#41/111: Attention!

What is it about?

Do you know the five easy steps to own a yacht? I don’t neither but maybe I got your attention. Jim F. Kukral writes about generating attention and how to use it to make money.

Key points?

Be different: To get attention today, you have to be different. Try to draw outside the lines. Let’s take job applications, Jim Kukral saw that his future boss used post it notes to organize himself. So, he decided to write 50 post it notes with positive attributes of him and glued them on a big board. His future boss was impressed and hired him.

Sell benefits: What is in for your customers? Do they really need to know that you product get feature XY? Probably, no. They want to know how they can benefit from your product. Save time, increase productivity or higher the comfort. For example, a car offers lots of features from ABS to a air conditioner. The benefits are a more safety and conformable transportation.

Don’t try to be everybody’s darling: Don’t try to avoid every confrontation just because you could shy away some people. A example is again the iPod. A lot of techies complained about missing features. Though, most people don’t care about the features, they want a simple device for listening to music.

Conclusion

This book is actually interesting but lacks a bit of usefulness. He talks about a lot of one hit wonders from the Pet Rock to the Million Dollar Website. Sure, it’s fun to hear about such products but they aren’t a sustainable business.

#17/111: The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

What is it about?

Al Ries and Jack Trout talk about their 22 laws for successful marketing. They explore which failures companies made in the past and how they can be fixed.

Key points?

Be first: Your brand/product should be recognized as the first and leading product in the market. If you think of Cola, you think of Coca-Cola. If you think of eco-friendly cars, you think of the Toyota Prius.

If you can’t, be different: If you came too late you should find your niche. Pepsi did so in targeting young people. You shouldn’t try to fight the No. 1 with their attributes, instead choose a new attribute which describes your product (e.g. healthiest cola).

Focus on one thing: Use one attribute. Don’t describe your product as easy, best and cheap. People probably won’t believe you.

Don’t extend your line because you can: If you have built a successful brand you shouldn’t just throw new products in new markets. A lot of people tried this and failed. If you introduce new products, focus on the these laws and make them unique.

Conclusion

This book is just incredible. The chapters are short, there are enough examples of how to apply these laws and situations where companies have failed to do so. I read the first edition from 1993 and the two authors made some recommendations for companies like Burger King. Surprisingly, about 10-15 years later a lot of these recommendations where finally executed. Nice!