Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - Here's Why You Should Read "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing"

Episode Date: January 5, 2018

If you want a short but fantastic primer on the basics of good marketing, including the primary goal of marketing, the fundamentals of good branding, product creation, advertising, and more, then you want to read this book. One of the reasons I like it so much is it’s concerned more with high-level thinking than tactical application, and strives to give you principles that you can extrapolate into many types of actionables. In this way, much of its advice is universal and timeless. I’m also recommending it because it has informed many of the better marketing decisions I’ve made in building my businesses, and is a book that that’s worth reviewing regularly as your business expands and evolves, and as mistakes and missteps become more expensive and painful. Want to be notified when my next book recommendation goes live? Hop on my email list and you’ll get each new installment delivered directly to your inbox. Click here: https://www.muscleforlife.com/signup/

No matter how clever you might think you are, or you might think your product is, or how much money you have to spend, one of the worst marketing decisions you can make is to buck a trend. And one of the best decisions you can make is to align to one. Hey, this is Mike from Muscle for Life, and I'm often asked about books. People ask me for book recommendations on various topics. They ask me what book I am currently reading and what books I have recently read and what my favorite books are and so forth. And as an avid reader, I am always happy to oblige and get some book recommendations in return as well.

I am always happy to oblige and get some book recommendations in return as well. I also just like to encourage people to read as much as possible because I think that knowledge benefits you much like compound interest benefits your bank account in that the more you learn, the more you know, and the more you know, the more you can do, and the more you can do, the more opportunities you have to succeed. And on the flip side, I also believe that there is little hope for people who aren't perpetual learners. I know that might sound a little bit pessimistic or cynical to you, but let's face it, life is overwhelmingly complex and chaotic. And if we look around, we can find plenty of evidence that it simply suffocates and devours the lazy and ignorant. So if you are

a bookworm and you're on the lookout for good reads, or if you'd like to just get into the habit of reading more, then this book club is for you. The idea is very simple. Every week, I'm going to share a book that I've particularly liked, and I'm going to tell you why I liked it and give you several of my key takeaways from it. I'm also going to keep these episodes short and sweet so you can quickly decide whether or not a book is likely to be up your alley or not. All right, so let's get to this week's book, which is the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Reese and Jack Trout, who are marketing legends best known for their 1981 book, a groundbreaking book, which was called Positioning the Battle for Your Mind, which is another book that I highly recommend. So if you want a short but fantastic primer on

the basics of good marketing, including the primary goal of marketing and the fundamentals of good branding, of good product creation, of good advertising, and much more, then you definitely want to read this book. Now, one of the things I really liked about this book is it's more concerned with high-level thinking than tactical application, and it strives to give you broad principles that you can then extrapolate into many types of actions and strategies. And in this way, much of the advice in the book is very universal and timeless. And another reason why I'm recommending this book is because it has informed many of the better marketing decisions that I've made in building my businesses. And I think it's a book that's worth reviewing regularly as your business expands

and evolves, because the bigger it gets, the more the mistakes and missteps hurt and the more expensive they get. And on the flip side, the more powerful and profitable your good ideas become. All right, so let's get to the key takeaways. And here's the first one, quote, the basic issue in marketing is creating a category you can be first in. It's the law of leadership. It's better to be first than it is to be better. It's much easier to get into the mind first than to try to convince someone that you have a better product than the one that did get there first. And my note here is that many marketers mistakenly try to figure out how to get people to prefer

their brands over others, but they don't realize how hard this is to do because people, consumers, are very defensive when it comes to the brands that they buy. They do not change their minds easily. That said, those same people are always interested in new categories of products and services because, well, they're always interested in what's new and interesting. So that's why it's much better to be first in a new category, even if it's a subcategory of a larger category, so then you can be first in it and that you are promoting as a new category that people should be interested in. It's much better to do that than to try to go into an existing category that's already glutted with competition. Because if you do it the former way, if you create

the category and promote the category, you effectively have no competition. You are the first to market in that category. Now, the book gives several examples of this, but here's one. So in the computer space, IBM came to dominate that category of just computers. And instead of taking them on headfirst in that category, a company called DEC created the category of mini computers and then told people why they should buy a mini computer, not a DEC mini computer per se, but just a mini computer, which of course then people found interesting. Oh, what's this new thing? A mini computer. And then once they're interested in the mini computer, they find out that, oh, DEC is the leader in mini computers. They were the first to market with mini computers. Oh, I guess I'll try a DEC then. And then now they are locked in on that category. They use the analogy of a ladder in the book. So

