THE 22 LAWS OF MARKETING: THINGS EVERY MARKETER SHOULD KNOW

Morning!

We’re currently running a campaign on LinkedIn around my “missing” brother. Ironically, Morgan flew back to England this week so he really is missing.

So, I decided to spend Saturday morning reading one of the popular marketing books that a few people have told me to read - The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing.

It was surprisingly good. So good, that’s I think every marketer should read it.

But you may not have to, as I’m about to share the 7 key lessons it taught me:

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BREAKING DOWN THE STRATEGY

99% of popular marketing books are a complete waste of time. They tell you to:

• “Know your customer”

• “Be on social media”

• “Try & stand out”

It’s mass market nonsense that is usually a massive waste of time.

So, I tend to avoid them at all costs.

But they’d been a few people talk very positively about the ‘22 Immutable Laws’. So, despite it being one of the most popular marketing books of all-time (with 20,000+ Goodreads ratings)…

I decided to give it a go.

3 hours later, I’d already finished it.

It was good, really good.

Not good because of an amazing new tactic it shows you, but because it highlights the blunders major corporations have made by not following simple marketing principles.

But I’m not here to bore you with the entire book.

Instead, here are the 7 most important lessons I took from it:

Lesson 1: It’s Better To Be First Than Best

Who was the first person to climb Mount Everest?

Edmund Hillary, right?

Now who was the third or the forth? No one has any idea.

They same goes for products.

What would you say is the most popular sports drink in America?

Gatorade, right?

Now have a guess what the first ever sports drink in America was? You guessed it - Gatorade.

This pattern repeats itself 100s of times over.

Leading university in America: Harvard
First university in America: Harvard

Most popular ibuprofen in America: Advil
First ever ibuprofen in America: Advil

Most popular muffin brand in the UK: Thomas
First muffin brand in the UK: Thomas

The pattern continues.

But this is not a lesson about being first, this is a lesson about differentiation & category creation.

Because if you’re not first, you might as well be last.

More on this in the next lesson!

Lesson 2: Create Your Own Category

Going off the last law, you might be thinking of packing everything in because you’ll never compete with the first to market.

But this is where lesson 2 comes in.

In the book, it explains that the key to competing is to not compete at all.

Don’t try and be the first in their category, create a new one.

We’ve just seen a prime example of this play out recently.

As you now know, the first sports drink was Gatorade. But what is the sports drink that everyone is talking about right now? PRIME.

But they don’t call themselves a “Sports drink” do they? They call themselves a “Hydration drink”.

Genius.

While everyone was talking about the hype they created they completely overlooked their sleek piece of category creation & differentiation.

Now you may be asking, but if they weren’t the first… surely PRIME is destined to fail?

That’s where lesson 3 comes in.

Lesson 3: Be First To Mind

A quick challenge to get this lesson started: Name a hydration drink.

Nothing? Me neither. The only one I know is PRIME.

I even Googled it and couldn’t find any major brands - maybe WOWHydrate? Do they still exist?

The point is, PRIME are the first hydration drink in people’s minds.

In the book it explains that there may have been someone who:

• Created Cola before Coca-Cola

• Created a sports drink before Gatorade

• Created a college before Harvard was born

But if they did, they didn’t get it to market quick enough to be “first”.

Part of being “first” is getting to market successfully and being remembered enough that people know you were first.

The first “Hydration drink” company didn’t do that.

And now PRIME will forever be seen as the first — the first to mind.

Lesson 4: Own A Word

One of the toughest things you can do as a brand is find a way to stick in someones mind.

According to the book, the best way to do this is through owning a word.

Own a word in the prospects mind and you’ll burn your brand into their memory.

For example, in 1964 Heinz aired their infamous “Slowest ketchup in the west ad”.

The ad showcased that Heinz ketchup took forever to get out of the bottle due to how thick it was.

That ad allowed Heinz to “own” the word slow.

When people think slow ketchup they thought Heinz and they also thought: thick, rich, better quality. All things that helped Heinz become the market leader.

Here’s a couple of other examples of words companies have owned over the years:

Mercedes: Engineering

Pepsi Cola: Youth

Volvo: Safety

You can’t stand for something, if you chase after everything.

So narrow what you’re known for by owning one word.

Lesson 5: What You’re Known For Must Be Exclusive

In the early 1980s, McDonalds was leaving Burger King in the dust.

So Burger King analysed McDonalds brand and picked out “The thing” that it seemed like everyone associated McDonalds with - being fast.

Then in 1987 after many years of prep, they launched a huge campaign “The best food for fast times”.

It was a massive flop and detrimental in the battle between McDonalds and Burger King.

Why did it flop?

Because people knew McDonalds for being fast.

So when Burger King pushed the word “fast”, they pushed the thought of McDonalds.

What they should have done is found a word that could be exclusively theirs - like “Bigger”.

Now imagine if they’d run a massive campaign around having the biggest burgers.

Maybe they’d be in a different spot than they are today?

Lesson 6: Admit Your Place In the Market

One of my favourite ads of all-time is Avis’ “We try harder” campaign.

(If you’re an avid reader you may have seen it before because it was created by Bill Bernbach - read my breakdown on him HERE)

The ad works because Avis admit their place in the market.

At the time people knew that Hertz was the biggest & best car hire company.

Avis had failed the battle of being “First”. But through this they positioned themselves as a great alternative.

Here’s another example of why this works:

Imagine you’re a kid who’s just got out of college (or high school for US folk) and you’re looking for a university to go to.

University A says: “We’re the best school in the whole of Europe.”

Well, unless University A was Oxford or Cambridge you’d instantly know that wasn’t true.

But University B says: “We’re only a small school, that’s why our community is so close-knit.”

University B, like Avis, recognised its position and turns it into a strength.

This is such a great tip for any company that isn’t a market leader.

Lesson 7: Laugh At Yourself

There is no better way to get a prospect on your side than admitting your imperfections.

It instantly disarms prospects, whilst also opening them up to whatever you say next.

I was actually laughing during this part of the book because it’s something I’ve used a couple of times in my LinkedIn content already.

Do you see the negative “I’m not the greatest CEO” - pretty obvious - combined with the positive things I’ve done?

RyanAir also do this fantastically with their marketing.

They never attempt to be the best airline, instead they admit they are pretty shoddy BUT cheap.

Just take a look at their recent tweets, they’re all laughing at themselves.

 🌱 THE GREENHOUSE

Things I’ve saved this week that are worth seeing:

• The 22 Marketing Laws book. (See here)

• How Sam Parr scaled The Hustle. (See here)

• Awesome thread by Winsbury on LinkedIn headlines. (See here)

TL;DR

1/ It’s better to be first than best
2/ Create your own category
3/ Be first to mind
4/ Own a word
5/ What you’re known for must be exclusive
6/ Admit your place in the market
7/ Laugh at yourself

I must admit, this book still wasn’t as good as The Boron Letters, but it was up there.

(It’s only a short read too.)

I’m still sat here in awe at the fact Harvard was the first college in America.

How was that something I didn’t already know?

Anyway, that’s enough marketing for one day!

Until next Sunday.

— Niall

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THAT’S ALL!

This has been a breakdown of my lessons from reading 22 marketing laws book. I hope you have learned something and can implement a similar strategy in your business!

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