- Hardcover: 240 pages
- Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (30 Mar 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0471357642
- ISBN-13: 978-0471357643
- Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 16 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 874,459 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
Differentiate or Die
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Marketing guru Jack Trout has made a very handsome living by saying the same thing over and over for decades. "Be different" is the mantra that has run through books such as Marketing Warfare and the best selling Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind. "Being different is at the heart of everything we've done for almost 30 years", he admits. Well he's at it again with Differentiate Or Die. But the strange thing is that every time he repeats his argument, it is truer and more relevant than the time before. With business now a global-free-for-all conducted at the speed of thought, with consumers deluged by a proliferation of choice, being different has become a necessary (if not sufficient) condition for corporate survival.
Trout makes the case with customary panache and his easy-reading opinionated style is both entertaining and informative. In the first third of the book he wades through a hate-list of things that are not differentiating ideas. Top of his "not" chart lies his bête noire, "quality and customer orientation". Reward schemes, better service and customer satisfaction are all dismissed with a casual side-swipe as either counterproductive or merely the basic minimum requirement of being in business. "You can indeed use this [service as a differentiator] as a strategy. But only if your competition is stupid enough to let you", carps Trout. The same goes for creativity--boy does he hate "creativity", price and "breadth of line". He then spends most of the rest of the book offering fertile ground upon which businesses can differentiate themselves. These include being first, attributing ownership, leadership, heritage, speciality, manufacture and topicality. Finally he concludes with an awful warning on the need to maintain absolute focus--your difference should be expressed in just one word--and the danger of growth, which is that it destroys differentiation.
Trout is contentious, provocative and almost certainly right in everything he says about the need for differentiation to lie at the heart of corporate strategy. Differentiate or Die is a must read for all non-marketers in business and a useful refresher for those who think they already know it. --Alex Benady
EuroBusiness May 2000
"..Is a simple and concise handbook filled with rich examples of successful differentiation strategies from across the globe."
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
In the beginning, choice was not a problem. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
In the beginning, choice was not a problem. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Jack Trout returns to make his now-familiar argument that brand positionings have to be very differentiated in the customer's mind to create a successful business. The reason for this: Customers have little time or patience for those who offer nothing different than everyone else.
The task of getting and building that differentiation is actually pretty simple. Few alternatives exist. You can be the first and hang in there as the most real choice (Coca-Cola). You can have a heritage that is more authentic than the alternative (Stolychnaya, the Russian vodka, in its initial positioning). You can have a differentiated product (toothpaste with baking soda and whiteners, when no one else has both). You can be the newest and most up-to-date (the latest Intel microprocessor). And a few others are offered up.
If it's that simple (something any fifth grader could grasp and apply at some level), why do most people miss this point? The authors do a good job of looking at the organizational thinking that goes on in many companies that creates a stall in this area. I thought that was a unique and very valuable contribution to the subject of proper branding and marketing.
A trap for many companies has been to focus on the latest management fad rather than create and increase perceptual differentiation (which can be partly based on physical differentiation). Some of the fads that the authors warn against include too much focus on quality, price promotions, and line extensions of existing brands. Although they do approve of everyday lower prices if you have the business model to sustain it (like Wal-Mart and Southwest Airlines do).
I liked the point (that was repeated often) about increased competition making it more difficult to obtain and sustain a differentiated position in the marketplace.
Overall, I think this book is the best summary of how to think about branding and marketing in the right way and overcome the stalled thinking that normally harms organizations of all types and sizes.
Well done!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The clear message of this book is that the principles of marketing have changed very little over the years, but what has changed is the competitive environment in which we buy and sell products and services. As consumers are faced with increasing choice, businesses are seeking new ways of differentiating their brands. The author strikes a cautionary tale for all companies that forget basic marketing principles.
This book analyses common mistakes such as brand extension and creative advertising and extols common sense marketing to enable brands to achieve or maintain market leadership through differentiation. Although the book is a great read, don't expect to learn anything new - we've heard this all before but, plainly, just aren't listening.
The book relies on recent and not so recent (American) examples of marketing mistakes and successes to underline its main theme - selling difference. In certain instances the new economy is alluded to and incorporated into the author's theory, particularly the role of the Internet in weakening the role of price as a differentiator. The majority of examples are old economy though and many are old favourites - Dell differentiating itself by selling direct, the Coke/Pepsi wars etc.
The book provides a convincing argument for protecting the brand and how to stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace, it's easy to read, and a good, solid dose of common sense. However, it is very American in its use of examples and in some instances the cultural differences between the US and the UK cast doubt on the author's recommendations.
For a light, reader friendly reminder of why your business is not doing as well as you think it should - treat this book as a refresher course on marketing differentiation. Sound business sense, but we've read many other books like it and will do so for many years to come.
Format:Hardcover
explains why you need to differentiate in today's world if you want to do business for a long period. easy to read and follow up. thanks to the author for such a great work.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
"Differentiate or die" ...err that's it
I found this book rather disappointing. I expected it to be relatively light-weight and easy to read, but there really wasn't enough meat to it. Read more
Published on 3 April 2008 by W. Roberts
Entertaining and to the point
It clearly shows that Jack knows what he's talking about. The book is packed with information showing the necessity to differentiate yourself and also provides some useful... Read more
Published on 22 Aug 2000
The title says it all
Most businesses fail because they're no different from their competitors. This is the message Jack Trout has been sending us for more than 30 years. Read more
Published on 29 Mar 2000
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