The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing? Baloney

“The Golden Rule is, there is no Golden Rule” – George Bernard Shaw

We all like to impose order on the chaos around us.

What’s more, few are keener on things that will solve everything for us without the pain of having to think than marketers.

I’ve lost count of the magic nostrums. The USP, the Brand Image, Database Marketing, CRM, Websites, Social Media. They come and go like the tide.

But till now I had not encountered the joys of the 22 Immutable Laws. (“Immutable” does give them a certain intellectual cachet, yes?)

Here is the first:

The Law Of Leadership – It’s Better To Be First Than It Is To Be Better

In an interesting piece Dave Frees gives examples – like “who was the first man on the moon?”

Neil Armstrong. Right?

Who’s the second? He was just a few minutes later. Do you know?

Washington was the first President. Who was second?

Etcetera.

Of course, this false analogy has nothing to do with marketing.

The first people to produce a desk top computer? Xerox. The first pneumatic tyre. Dunlop, I think. What has happened to AOL?

And so on.

Dave Frees goes on to suggest that Ries and Trout had the answer. You have to be first in people’s minds. (Remember? Positioning will solve all your problems.)

I fear that nothing will solve all your problems. Except maybe one rather arduous process, which starts with offering something better at every stage of your prospect or customer’s relationship with you.

Before the sale, during the sale, after the sale. How can you do better? In terms of what you offer, and how you offer it. Product or service. Value. Service. All this boring things

Bloody hard work. I am constantly depressed by how badly I do it

Steve Jobs was pretty good getting people to do it.

About the Author

In 2003, the Chartered Institute of Marketing named Drayton one of 50 living individuals who have shaped today’s marketing.

He has worked in 55 countries with many of the world’s greatest brands. These include American Express, Audi, Bentley, British Airways, Cisco, Columbia Business School, Deutsche Post, Ford, IBM, McKinsey, Mercedes, Microsoft, Nestle, Philips, Procter & Gamble, Toyota, Unilever, Visa and Volkswagen.

Drayton has helped sell everything from Airbus planes to Peppa Pig. His book, Commonsense Direct and Digital Marketing, out in 17 languages, has been the UK’s best seller on the subject every year since 1982. He has also run his own businesses in the U.K., Portugal and Malaysia.

He was a main board member of the Ogilvy Group, a founding member of the Superbrands Organisation, one of the first eight Honorary Fellows of the Institute of Direct Marketing and one of the first three people named to the Hall of Fame of the Direct Marketing Association of India. He has also been given Lifetime Achievement Awards by the Caples Organisation in New York and Early To Rise in Florida.

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