The law of leadership in marketing claims that being first is easier and more advantageous than being better than an already existing competitor. In other words, by being first in a new product category, one can only focus on staying in the same position instead of convincing consumers that a new alternative is better (Ries & Trout, 1994). The main reason is that in order to be better, the difference needs to be noticeable, which is difficult to achieve. A real-world example that supports the law can be observed among American universities, where the first college founded in the United States still remains a leading educational institution in both the public’s perception and rankings (Ong, 2017). It is primarily due to the fact that preserving a leading position is significantly easier than fighting for it with an already established leader.
The law of focus in marketing claims that marketing efforts should be precisely focused on a single factor association in the customers’ perception (Ries & Trout, 1994). One cannot own several images or words in the consumers’ minds, which is why establishing a single one should be the prime focus of marketing. A real-world example is the simple word “computer,” which leads to a strong association with either one company or several (Ong, 2017).
However, the core idea is that these companies put in a significant amount of marketing work to be associated with this single word. Therefore, there needs to be a precision-based focus in the marketing plan in order for it to be resultative. In addition, such a focus should be put on a simple word rather than a complex one since it will be easier to build such an association in the consumers’ mind.
References
Ong, S. Q. (2017). The 22 immutable laws of marketing: Violate them at your own risk! — Book notes. Si Quan Ong. Web.
Ries, A., & Trout, J. (1994). The 22 immutable laws of marketing: Violate them at your own risk! HarperBusiness.