22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk

The book is only 132 pages and is an easy to read. However the book contradicts itself throughout. For example, the subheading for law 1 is “it’s better to be first than it is to be better” but law 3’s subheading is “it’s better to be first in the mind than to be first in the marketplace”.By about the 5th law, I got the feeling the book is designed for large organisations and not really useful for smaller businesses. This was confirmed by the last law “The Law of Resources”. It states you will need 5k-20k per month on marketing.If you work in marketing as part of a large organistion, this book could be very useful but for everyone, I would not recommend this book.

Twenty years ago I knew hundreds of things about marketing. Now I know just a few things. Almost all of them are in this book, and the authors crystallise them excellently.The 22 laws is in many ways superb, but it could be criticised on three countsFirst, it seems quite opinionated. Who is Ries to say that things are this way and not another way? Interestingly, basic books on marketing will cut the cake both ways, saying 'you can do this, or you can do that...'. Top marketing books, though, written by the gurus that people in the know want to hear from, are much more in agreement. What Ries is saying may not be original, but it fairly represents the balance of opinion at the top table.Second, the book is quite dated. It was written in 1994, and, in many ways, we're in a different world now. On the other hand, this is no bad thing: you can look at the brands that Ries said would not prosper unless they changed their marketing, and compare them with what did prosper. Eight times out of ten Ries was right. The other two times fit perfectly with his law of unpredictability.Third, the book is actually pretty much the same as the 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, by the same author. I've got both books, and I don't begrudge Al Ries the money. The emphasis is a little different, and the one reinforces the other.Ultimately, marketing is about distilling a distinctive promise to the consumer and then promoting it aggressively. This book is mainly about the distinctive promise and its distillation. It talks about the kinds of campaigns that this leads to, but it isn't a how-to book for doing your first city-wide outdoor advertising campaign. There are lots of other books out there that do that -- but, be warned: many of them fall into the frequent traps that Ries warns us about.For my money, this is a book well worth heeding.

Just loved this book. Great common sense advice in a quick and easy read.As mentioned in other reviews that the companies used as examples are a little outdated, the concepts within are, I feel, even more relevant to today's marketing strategies that should be being applied, given the rise of marketing becoming more about creating something meaningful rather than trying to bulldoze people in to buying a product just because it is manufactured by an established brand or because we're told it's the next big thing which is dying out as fast as the dinosaurs did.The face of business and providing what the customer actually wants is a trend that is gathering speed, the consumer has discovered their ability to decide what works for them and put their hard earned cash in to a company that can 'speak' directly to them as individuals rather than as the faceless masses.People are tired of and also becoming savvy to the fact they are being 'sold' to. A lot of the laws break down these tactics and highlight the ever changing face of marketing and sales.There has been a revolution in the world of marketing taking place, lead by the likes of Seth Godin and Bernadette Jiwa on how to build brands, no matter how big or small, that consumers are welcoming in to their hearts and homes and this book is a great accompaniment to those authors and their ideas.

I read this book because I had read their other book the 22 Imutable Laws of Branding and whilst there are some similarities, there is still some good stuff in here. They explain marketing in a simple way and don't over theorise. You can still pick up some marketing gems even if you have been marketing for years. I agree with one reviewer who said marketing is "not an exact sicence" because it relies on the human mind and emotion so much. Something which is very important and is explored in  The Brighter Marketing Bible for Small Businesses . If you really want to find out more about marketing but don't have much time the 22 Immutable Laws of marketing is a good read. The Brighter Marketing Bible for Small Businesses

Very easy to enjoyable to read. I personally I don't take much attention to "Branding", I'm more a believer on Direct Response Marketing, but I enjoyed this very much, as the another book from the author Al Ries: Positioning.