Provides valuable ideas for marketers--all the while demonstrating why advertising lacks credibility, why the big-bang approach advocated by advertising people should be abandoned in favor of a slow buildup by PR, why advertising should be used only to maintain brands once they have been established through publicity
The Internet is the first major new communication medium to be introduced since television and businesses ignore it at their peril. If the Internet is going to take its place alongside the other major media it will be because it exploits a powerful new attribute - interactivity. The Internet will make traditional forms of branding, such as conventional advertising, redundant. In order to succeed in branding on the net, the message to customers must be interactive. Al and Laura Ries examine this dilemma and explain how their other revolutionary principles can help your company to build a brand on the net.
In this new book by the bestselling author of The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, Al Ries shows why companies should focus on core products and get rid of extraneous, energy-wasting ventures. In industry after industry, it's the narrowly focused companies that are the big winners. With increased competition and the globalization of business, the future belongs to the company that can narrow its focus in order to dominate its industry. Using examples of companies from a variety of traditional and new industries - from airlines to video stores to fast food to software - Ries offers concrete, no-nonsense advice on how to own a category in the customer's mind, the way Volvo owns "safety," BMW owns "driving," and FedEx owns "overnight."
Lay down the rules for brand creation in a series of chapters showing how new ideas are developed, the importance of being first, inventing a new category, positioning opposite existing brands, positioning against an enemy. This author discusses the importance of public relations, protecting the brand, and when to give up on an existing brand.