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.
AL RIESThe reason is obvious. A well-known name got well-known because it stood for something. It occupies a position in the prospect’s mind. A really well-known name sits on the top rung of a sharply defined ladder.
More Al Ries Quotes
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To get into the consumer’s mind, you have to sacrifice.
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Brand leadership, of course. Leadership is the single most important motivating factor in consumer behavior.
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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.
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War and marketing have many similarities.
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It normally takes decades to build a brand because it takes decades to penetrate the gray matter in between your ears.
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When a really new product comes along, it’s almost always a mistake to hang a well-known name on it.
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THE LAW OF THE CONTRACTION: A brand becomes stronger when you narrow its focus.
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The next generation product almost never comes from the previous generation.
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Positioning is not what you do to a product.
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It’s better to be first in the mind than to be first in the marketplace.
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IBM didn’t invent the computer; Sperry Rand did. But IBM was the first to build the computer position in the prospect’s mind.
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Positioning is what you do to the mind of the prospect.
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Strategy should evolve out of the mud of the marketplace, not in the antiseptic environment of an ivory tower.
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Good things happen when you narrow your focus.
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It creates in the mind of the prospect the perception that there is no product on the market quite like your product.
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