The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing- The Law of Leadership

The first and most significant rule out of the 22 rules is the law of leadership. At first sight, I thought to myself, “is it telling me to be a leader?” As I read more, I was certain I was incorrect. The law of leadership is the art of being first in a certain area. The book further talks about the influence one gets from being first, and the choice society makes between being first and bad and being second and good.

The author asks the question what is the name of the first person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, and who was the second. Obviously, we know who the first person was: Charles Lindbergh. But not many can answer the second. Bert Hinkler was the second person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. Interestingly, he had better technique and faster time compared to Charles Lindbergh and yet nobody has heard of Bert Hinkler.

Many companies think that the best way to rise in a competitive market is to have the best product or the best service. Unfortunately, in the world of marketing, no matter how good the company is, it can never beat a company that was already there 50 years before them. The example of the two pilots who crossed the Atlantic Ocean proves the essential reason why being first in the market is the most important factor of success.

Now, another great benefit of being first or very dominant in a certain market is that your company’s name will represent your market. Your company's name will be said all the time when a customer wants a competitor's product. For example, Coca Cola or Cleanex. At a burger store, when all the store has is Pepsi and sprite, the waiter would ask, do you want coke or sprite? When you spilt something on a plane and you ask someone sitting next to you, do you have some Cleanex? Because more and more people say the companies name or the product so often in their daily life, they tend to buy these goods at a higher rate.

Although there are benefits of being first in a market, you have to be first where your product can thrive. If there is no market for your product because that market is absolutely useless, why even start. The truth is, in a developed world at the current point in time, it is extremely hard to find a market that has not been developed. Therefore, in the following chapters, we will learn how to strive as second in the market.