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Rating: 
Summary: Make a plan at another angle
Review: I can learn a lot of insights from this book. It teaches us how to make a plan at another angle. Unlike the traditional top down approach that decide what to do (strategy) and then how to do it (tactics), Trout and Ries suggest that tactics dictate strategies, which is "Bottom up marketing". As bottom up managers first find a tactic that will work in the mind and then build it into a strategy (they work from the specific to the general), it is easier for them to exploit new opportunities, which is different from the top down managers that they are limited in the existing market. But remember to focus on only one tactic! Do better with less! Bottom up marketing also emphasizes on change in the organization so as to find new opportunities in the market. Unless there is change in name, product, service, price but not mind or market, any strategy is unlikely to be successful. Throughout the book, examples are widely used to show us the success of organizations that conduct bottom up marketing and the failure of those who conduct top down marketing, making it easier to understand. Read it and try to plan at another angle!
Rating: 
Summary: An Excellent Book With Great Examples
Review: I found this book to be an excellent resource. These two authors have written two other incredible titles which I also recommend: 'Positioning: The Battle for your Mind' and 'The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing'. This book ties in with these two and builds on them. The information in this book is quite useful, and the authors give great examples that illustrate their point. I found this to be an easily understandable text that was immediately useful. This book covers important tools such as monitoring trends, focusing your product line to claim a niche of the market and exploit it ahead of your competition, as well as how to build a successful marketing program with a sound foundation and carry out its successful execution. A lot of great basics are included here.
Rating:
Summary: A direct hit on the problems that plague most companies.
Review: I have owned this book for several years, and it is the one book that I always tell anyone who is in business or wants to start one to read. I have been in business for 30 years and this is the only book that makes any sense.. I loaned my copy to a friend today and wanted to see if it was still available. I am also odering the other books. Keep up the good work. Elvin Price
Rating:
Summary: A nice book to be read but with limited new ideas
Review: This book has only a couple of new ideas. The rest come from "Positioning". The concept of bottom-up is nice but I am not sure if that's a new concept or a redefinition on tactic and strategy. Obviously, either of tactic and strategy must work. Otherway, something is wrong. The idea of bottom-up could be stated as a redefinition of tactic (as the key competing concept) and strategy (as the modeling of the organization to be able to run and follow the tactic). If so, the flow is down-up. On the other hand, authors are too much focused on the mental positiong concept. Tactics (or strategies if you prefer) could arise from many other sources. I recommend reading "the mind of strategist" as another way of looking for competing striking concepts. All in all, this book is nice and easy to read and some ideas can be got from it. I specially enjoy its saying as "the road to a disaster is paved with improvements" or "most of the guys in the exciting fire line fall, while the others remain" (by the way, where do you prefer to be?). They comprise usefull advises for surviving within a company, or do you have a different goal?.
Rating:
Summary: A nice book to be read but with limited new ideas
Review: This book has only a couple of new ideas. The rest come from "Positioning". The concept of bottom-up is nice but I am not sure if that's a new concept or a redefinition on tactic and strategy. Obviously, either of tactic and strategy must work. Otherway, something is wrong. The idea of bottom-up could be stated as a redefinition of tactic (as the key competing concept) and strategy (as the modeling of the organization to be able to run and follow the tactic). If so, the flow is down-up. On the other hand, authors are too much focused on the mental positiong concept. Tactics (or strategies if you prefer) could arise from many other sources. I recommend reading "the mind of strategist" as another way of looking for competing striking concepts. All in all, this book is nice and easy to read and some ideas can be got from it. I specially enjoy its saying as "the road to a disaster is paved with improvements" or "most of the guys in the exciting fire line fall, while the others remain" (by the way, where do you prefer to be?). They comprise usefull advises for surviving within a company, or do you have a different goal?.
Rating:
Summary: insightful, practically effective, easy read
Review: Traditional approach is for executives to define the strategy and for the middle management to follow through with execution and tactics. The authors describe that the more effective approach is for an executive to be on the front line working with the customers. This is because a strategy developed in relative isolation from customers is unlikely to leverage off of the company's positioning in the customer's mind. The executive's objective would be to identify the competitive mental angle or the position / niche his company holds in the customers mind. This leads to identifying a simple differentiating tactic. Examples include pizza delivery time (Domino's) or "we're #2; we try harder" (Avis). This approach becomes highly effective when the executive uses the simple winning tactic as a lightning rod to gather and focus the entire company's energy. This involves continuous improvements in processes, products, positioning towards the singular goal of penetrating deep into customer's mind via the beachhead that was initially identified. Contrary to most models, a strategy is developed from a winning tactic by seeking broad input from customers and a variety of stakeholders; however, execution, planning, and marketing are carefully controlled and coordinated in a precise military fashion to surgically deepen the penetration in a customer's mind. The emphasis is on fixing things within the organization to match the meaning already present in a customer's mind rather than spend a lot of resources ineffectively to change a customer's mind.
Rating:
Summary: Glass house strategy vs reality
Review: Unlike "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing", Bottom Up Marketing is not merely a re-hash of "Focus" and "Positioning". The core focus of this book is the distinction made between strategy and tactics in marketing. A grand strategy is often created that is perfect and executed flawlessly - in the minds of those who create it - The details (tactics) will of course fall into place. This, contend the authors, is how many a marketing campaign is carried out, often without the smashing success expected. Bottom-Up Marketing is just that, developing a marketing strategy from the bottom up. A successful strategy can be crafted only after the needs, wants, and minds of the consumers are understood. Once the opportunity is identified, tactics are developed to satisfy the need, focus and refine the actions of the company. Once a realistic picture emerges, a strategy can be created such that the entire organization can take the correct actions and take advantage of opportunities that actually exist. Intelligence about the marketplace and opportunities presented within must come directly from the source, those on the front lines in touch with consumers. Strategy and resource allocation comes from the top. It's a good book with a clear simple message, combined with a dash of Trout and Ries' humor.
Rating:
Summary: Glass house strategy vs reality
Review: Unlike "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing", Bottom Up Marketing is not merely a re-hash of "Focus" and "Positioning". The core focus of this book is the distinction made between strategy and tactics in marketing. A grand strategy is often created that is perfect and executed flawlessly - in the minds of those who create it - The details (tactics) will of course fall into place. This, contend the authors, is how many a marketing campaign is carried out, often without the smashing success expected. Bottom-Up Marketing is just that, developing a marketing strategy from the bottom up. A successful strategy can be crafted only after the needs, wants, and minds of the consumers are understood. Once the opportunity is identified, tactics are developed to satisfy the need, focus and refine the actions of the company. Once a realistic picture emerges, a strategy can be created such that the entire organization can take the correct actions and take advantage of opportunities that actually exist. Intelligence about the marketplace and opportunities presented within must come directly from the source, those on the front lines in touch with consumers. Strategy and resource allocation comes from the top. It's a good book with a clear simple message, combined with a dash of Trout and Ries' humor.
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