Marketing Mantras you must know in 2020

1. Market Leadership: It is better to be the first than to be the best: In the competitive world of marketing the it is easier to make it to top spot if you’re are the first in the market. The leading brand in a category is usually the first brand to have entered the market. Everyone else who follows usually remains second. The first brand in a category often becomes the generic name of the category which is a powerful means of marketing anyway as marketing is a battle of perceptions and not of products or product quality.
2. Category leadership: If you want to be first in a category then the best way is to be the one to set up that category. This helps your brand get into the mind of the prospective buyer as the first and the foremost in that category. Make sure your brand has something new to offer and not just something better. This is because the novelty of the new product gets prospective buyers more than simply a better product.
3. Mindleadership: Aim to be the first in the mind of the prospective buyer and then focus on building a favourable opinion. Being first is important only so far as it allows you to get into the mind first.  Once a buyer’s attention is on you, you can work your way to improve your product.
4. Driving Perception: The world of marketing is about perception; the actual quality of the product does not affect its sale. So always strive to create the right perception about your product. This is the only reality of the marketing world.
5. GainingFocus: Find a word that the prospective buyer would involuntarily associate your product with. A company can be very successful if they can find a word in the buyer’s mind – aim to keep it short and simple. Pick a word right out of the dictionary and your brand will have a permanent home in the minds of your prospective target audience. The word should not have been in use by another brand in your category and should be easy to recall and repeat.
6. Maintaining Exclusivity:  When a word has an association with one brand, it becomes exclusive to that brand. It cannot be shared or poached by another brand.
7. Staying on top spot: Your place in the market depends upon the strategy you use. All products are variable and therefore they are placed in a hierarchy in the mind of the prospective buyers. Like in a ladder, there are different rungs in the market and consumers rank their choices in a category based on the various attributes of the product as they perceive them. The perception of the buyers for the brands on various rungs of the ladder depends on the strategy of the brand. They use the ladder to decide which information to accept and which information to reject while tending to favour the brand they have been loyal to. Products that are bought rarely and involve an unpleasant experience tend to have very few brands in the category that gain popularity.
8. The Law of Duality:The market for every category becomes a two-product race in the long run. While early in the day the category may have many brands competing for the market share, gradually two brands become most prominent and as the market matures the third place also begins to be a difficult spot to maintain. Between a market ruled by two major players the number one brand usually drives the strategic competition.
9. Present and opposition: The brand on second rung in a two-brand mature market is often left to follow the strategic lead of the leading brand. To overcome this the sure-shot way is to find the strength of the numero Uno brand and present it as a weakness. This will help you to upset the rival as a new alternative as by the time a product gets old it often acquires negative damage and this can easily be utilised to upset the number one’s undisputed place.
10. Diversify: In a mature market often a single category divides and becomes two or more categories. Take advantage of this and prepare to diversify at an early stage. Change your brand name in this case, no matter how successful it may be in the old category. Launching a new brand name for a new category is the key to entering the mind of the prospective buyer.
11. Observe Perspective: Marketing takes time to have an impact and to let its effect gain visibility. Be patient and let each strategy have sufficient time to unfold.
12. Stand out as a singular solution: Don’t try to be everything to everyone. Let your brand name stick to its ground and fulfill one single need. Taking the brand name to extend it to other products will result in diluting the impact of the brand, hence resist the urge to use the traction of the existing brand for the benefit of a new product launch especially in other product categories.