Thursday, December 30, 2010

The Law of Attributes – Every Attribute Has an Opposite Effective Attribute

In a previous (Feb 4th 2010) blog post about The Law of Exclusivity, a point was made that you can’t own the same word or position that your competitor owns. You must find your own word to own. You must seek out another attribute.

Too often a company attempts to emulate the leader. “They must know what works,” goes the rationale, “so let’s do something similar.” This is not good thinking.

It is much better to search for an opposite attribute that will allow you to play off against the leader. The key word here is opposite so similar will not do.

The leading cola drink was the original and thus the choice of older people. Pepsi successfully positioned itself as the choice of the younger generation.

Since Crest owned the word cavities, other toothpastes avoided cavities and jumped on other attributed like taste, whitening, breath protection, and baking soda.

Marketing is a battle of ideas. So if you are to succeed, you must have an idea or attribute of your own around which to focus your efforts. Without one, you had better have a low price; a very low price.

Some say all attributes are not created equal. Some attributes are more important to customers than others. You must try and own the most important attribute to your target prospects and customers.

For example, cavity prevention is the most important attribute in toothpaste. It is the one to own. But The Law of Exclusivity points to the simple truth that once an attribute is successfully taken by your competition, it is gone. You most move on to a lesser attribute and live with a smaller share of the category. Your job is to seize a different attribute, dramatize the value of your attribute, and thus increase your share.

Here is another example. Burger King was unsuccessful when it tried to take the attribute “fast” from McDonald’s. What should Burger King have done? Use the opposite attribute? The exact opposite attribute, “slow” would not do for a fast food place however the there is an element of slowness in the broiling concept.

To drive the concept into a prospect’s mind, Burger King needed a term or attribute to describe it’s new concept … it came up with the “flame-broiled taste of Burger King.” This new concept for Burger King, at the time, created fear and terror in the boardroom at McDonald’s … this is always a good sign of an effective program.

Marketing is a battle of ideas. If you are to succeed, you must have a unique attribute to focus and describe your value. Without one, you had better have a low price; a very low price.

It takes a while but many Internet Marketing entrepreneurs learn the Law of Attributes. They learn to identify their target market, focus on promoting products that will appeal and add value to their target market.

To accomplish this, they use various methods, tools, and follow a traffic formula to build relationships with their leads and customers. They build websites that create trust. They collect name and email addresses using an Optin form on a Landing Page. They use email systems with both auto-responders and broadcast capabilities in order to send messages to their leads and customers. These email messages frequently send information, provide knowledge, and occasionally promote an offering. Many Internet Marketing entrepreneurs learn that leads and customers do not like to be sold to however they will browse and shop. Over an extended period of time, skilled Internet Marketers are able to use hypnotic writing skills, in their marketing campaigns, to get leads and customers to take the action they want. This is how they learn to identify a target market, stay focused, and add value to their target market. They learn to leverage the equity in their list and be successful in the world that includes the Law of Attributes.

It looks easy but marketing is not a game for amateurs. Marketing is not a battle of products. It is all about the strategy you use to benefit from the Law of Attributes as for every attribute, there is another attribute that is opposite and effective.

You can find out more about Internet Marketing and home-based businesses by reading updates that will be posted at my blog over the next few weeks.

Finally, a great book to read is "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" by Ries & Trout. It is the source of some of the material provided in this article.

In closing, be sure to meet me at my website, WhoIsMikeFarrell, learn some tips about being No 1 on Google at aspenIbiz My Go-To-Market Partners, and learn how to be savvy with your money like the insiders at aspenIbiz The Conspiracy For Your Money Blog.

Finally, I would like to provide Best Wishes for a Happy Holiday Season and a Prosperous New Year!