The first book to deal with the problems of communicating to a skeptical, 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.
Positioning also shows you how to:
Use leading ad agency techniques to capture the biggest market share and become a household name
Build your strategy around your competition's weaknesses
Reposition a strong competitor and create a weak spot
Use your present position to its best advantage
Choose the best name for your product
Determine when-and why-less is more
Analyze recent trends that affect your positioning.
Ries and Trout provide many valuable case histories and penetrating analyses of some of the most phenomenal successes and failures in advertising history. Revised to reflect significant developments in the five years since its original publication,
is required reading for anyone in business today.