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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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Al Ries
Age: 97
Born: 1926
Born: November 14
Author
Economist
Atlanta
Georgia
Didn
Product
Hands
Mental
Firsts
Build
First
Computer
Mind
Products
Rand
Make
Position
Prospect
Hand
Upper
Company
Invent

More quotes by Al Ries

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Positioning is how you differentiate yourself in the mind of the prospect. That is, you position the product in the mind of the prospect.
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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.
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What should a brand leader advertise?Brand leadership, of course. Leadership is the single most important motivating factor in consumer behavior.
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What's your brand? If you can't answer that question about your own brand in two or three words, your brand's in trouble.
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Everyone is interested in what‘s new. Few people are interested in what‘s better.
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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.
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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.
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The real barrier (to building a brand) is the human mind. It normally takes decades to build a brand because it takes decades to penetrate the gray matter in between your ears.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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The crucial ingredient in the success of any brand is its claim to authenticity.
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A branding program should be designed to differentiate your cow from all the other cattle on the range. Even if all the cattle on the range look pretty much alike.
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Today, communication itself is the problem. We have become the world's first overcommunicated society. Each year we send more and receive less.
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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
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The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospects mind.
Al Ries
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Marketing is not selling. Marketing is building a brand in the mind of the prospect.
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The next generation product almost never comes from the previous generation.
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A successful branding program is based on the concept of singularity. It creates in the mind of the prospect the perception that there is no product on the market quite like your product.
Al Ries
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Positioning is not what you do to a product. Positioning is what you do to the mind of the prospect.
Al Ries