'Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind' by Al Ries, Jack Trout, and Philip Kotler
'Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind' by Al Ries, Jack Trout, and Philip Kotler

The good

  1. This is the classic book that popularized the concept of positioning.

  2. There are a few nice insights here:

    • Positioning exists in the prospect’s mind, not in your product. Don’t try to change the prospect’s mind or introduce new ideas; instead, find something that is already in their mind, and attach your product to it. Often, the position will seem very obvious and simple once you find it… So obvious, in fact, it makes it hard to find!
    • Line extension is usually a trap. Most brands should have exactly one, clear position (and even that’s hard to achieve!). If you try to associate your brand with multiple positions, it weakens each position in the prospect’s mind, diluting your value.
    • Advertising isn’t a debate; it’s a seduction.
    • Prospects don’t buy; they choose.

The not so good

  • It seems like every other business book in the world has cannibalized and regurgitated almost all the content of this book, including other books from the same authors (especially “Differentiate or Die”). So it’s not that there’s anything inherently wrong with this book, but if you’ve read even a handful of other books on marketing, you’ve probably already seen almost all the content this book has to offer.

Rating: 3 stars