How to own a space in consumers’ minds.
Al Ries & Jack Trout
The first book to deal with the problems of communicating to a sceptical, media-blitzed public, Positioning describes a revolutionary approach to creating a “position” in a prospective customer’s mind – one that reflects a company’s own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of its competitors. Writing in their trademark witty, fast-paced style, advertising gurus Ries and Trout explain how to:
- Make and position an industry leader so that its name and message wheedles its way into the collective subconscious of your market-and stays there.
- Position a follower so that it can occupy a niche not claimed by the leader.
- Avoid letting a second product ride on the coattails of an established one.
Review
Positioning remains the definitive playbook for cutting through market noise, a lesson I’ve applied to everything from SaaS launches to rebranding legacy products. Their core premise, that winning isn’t about the product, but about occupying a distinct space in the customer’s mind, explains why even superior products fail without clear positioning.
The “ladder” analogy transformed our approach: we now map category hierarchies before building features, ensuring we own a rung (e.g., “the cybersecurity platform for mid-market retailers”). Their “oversimplification” principle also killed our feature-dense messaging, one client’s conversion jumped 30% when we replaced 12 value props with “The QuickBooks for landscapers.”
By clicking on this link, you will be given the option to buy the book. This may provide us with a small affiliate commission at no cost to you.