Jack Trout is an owner of Trout & Partners, a consulting firm. He is one of the founders and pioneers of positioning theory, and also marketing warfare theory.
Positioning is creating an image or identity in the minds of the target market for the product, brand, or organization. It is the 'relative competitive comparison' the product occupies in a given market as perceived by the target market.
Marketing warfare strategies are a type of strategies, used in business and marketing, that try to draw parallels between business and warfare, and then apply the principles of military strategy to business situations, with competing firms considered as analogous to sides in a military conflict, and market share considered as analogous to the territory which is being fought over.
This book covers all basic aspects of marketing in a very friendly manner, with simple, easy to understand real-life examples. The author hates the meaningless buzzwords used by marketers.
The author has used a surprising concept of the Genie as a marketing advisor to a CEO of a big public company in a way that the marketing is taught using simple conversations, questions and answers, between the Genie and the CEO. The questions are: What Is the Essence or Marketing? What's Branding All About? What Should Be My Product Strategy? How Do I Get My Pricing Right? Are There Limits to Growth? What is Good Research? How Do I Evaluate Advertising? How Do 1 Pick the Right Medium? How important Are Logos? What Mistakes Are Made Most Often?
This concept of using Gene as a mentor is amazing, exciting and amusing. There is a lot of humor, liveliness and variety, as well as caustic satire in the case study analysis. The Genie teaches the marketing via the examples well known to the CEO, i.e. examples involving Bill Gates, Jack Welch, Michael Dell, and the other known persons.
I also recommend Peter Drucker's "Innovation and Entrepreneurship" in addition to this book. Although the Drucker's writing is on management, not marketing, but it would be a valuable addition to this book.
