BornEntrepreneur

22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Laura Ries

1. Good things happen when you contract rather than expand your business. Become a category killer, here are the steps:
1. a. Narrow the focus.
1. b. Stock in depth. A typical Toys R Us carries 10,000 toys versus 3,000 toys for even a large department store
1. c. Buy cheap. Toys R Us makes its money buying toys, not selling toys.
1. d. Sell cheap. When you can buy cheap, you can sell cheap and still maintain good margins.
1. e. Dominate the category.
2. Good things happen when you narrow the focus. Dominoes started out selling pizza and sub sandwiches. Little Caesars sold pizza, friend shrimp, fish and chips, and roasted chicken. Papa Johns sold pizza, cheese steaks, sub sandwiches, friend mushrooms, fried zucchini, salads, and onion rings. Then they contracted the menus and became category killers.
3. The best way to create news is to announce a new category, not a new product. Examples:
1. a. Rollerblade -first inline skate
1. b. Samuel Adams- first microbrewed beer
1. c. Saran Wrap – first plastic food wrap
1. d. Tide – first detergent
1. e. Time – first weekly news magazine
4. Quality, or rather the perception of quality resides in the mind of the buyer. If you want to build a powerful brand, you have to build a powerful perception of quality in the mind. Contracting your brand will allow you to do this—conveys you as a specialist.
5. If you’re in a category with a lot of competitors deliberately start with a higher price. Then ask yourself, what can we put into our brand to justify the higher price?
6. Run up a red flag whenever you hear the words, “why should we limit ourselves?” You should limit your brand. That’s the essence of branding. Your brand has to stand for something both simple and narrow in the mind.

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