Product Description

'One of the most important communication books I've ever read. I highly recommend it!' - Spencer Johnson, author of "Who Moved My Cheese?" and co-author of "The One Minute Manager". '...Ries and Trout taught me everything I know about branding, marketing, and product management. When I had the idea of creating a very large thematic community on the Web, I first thought of "Positioning"...' - David Bohnett, Chairman and Founder of GeoCities. The first book to deal with the problems of communicating to a skeptical, media-blitzed public, "Positioning" describes a revolutionary approach to creating a "position" in a prospective customer's mind - one that reflects a company's own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of its competitors.Writing in their trademark witty, fast-paced style, advertising gurus Ries and Trout explain how to: make and position an industry leader so that its name and message wheedles its way into the collective subconscious of your market - and stays there; position a follower so that it can occupy a niche not claimed by the leader; and, avoid letting a second product ride on the coattails of an established one." Positioning" also shows you how to: use leading ad agency techniques to capture the biggest market share and become a household name; build your strategy around your competition's weaknesses; reposition a strong competitor and create a weak spot; use your present position to its best advantage; choose the best name for your product; determine when - and why - less is more; and, analyze recent trends that affect your positioning. Ries and Trout provide many valuable case histories and penetrating analyses of some of the most phenomenal successes and failures in advertising history. Revised to reflect significant developments in the five years since its original publication, "Positioning" is required reading for anyone in business today.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7603 in Books
• Published on: 2000-12-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 213 pages

Ingram
A dynamic new cover heralds the reissue of this bestselling business classic, which Spencer Johnson, M.D., co-author of The One Minute Manager praised as "One of the most important communication books I've ever read. I recommend it highly!" Reissue.

Book Info
A new edition of the marketing classic, offering more information than ever. Deals with the problems of America's skeptical, media-bombarded public, describing a fresh approach to creating a position in the customer's mind. Shows how to choose the best product name, how strategize using the competition's weaknesses, and much more. Previous edition not cited. Softcover.

From the Back Cover

"One of the most important communication books I've ever read. I highly recommend it!"
­­Spencer Johnson, author of Who Moved My Cheese? and co-author of The One Minute Manager

"...Ries and Trout taught me everything I know about branding, marketing, and product management. When I had the idea of creating a very large thematic community on the Web, I first thought of Positioning...."
­­David Bohnett, Chairman and Founder of GeoCities

The first book to deal with the problems of communicating to a skeptical, media-blitzed public, Positioning describes a revolutionary approach to creating a "position" in a prospective customer's mind-one that reflects a company's own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of its competitors. Writing in their trademark witty, fast-paced style, advertising gurus Ries and Trout explain how to:

• Make and position an industry leader so that its name and message wheedles its way into the collective subconscious of your market-and stays there
• Position a follower so that it can occupy a niche not claimed by the leader
• Avoid letting a second product ride on the coattails of an established one.

Positioning also shows you how to:

• Use leading ad agency techniques to capture the biggest market share and become a household name
• Build your strategy around your competition's weaknesses
• Reposition a strong competitor and create a weak spot
• Use your present position to its best advantage
• Choose the best name for your product
• Determine when-and why-less is more
• Analyze recent trends that affect your positioning.

Ries and Trout provide many valuable case histories and penetrating analyses of some of the most phenomenal successes and failures in advertising history. Revised to reflect significant developments in the five years since its original publication, Positioning is required reading for anyone in business today.

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Customer Reviews

Simplifies the Complexities of Marketing
This is the first book I read when I began my position as a Junior Writer with a Marketing Consulting firm. I was overwhelmed by all that I was learning on-the-job, though I loved having been thrown into the thick of challenging work. This book was an excellent starting point for me. It demystified a lot of the concepts that I was juggling around at the start, and gave me something to relate to.

I appreciate how Positioning deals with keeping concepts simple, both in the book and through its principles. That is, marketing is about giving consumers something clear, simple and relatable that is strictly yours, not necessarily about dazzling them every time. I have gone back to the teachings of Positioning every time I start to write something and find my work full of jargon that means nothing. It has proven to be a useful tool, and I suspect it will for a long time to come.

A Classic, A Milestone and a Must Read
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.

Much More Than Marketing
Positioning is the idea that shook Madison Avenue to its core in the 1970s. Ries and Trout published what the high priests of Madison Avenue deemed as heresy. These two upstarts dared to take the voodoo out of marketing - and marketing has not been the same since.

Over the years I have given away countless dozens of Positioning. I have found two types of recipients: (1) Those who view it as a book on marketing, and (2) those who truly "get it."

Positioning is not actually about marketing, though that is its platform. It is about how the human mind works. The principals taught in this book apply across all of our lives - from how we are viewed by our friends to why we affiliate with a particular political party or other social cause. Learning how Positioning works is learning about life.