Conversions by Design

I read the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing and learned a ton.  It’s a great handbook for what to do and what not to do, in general - but sometimes some of these rules need to be broken.

One of the rules that is good to know is the Law of Leadership.  In it, the authors state that the first one to dominate a category will remain the leader. I think this is true, but you have to truly understand what a category is.  Automobiles are an industry or a complete market, while certain types of cars are the individual categories: Luxury sedans (Mercedes, Lexus, Acura); Minivans (Chrysler), Hybrid cars (Toyota), Pickup trucks.

When a new entrant to the market wants to appear different, they must appear different enough to be placed in their own category and separate from everyone else (unless they are just playing catch-up).  Examples of trying to carve out a new market include Scion (customizable cars), large green vehicles (Suburban hybrid), dog friendly vehicles, mountain biker friendly vehicles, etc.  This is a very smart idea, but make sure the category (or subcategory) is big enough to be worthwhile!

By the way, I found this website that does a decent job describing each of the 22 laws (so you don’t have to read the book).