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It's better to be first in the mind than to be first in the marketplace.

Al Ries

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Al Ries
Age: 98
Born: 1926
Born: November 14
Author
Economist
Atlanta
Georgia
Firsts
First
Mind
Marketplace
Business
Better

More quotes by Al Ries

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Changing the direction of a large company is like trying to turn an aircraft carrier. It takes a mile before anything happens. And if it was a wrong turn, getting back on course takes even longer.
Al Ries
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To get into the consumer's mind, you have to sacrifice. You have to reduce the essence of your brand to a single thought or attribute. An attribute that nobody else already owns in your category.
Al Ries
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If you can build a powerful brand, you will have a powerful marketing program. If you CAN'T then all the advertising, fancy packaging, sales promotion and public relations in the world won't help you achieve your objective.
Al Ries
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Only brand names register in the mind... What you should generally do is take a regular word and use it out of context to connote the primary attribute of your brand.
Al Ries
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The essence of positioning is sacrifice. You must be willing to give up something in order to establish that unique position.
Al Ries
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The Internet is the ultimate in brand-centered buying.
Al Ries
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The best way to make news is to announce a new category, not a new product.
Al Ries
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It normally takes decades to build a brand... It's the forgetting of the old truth that allows a person to accept a new truth. You need to allow enough time for this forgetting to take place
Al Ries
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Good things happen when you narrow your focus.
Al Ries
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If you want to build a brand, you must focus your branding efforts on owning a word in the prospect's mind. A word that nobody else owns.
Al Ries
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The Law of the Generic: One of the fastest routes to failure is giving a brand a generic name.
Al Ries
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Your brand's power lies in dominance. It is better to have 50% of one market, instead of 10% of five markets.
Al Ries
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Marketing is what a company is in business to do. Marketing is a company's ultimate objective.
Al Ries
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Customers want brands that are narrow in scope and distinguishable by a single word, the shorter the better.
Al Ries
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It's the first company to build the mental position that has the upper hand, not the first company to make the product. IBM didn't invent the computer Sperry Rand did. But IBM was the first to build the computer position in the prospect's mind.
Al Ries
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A laser is a weak source of energy. A laser takes [only] a few watts of energy and focuses them in a coherent stream of light. But with a laser, you can drill a hole in a diamond or wipe out cancer.
Al Ries
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War and marketing have many similarities.
Al Ries
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Successful brands get into the mind slowly. A blurb in a magazine. A mention in a newspaper. A comment from a friend. A display in a retail store. After a slow buildup, people become convinced that they have known about the brand forever.
Al Ries
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Everyone is interested in what‘s new. Few people are interested in what‘s better.
Al Ries
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Advertising is the way great brands get to be great brands.
Al Ries