Reddit reviews Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind

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• Tested Advertising Method
  
• Ogilvy on Advertising
  
• How to Change Minds is a sales book, but it's got an easy to understand framework to understand how people make decisions that I have found useful for marketing
  
• The Ask Method Gives some great jumping off points on how to ask questions for marketing research, and how to organize that information to make decisions about your marketing and your product
  
• Positioning and Repositioning by the amazing marketing strategist Jack Trout of Disney and Coke, are good foundation reads if you don't know anything about marketing. If you know what a USP is, skip Positioning but I did like Repositioning. I did like Positioning as a refresher of a variety of different concepts that I have read more detailed individual books on.
  
• Integrated Marketing Communications to learn about more broadly how to make all of your marketing communications work together towards a common business goal. The book itself is about using marketing campaigns across different channels (tv, radio, print, online) in a coordinated effort, but it will help you understand how to use email, social, paid ads, and other marketing systems you develop together.
  
  Second Influence. Getting Everything You Can is good if you are basic in marketing, I would not recommend it for people who are more advanced.
  
  If you don't know what a "business goal" is, you need to read this:
  
  
• Scaling Up Every marketer should understand the processes that drive growth in businesses, because you are trying to manipulate those levers with marketing. You can also reverse engineer your prospect's business and explain the gains of your services in the terms of processes that drive their revenue when you're pitching them, too.

Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout is as important today as it ever has been. It's a great book and IMHO a must read for every marketer and business owner.

the marketing bible called 'Positioning' explains a lot about how this works. other things being equal, people will keep voting for senator smith the way they buy kleenex and zerox.

smith dies, they will gravitate to the closest substitute, in this case smith junior. there are other factors, but name recognition is the biggest one.

http://www.amazon.com/Positioning-The-Battle-Your-Mind/dp/0071373586

It's not really about that one waver, it's about brand exposure. They are trying to make 'doing my taxes' and 'liberty taxes' connected in peoples minds. Your one part of reinforcing that message. The more reinforcement you have, the stronger the connection. A lot of advertising is like dealing with a child, you have to establish a premise and then reinforce it constantly.

If you wish to know more read this book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Positioning-The-Battle-Your-Mind/dp/0071373586

I found the The Brand Gap to be very elementary. If you've been in marketing for a while you should already have a solid foundation on branding that that book covers. It's definitely an easy read and a great source for an introduction to branding.

With that said, I'd recommend:

• Designing Brand Identity
  
• Positioning
  
• Youtility
  
  

Suggested read for everyone in this thread: Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind

it's all about branding and reasons for success vs. failure of a brand name

Very interesting even if you only have a passing interest in marketing and it is well written by some of the best in the industry.

Hey OP, Dale Carnegie wrote "How to win friends and influence people" http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/0671723650

Napoleon Hill wrote "Think and Grow Rich" - among others: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Hill#Bibliography

It's always good to learn more about how our brains work, and how humans make decisions.

Here's some recommendations:

• The Boron Letters by Halbert: http://www.amazon.com/Boron-Letters-Gary-C-Halbert/dp/1484825985
  
• My Life in Advertising and Scientific Advertising by Hopkins: http://www.amazon.com/Life-Advertising-Scientific-Classics-Library/dp/0844231010
  
• Influence by Cialdini: http://www.amazon.com/Influence-Psychology-Persuasion-Revised-Edition/dp/006124189X
  
• Predictably Irrational by Ariely: http://www.amazon.com/Predictably-Irrational-Revised-Expanded-Edition/dp/0061353248
  
• Mindwise by Epley: http://www.amazon.com/Mindwise-Understand-Others-Think-Believe/dp/0307595919
  
• Brain Rules by Medina: http://www.amazon.com/Brain-Rules-Updated-Expanded-Principles/dp/098326337X
  
• Positioning: The Battle for your Mind: http://www.amazon.com/Positioning-Battle-Your-Al-Ries/dp/0071373586
  
• Brainfluence by Dooley: http://www.amazon.com/Brainfluence-Persuade-Convince-Consumers-Neuromarketing/dp/1118113365
  
• The Power of Habit by Duhigg: http://www.amazon.com/Power-Habit-What-Life-Business/dp/081298160X
  
• Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Eyal: http://www.amazon.com/Hooked-How-Build-Habit-Forming-Products/dp/1591847788
  
• How We Decide by Lehrer: http://www.amazon.com/How-We-Decide-Jonah-Lehrer/dp/0547247990
  
• All Marketers are Liars by Godin: http://www.amazon.com/All-Marketers-Are-Liars-Works--/dp/1591845335
  
• Trust Me I'm Lying by Holiday: http://www.amazon.com/Trust-Me-Lying-Confessions-Manipulator/dp/1591846285
  
  Use these names as jumping off points for your research:
  
  
• David Ogilvy: https://encrypted.google.com/search?hl=en&q=David%20Ogilvy
  
• Gary Halbert: http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com - https://encrypted.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Gary%20Halbert
  
• Joe Sugarman: https://encrypted.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Joe%20Sugarman
  
• Charlie Munger: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Munger
  
• Derren Brown: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derren_Brown

If you like reading btw, here's my top list for teaching yourself marketing:

My favorite marketing book: https://www.amazon.com/Being-Direct-Making-Advertising-Pay/dp/0394540638

Best for creative ad strategy: https://www.amazon.com/Made-Stick-Ideas-Survive-Others/dp/1400064287

Two really good ones on branding: https://www.amazon.com/22-Immutable-Laws-Branding/dp/0060007737, https://www.amazon.com/Positioning-Battle-Your-Al-Ries/dp/0071373586/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=SAK252T4836CY0G4XYGD

A classic on inbound marketing (not paid media): https://www.amazon.com/Inbound-Marketing-Found-Google-Social/dp/0470499311

Good guide to Facebook advertising: https://adespresso.com/academy/guides/facebook-ads-beginner/

Since you're in the Bay Area, go to an SF Made event or schedule a meeting with Janet. SFMade is an organization that gets stuff made in SF. Mostly cut and sew apparel work.

Go in with a plan, not just an idea.

Don't worry about your niche (or niche within a niche) being too small. Smaller is better to start. Tailor your product to a small group and blow their minds. Get a base of raving fans then expand from there or, better yet, figure out what else they will buy and make it.

Don't worry about competition like Outlier. Read Positioning and "own" a phrase in your customers' minds. Maybe it's "dress shirts for Crossfitters."

My company, Tortuga Backpacks makes travel backpacks. Note how our story and target market are reflected in our 'About Us' page, product copy, and every other page on the site. We aren't the only company making backpacks, but we portray a very clear image: 25-39 year old urban travelers who see the value of packing light. I'm a marketer by trade, so I think about this stuff a lot.

People are probably going to recommend the usuals but I'm going to try and add some spicy flavor to this topic.

1. Positioning by Al Ries and Jack Trout. If you want to be effective you need to understand how the mind works in the present age.
   
   
2. Story Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting by McKee, Robert. I get what Sagmeister is saying by calling out designers who act like they are literal story tellers, but the fact is that there are many lessons to be learned from this fine art. My favorite passage is Crisis, Climax and Resolution. Robert writes about the climax of a story and how it needn't be "full of noise and violence. Rather it must be full of meaning. If I could send a telegram to the film producers of the world, it would be these words: Meaning produces emotion. Not money, not sex, not special effects, not movie stars, not lush photography."
   
   Designers call it using a concept.
   
   Also can anyone recommend a good book on art philosophy/aesthetics?