Al Ries Quotes

Positioning is not what you do to a product. Positioning is what you do to the mind of the prospect.

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.

Good things happen when you narrow your focus.

A brand should strive to own a word in the mind of the consumer.

Marketing is not selling. Marketing is building a brand in the mind of the prospect.

The essence of positioning is sacrifice. You must be willing to give up something in order to establish that unique position.

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

Everyone is interested in what‘s new. Few people are interested in what‘s better.

The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospects mind.

THE LAW OF THE CONTRACTION: A brand becomes stronger when you narrow its focus.

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.

Your brand's power lies in dominance. It is better to have 50% of one market, instead of 10% of five markets.

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.

Positioning is how you differentiate yourself in the mind of the prospect. That is, you position the product in the mind of the prospect.

Strategy should evolve out of the mud of the marketplace, not in the antiseptic environment of an ivory tower.

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.

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.

The best way to make news is to announce a new category, not a new product.

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.

What should a brand leader advertise?Brand leadership, of course. Leadership is the single most important motivating factor in consumer behavior.

The crucial ingredient in the success of any brand is its claim to authenticity.

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.

The next generation product almost never comes from the previous generation.

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.

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.