September feels like a flash. Multiple reality-checks in business meet with the astonishing nature charm & travels, and now it’s time to formally wake up when Sep comes to an end.
I finished reading “The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing” during the west journey weeks ago – 10 days still feel like not enough in Altay/Kanas regions of Northern Xinjiang. The decision to finally go there during early autumn is not only a relieve but also feels quite spiritual when sitting down feeling connected with the yellow forests. Long travels are always ideal companions to great books- especially during the reflections periods of the year.
The non-satisfactions toward my work in the past few weeks are mainly triggered by wanting too much & stretching too much attentions across different topics – a default personality weakness/strengths I always have and need to admit. Knowing priorities but losing attentions to non-priorities is an easy-trap to fall but a hard one to get out unless really made up my mind.
The book surprisingly pointed out some of my mistakes made in business recently, and it’s not only about marketing in general- the laws outlined there are also thoughtful pieces for all businesses & lessons learned from bad strategy/spending:
Out of the 22 Laws of Marketing, 6 of them are basically saying the importance of 1 idea, 1 move, and the capability to abandon and say no is actually the key of success. Eg. The Law of Leadership – there is no point to do any business or put any efforts if you can’t be the leader (top 1-3) of the chosen categories. And to be in the leader position for this specific business- you need focus and extremely concentrated spirit/efforts. The Law of Focus, The Law of Line Extension, the Law of Sacrifice and the Law of Singularity- are basically delivering identical message:
DO NOT pursue 2 or 3: Stick with 1 – The essence of marketing is to narrowing your focus. You get stronger when reducing the scope of your operations.
DO NOT follow the natural inclination of line extension process– it’s a unconscious path leading to high chance failure and it’s the most violated rule. The leader in any category is the brand that is not line extended. Line Extension is a easy way out in the short-term but long-term it will lead brands to oblivion.
More is less: The more products, the more markets, the more alliances a company makes, the less money it makes.
Less if more: If you want to be successful today, you have to narrow the focus in order to build a position in the prospects mind.
DO give up something. Give up benchmarking your brands with multiple greatness- stick with one attribute and make everyone knows this attribute equals you. Focus on 1 thing that you fundamentally excel and do give up other alluring changes/target markets/product lines etc.
In each situation, only one move will produce substantial results. History teaches that the only thing that works in marketing is the single, bold stroke- the line of least expectation. Most often there is only one place where competitor is vulnerable, and that place should be the focus of the entire invading force.
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