THE MARKETING LAW OF CATEGORY

 

In a continuation of my last piece on marketing law of Leadership from the book The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout, I will move on to the next. In today's piece, I will be discussing the second law with you, which happens to be the law of category.

So in the previous piece, we discussed Leadership's law; if you missed that one, you can find it here LAW REVIEW. And today, moving ahead, we focus on the second law that being the Law of Category. This law from The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing states,

"If you can't be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in."

This law is Al Ries & Jack Trout's advice when being second in the prospect's mind with your product.

Why is this? The reason is this "everyone is interested in what is new, and few people are interested in what is better."

According to the authors, when launching a new product, it is not how your new product is better than the competition, but what category is this new product. In the law of Leadership, the example used here was first to take a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. This was, of course, Charles Lindbergh. The second being Burt Hinkler, who in many cases is overlooked being the 2nd to do it. Yet I believe you know who was 3rd in doing this feat or do you? Third, in this case, was Amelia Earhart. Ms. Earhart 3rd to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, but she was the first woman to do it, creating her category as a woman.

Furthermore, this distinction is essential as the book states, "That when you're the first in a new category, you should promote the category, as in essence, you have no competition."

For those products, brands, or categories that have been around for some time, a way to re-invent themselves is to put your product in a new creative category, which allows you to again be first in another aspect and top of mind in your prospects mind.

So my point to the marketing law of category is to think differently and see how your product, brand, or category can still be first, be it a new category. To leave you with one other example, Heineken was the first highly imported beer. There may be a favorably positioned product to be the number one imported, domestic beer, and that would be Michelob. Lastly, to push to point home, Miller Light was the first domestic light beer, and if they can exist, so can an imported light beer, and first in that category was Amstel Light.

So there you have it, Law number two. Hopefully, this information was helpful to you, and that you learned something new. And until next time, have a blessed day, and I will see you on the flipside.