Sublime

If you didn’t get into the prospect’s mind first, don’t give up hope. Find a new category you can be first in. It’s not as difficult as you might think.

A better strategy for IBM’s competitors would be to take advantage of whatever positions they already own in the minds of their prospects and then relate them to a new position in computers.

As long as a company owns the position, there’s no point in running advertisements that repeat the obvious. “We’re No. 1” is a typical example. Much better is to enhance the product category in the prospect’s mind. IBM’s advertising usually ignores competition and sells the value of computers. All computers, not just the company’s types.

The truth is, many products are sold, few are positioned.

You can’t predict the size of a new attribute’s share, so never laugh.

In the communication jungle out there, the only hope to score big is to be selective, to concentrate on narrow targets, to practice segmentation. In a word, “positioning.” The mind, as a defense against the volume of today’s communications, screens and rejects much of the information offered it. In general, the mind accepts only that which matches

The world of business is populated by big, highly diversified generalists and small, narrowly focused specialists. If line extension and diversification were effective marketing strategies, you’d expect to see the generalists riding high. But they’re not.

When you try to be all things to all people, you inevitably wind up in trouble. “I’d rather be strong somewhere,” said one manager, “than weak everywhere.”

History shows that the first brand into the brain, on the average, gets twice the long-term market share of the No. 2 brand and twice again as much as the No. 3 brand. And the relationships are not easily changed. The leader brand in category after category outsells the number two brand by a wide margin.