is corporate warfare is definitely an art which you must know the rules to be successful.

Review: “Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind” by Al Ries and Jack Trout

‘Positioning is what you do to the mind of the prospect.  That is, you position the product in the mind of the prospect”

We live in a vastly overcommunicated society.  We not only actively seek out information and obtain it with minimal searching (Google Search, Text Messaging, etc.) but we are as well bombarded with information from the external environment (advertising, background noise, distractions).  It’s amazing to think that we can process all of this information.  We cannot.  We cheat.  Little shortcuts to make our life easier are used always.  Go to your local grocery store (or supermarket) and as soon as you step into the building you are assaulted with information: Comparative Ads, Slogans, Logos, Brand Name, Generic.  Have you ever taken time to look at each and every product and evaluate it?

If you have done so you need to spend more time outside of your grocery.  Those who avoid doing so will more than likely go after a brand they are familiar with and completely ignore the rest.  Why?  It is because you are cheating.  You are using knowledge gained from previously to help you make a decision.  “What kind of toothpaste do I want?  I just got another cavity and I’ve heard that Crest helps reduces cavities.  I’ll buy that.”

We have neither the time nor the mental faculties to evaluate everything and make the most economic of choices.  Using these shortcuts is a good thing!  A persons perception is something that they retain and can be altered but is very difficult.  Imagine someone trying to convince you to change your mind on Ford (A perception does not mean “purchasing behavior” but rather their beliefs and opinions which can affect purchasing behavior).  They tell you Ford makes amazing cars with great gas-mileage in comparison to other companies.  In your experiences you’ve seen nothing but gas-guzzling trucks from Ford.  It would take billions of dollars to change your mind about Ford.  The perception held of “gas-guzzling trucks” is one which would require Ford to turn away from Trucks and improve fuel-economy which goes against one of their main lines!

We assign information to words, images, logos, and more.  I know when I drive past a WalMart sign I perceive it to represent low prices for decent items.  The blue sign with white words on it has no meaning beyond what I assign to it.  It is my perception of the store.  This perception is what all companies should be looking to use to improve not only their advertising but their entire business strategy.

Jack Trout and Al Ries emphasize the importance of positioning by giving real world examples from their own career as well as what they would do if in the organizations position.

They begin with how to “get into” someones mind.  It’s simple on paper.  Be first.  They ask the question “Who was the first person to fly around the world?”  Charles Lindbergh of course.  Then they ask “Who was the second person to have done so?”  and then there is silence in your head.  There are very few “#2″s we know of in this world.  The key is to be the first in whatever you do.

“History shows that the first brand in to the brain, on the average, gets twice the long-term market share of the No.2 brand and twice again as much of the No.3 brand.”

Unfortunately for some products or services you’re operating in a market that is very old with already well-established leaders (i.e. the Big Three in American automotives or Harvard Law School).  What is the answer to this daunting situation?  It’s still Be first but in a new category.  This new category comes from what your prospect believes the company is.

To develop this category a company needs to look at what creneau (French for “hole”) there is to fill.  This creneau does not come from the Managers office.  Instead it is from the mind of the prospect.  Filling the creneau requires one to go against the grain.  If everyone is building big you must build small.  An example used was making the first masculine cigarette.  Marlbro left the idea of a unisex cigarette (trying to be everything to everyone) and went for a single niche and was then the first.

Trout and Ries use a great deal of examples of how they personally have succeeded and failed using positioning.  They also bring in “What-Ifs” to a degree.  They postulate if a company had done something different (i.e. gone with a different name, focused on their current strengths, etc.) the results would have been better (or worse).  My favorite was where they discussed positioning an entire country.  An airline which flew strictly to Belgium advertised the typical airline features.  Good food and good service.  They were doing poorly.

Belgium the country is barely known in the United States and the company itself advertised it as the “Gateway to Europe” instead of focusing on the positivies of Belgium itself.  After focusing on five cities which had been given high travel rankings by a third-party there was a boom in travel on the airline.  All due to focusing on the strengths of perceptions already held (focused on comparing to Amsterdam).