now they're on that top rung of the mini computer ladder. Whereas IBM, at least at that time, was at the top rung of the just computer category. Later, a company called Tandem came along and they created the category of fault tolerant computers, which are computers that are designed to handle several possible failures, including hardware stuff or software bugs and so forth. And they came to dominate that new category that they created. And they eventually went on, at least in the book, they said they went on to rise to about $2 billion a year in sales. Then a company called Stratus came along or Stratus, however you

pronounce it. And they introduced a new category, which they of course then grabbed that top rung in. And that was the category of a fault toleranttolerant mini computer. So the point is, it's much better to create a category of product or service that you can then promote and dominate than to enter an existing category of product or service that may be larger in terms of overall sales, but which is already dominated by existing products or services that you are going to try to then compete with, that you're going to try to improve upon and then convince people that your version of what they're currently buying is better. Hey, quickly, before we carry on, if you are liking my podcast, would you please help spread the word about it? Because no amount of marketing

or advertising gimmicks can match the power of word of mouth. So if you are enjoying this episode and you think of someone else who might enjoy it as well, please do tell them about it. It really helps me. And if you are going to post about it on social media, definitely tag me so I can say thank you. You can find me on Instagram at MuscleForLifeFitness, Twitter at MuscleForLife, and Facebook at MuscleForLifeFitness. Okay, takeaway number two. Does a sale increase a company's business or decrease it? Obviously, in the short term, a sale increases business. business or decrease it. Obviously, in the short term, a sale increases business, but there's more and more evidence to show that sales decrease business in the long term by educating customers

not to buy at regular prices. Aside from the fact that you can buy something for less, what does a sale say to a prospect? It says that your regular prices are too high. After the sale is over, customers tend to avoid a store with a sale reputation. To maintain volume, retail outlets find they have to run almost continuous sales. It's not unusual to walk down a retail block and find a dozen stores in a row with sale signs in their windows. So I know here is that sales are like the cocaine of commerce. They produce immediate highs, but the more you do them, the worse the fallout gets. And this is one of the reasons why I only do a few site-wide sales per year over at Legion, my supplement company, in addition to some semi-regular, usually every other week, kind of smaller product specific sales. smaller product-specific sales. Okay, so my third takeaway here is more is less. The more products, the more markets, the more alliances a company makes, the less money it makes. Full speed ahead in all directions seems to be the call from the corporate bridge. When will companies learn that

line extension ultimately leads to oblivion? Less is more. If you want to be successful today, you have to narrow the focus in order to build a position in the prospect's mind. Now, my note here is that first, just so you know, the definition of the term line extension is where you take the brand name of a successful product or service, and you put it on a new product or service that you want to introduce. And this is almost always a mistake because it's hard enough to be top of mind, to be the top of that ladder, to occupy the top rung in one category of product or service, let alone several. And these days it's becoming harder and harder to be a generalist in business because probably due mostly to technology and the internet, people are looking more and more to specialists. They want to buy

their soap from a company that specializes in soap and probably not just any old type of soap, but a very specific kind of soap, probably a subcategory of soap that that company has created and promoted and drummed up demand for. And the same goes for, I mean, really just name a commodity. The same thing goes for shampoo. It goes for food products. It goes for pretty much anything these days is moving in that direction where the big brands that used to be able to create all different types of stuff and used to inspire trust just by the brand name alone are realizing that that is becoming less and less effective. And so that's why big companies like Procter & Gamble, smaller relative to them, of course, I mean, these are pretty big companies in some cases, but smaller niche

companies selling very specific products and specializing in those products, focusing exclusively on those products, as opposed to trying to create similar products or services under their own existing brands, which are already known for one thing in particular. So the bottom line here is that it's better to have a very narrow specific focus and to work on building that position in the minds of consumers or prospective consumers, then to have a broad kind of all encompassing approach where you're trying to be everything to everyone, or just trying to be too many things at once. And that by the way, is the main reason why I decided against launching a full scale apparel line under the Legion brand, which many people were asking me to

do and which I think would have been a mistake because I think that the Legion brand needs to remain solely focused on 100% natural clinically dosed health and workout supplements. So if I wanted to get into the workout apparel space, then what I'd have to do is I'd have to create a new brand and I'd also have to create a new category that I could be first in. I wouldn't want to just do a me too, Jim shark type of deal and try to beat them at the game that they have already defined and that they are already dominating. Okay. Takeaway number four, but the best, most profitable thing to ride in marketing is a long-term trend. And my note here is that no matter how clever you might think you are, or you might think your product is,

