Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind

Rating:
Summary: A must read, but little practical examples
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A Classic, A Milestone and a Must Read
Review: The twentieth anniversary edition of "Positioning" is uniquely updated without disrupting the original edition. Ries and Trout provide commentary in the margins, rather than rewriting passages in the book.

And in those margins, they can sometimes be brutally honest, as they occasionally admit to being wrong on some of their theories. But what you will note as you read this book is that the theories they advanced 20 years ago have largely proved out in the interim. This is a seminal work, a book that should be read by anyone involved in any form of marketing.

The current hot trend in marketing-- "branding"-- is in many ways an outgrowth of the theories put forth on "Positioning." Essentially you distinguish your product or service from the competition. The ideal means of doing this is to be first to the market with your product or service, although that is no guarantee of continuous success. This may also mean finding an untapped niche, particularly in crowded categories.

Particularly interesting I their discussion of line extension, and how it dilutes, rather than strengthens, a company's position in the marketplace. And it is interesting to read how some companies at one time literally owned a particular product category, only to lose it when they tinkered with their concept too much.

Education, entertaining, and enlightening, this book is an important addition to anyone interested in marketing library.

Rating:
Summary: Packed With Knowledge!
Review: 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.