Trout and Ries summarized their book quite well with a list of questions to ask before you start a positioning campaign.

• What positions do you already own?
• What positions do you want to own?
• Whom must you outgun?
• Do you have enough money?
• Can you stick it out?
• Do you match your position?

I read the 20th anniversary edition which was published in 2001.  The book moste definitely shows its age.  It lacks modern development as well as the effects of Direct Marketing (how the idea of “Multi-brands” can come alive for a near individual basis).  I feel that there could be more said on the topic and was left hanging for more.  Their last chapter “Playing the Positioning Game” felt like a self-help book (which they admitted that they “have no credentials in the self-motivation business”) and was a poor cap for the great content preceeding it.

All in all this book was well written and a good introduction into positioning.  If you are a busy executive and want a rough course on positioning or you want to get your toes wet in the sea of knowledge this would be a good place to start.  The use of examples and hypotheticals truly made this book come alive for me.  Seeing the actual steps taken by various companies from Market Research (comparing to competitors of course), advertisment adjustment, and then the staggering results drilled the idea home for me.

Language List

I used to live with many Foreign Language Majors.  Most of the time they spoke Spanish or French but a few German speakers, some Japanese, and lastly Chinese.  These were not always the most experienced speakers but one things bound all of us together.  The love of language.  If you asked anyone “What’s on your language list?”  They would ecstatically prattle off seven or more different languages they would like to learn.  They could speak Spanish and want to learn French, Italian, Arabic, Tagalog, Dutch, Swiss French, and Russian.  Everyone had a list.

I too had a list.  It included the Romance languages, the Germanic languages, and Chinese was tossed in there too.  There’s always the desire to learn a new language.  It’s something that can be as mind altering as learning another way of life or being as practical as knowing how to purchase food at a grocery store.  It’s good to set goals for yourself and do things that you enjoy in life.  An important part is setting goals that are challenging but reachable.

It can be argued that when you reach a goal you feel joy, pride, and a surge of other emotions relating to your completing something important.  Having 15 goals which you may never reach looming out in front of you can contribute to depression.  Learning a language on your own can be a difficult process as well as the end result being completely subjective.  Only you can say when you are done learning a language and can move on to the next.

In setting a goal to learn a language a few criteria should be met beforehand.

1. Do you have experience with this language family in the past (i.e. Wanting to learn Italian and you already studied Spanish at University)?
2. Do you have access to adequate resources (i.e. What you deem helps you learn a language, immersion, computer software, dictionaries, reading material, grammar books, etc.)?
3. Do you have to commit yourself to the process?  A subset of this being are you at the point in life where you will be able to make connections with the language?

To clarify the last point if you do not have time to actually sit down and use the resources then you will never actually learn instead you will actively say “I’m learning *Insert Language*” and in reality you will be lying to yourself.  Also as we age we lose the ability to “figure out” patterns, in this case the pattern of grammar in the language.  We learn as a babe how to speak our native tongue as we are forced to use problem solving and actively “figure out” things.  The word “Dog” could be associated with anything that has four legs until more context reveals it to be something that has four legs, a tail, ears, is usually domesticated and characterized by loyalty.  Once you are able to bring yourself to the “childish” level and treat learning as if it’s necessary for you to understand the world around you, you will experience leaps and bounds in learning as you’ll be finding the patterns in the words and sentences.

Having a list of languages that you wish to learn is absolutely impractical.  There is a degree of subjectivity in the word “fluent”.  Arguably a person who can hold a conversation in various topics could be considered “fluent”.  For this discussion though consider “fluent” to be a level at which one could be considered a native speaker and speak on a variety of topics from music to science to business.

Focus on one language at a time and reach a point where you could say “I’m happy where I am with this language” and move on to the next one.  Realistic goals for your language will help you accomplish them and feel better about it.  Once you’ve mastered French and move on to Italian you won’t feel discouraged that you still have 7 languages left to go.  Instead of treating it like a chore you will treat it as what it should be, fun!