or how much money you have to spend, one of the worst marketing decisions you can make is to buck a trend. And one of the best decisions you can make is to align to one. And this is one of the reasons why I decided to get into the fitness industry in the first place, despite being resistant to the idea of becoming a fitness expert or a fitness guru, because honestly, a lot of the fitness culture, especially the bodybuilding culture in particular, doesn't resonate with me at all. And a lot of the people in the space don't resonate with me at all. And a lot of the people in the space don't resonate with me at all. They're really not my kind of people. But I also knew that becoming fit and healthy is more mainstream and more popular now than I've ever seen it before in my lifetime. And I really don't

think that that's going to change anytime soon. I think that that trend is going to continue gaining ground for a very long time. And so I thought it was a good marketing decision, a good business decision to get into the space. And I also thought that I could bring something unique to it and I could kind of do it my way and I could become successful without having to sell out or become someone that I really wouldn't like or have to pretend to be someone that I really wouldn't like or have to pretend to be someone that I really wouldn't like. Okay. The fifth and final takeaway. So one of the most effective ways to get into a prospect's mind is to first admit a negative and then twist it into a positive.

And my note here is that admitting negatives is very powerful, has a very powerful psychological effect, both person to person and in marketing, which is really just obviously communication on a larger scale. So for example, self-deprecation, like a self-deprecating sense of humor just immediately makes you more likable. If you're at a party talking to people and in the marketing side of things, if a company admits a problem, we almost instinctively accept it as true. And then we also instinctively open our minds to whatever else they might have to say, which of course can include positive things. But if that company would have just led with the positive statements, we would have been immediately

dubious and we would have demanded proof and it would have been much harder to convince. proof and it would have been much harder to convince. And this is one of the reasons why a core component of my supplement company's message is that even the best supplements, which I really do think that I make the best supplements and I can back that up with real science and real numbers, but even the best supplements, they can't give you a great physique. You don't need supplements to get a great physique. Only proper diet and training can do that. Now that is a statement that is true, which is one of the reasons why I like it, but it's also an admission of a negative. What I'm saying is that you can buy my products, but they will not magically give you the body that you want. I'm sorry. And that then opens people's minds to the positive part of the message, which

is the second part. And that is that once you know what you're doing in the kitchen, in the gym, so like once you have your diet and your training taped, then the right supplements can speed up the process. They can help you gain muscle and strength faster. They can help you lose fat faster and they can help you get healthier faster. So if you do have the budget and the inclination, you can use supplements to get to where you want to be faster, but they are not the primary determining factor. Hey there, it is Mike again. I hope you enjoyed this episode and found it interesting and helpful. And if you did, and don't mind doing me a favor and want to help me make this the most popular health and fitness podcast on the internet, then please leave a quick review of it on iTunes or wherever you're

listening from. This not only convinces people that they should check the show out, it also increases its search visibility and thus helps more people find their way to me and learn how to build their best bodies ever too. And of course, if you want to be notified when the next episode goes live, then just subscribe to the podcast and you won't miss out on any of the new goodies. Lastly, if you didn't like something about the show, then definitely shoot me an email at mike at muscle for life.com and share your thoughts on how you think it could be better. I read everything myself and I'm always looking for constructive feedback, so please do reach out. All right, that's it. Thanks again for listening

to this episode and I hope to hear from you soon. And lastly, this episode is brought to you by me. Seriously though, I'm not big on promoting stuff that I don't personally use and believe in. So instead I'm going to just quickly tell you about something of mine. Specifically, my 100% natural sleep supplement, Lunar. Now Lunar's formulation contains ingredients that are scientifically proven to reduce sleep onset latency, reduce wakings, and improve sleep quality without the side effects of habit-forming drugs. Lunar is also naturally sweetened and naturally flavored and contains no artificial food dyes, fillers, or other unnecessary junk. And all that is why it has

over 180 reviews on Amazon with a four-star average and another 90 plus on my website with a four and a half star average. So if you want to enjoy more deep, restful sleep, and if you want to wake up every day feeling energized and revitalized, then you want to head over to www.legionathletics.com and pick up a bottle of Lunar today. And just to show how much I appreciate my podcast peeps, use the coupon code podcast at checkout, and you're going to save 10% on your entire order. And lastly, you should also know that I have a very simple 100% money back guarantee that works like this. You either love my stuff or you get your money back, period. You don't have to return the products. You don't have to fill out forms. You don't have to jump through any other hoops or go

through any other shenanigans. So you really can't lose here. Head over to www.lesionathletics.com now, place your order, and see for yourself why my supplements have thousands of rave reviews all over the internet. And if for whatever reason, they're just not for you, contact us and we will give you a full refund on the spot.