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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

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Al Ries
Age: 98
Born: 1926
Born: November 14
Author
Economist
Atlanta
Georgia
Positioning
Prospect
Product
Products
Mind

More quotes by Al Ries

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The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospects mind.
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Strategy and timing are the Himalayas of marketing. Everything else is the Catskills.
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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.
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Customers want brands that are narrow in scope and distinguishable by a single word, the shorter the 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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It's better to be first in the mind than to be first in the marketplace.
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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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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.
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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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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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Good things happen when you narrow your focus.
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Branding is simply a more efficient way to sell things.
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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.
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The best way to make news is to announce a new category, not a new product.
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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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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.
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Marketing is not selling. Marketing is building a brand in the mind of the prospect.
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Everyone is interested in what‘s new. Few people are interested in what‘s better.
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Advertising is the way great brands get to be great brands.
Al Ries