Marketing Warfare
by Al Ries · first published 1986
86% recommend14% neutral
Why HN recommends it
A concise, classic take on product positioning: framing your product against competitors and the strategies that follow. A lightweight, easily digested starting point for founders and marketers new to the field.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"How American corporations are using military strategies to outmaneuver, outflank, and even ambush their competition! With a behind-the-scenes look at the cola war, the computer war, the burger war, and the beer war!"--Jacket subtitle.
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Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
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…are trying to pitch the same product to two different markets, creating a second branch would prevent brand dilution. I highly recommend Ries and Trout's book Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind (and Marketing Warfare). They argue strongly against "brand extension" (e.g. Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero).
on “Ask HN: have you ever marketed the same product under two different names?” ↗Sounds like you've read Ries and Trout's classic marketing books (Marketing Warfare and Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind). They should be required reading for startup hackers.
on “Why I Left Google” ↗…- Seth Godin Unleashing The Ideavirus - Seth Godin Positioning - Jack Trout and Al Ries Differentiate or Die - Jack Trout The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing - Al Ries Repositioning - Jack Trout Marketing Warfare - Al Ries The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding - Al Ries and Laura Ries The Discipline of Market Leaders - Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema Blue Ocean Strategy - W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne Trust…
on “Ask HN: How can a non-technical co-founder add value?” ↗A market without competitors is not necessarily a blessing! There might be a good reason. Despite the colorful name, "Marketing Warfare" (Al Ries and Jack Trout, 1986) is a classic (and concise!) book about product positioning: defining your product in relation to your competition. They describe the unique strategies that smaller competitors…
on “Competition Doesn't Matter. Look at Dropbox.” ↗I strongly recommend Al Ries and Jack Trout's classic product marketing books Marketing Warfare and Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind.
on “Advertising Strategies Used by the World's Biggest Brands” ↗…Immutable Laws of Branding by Al Ries and Laura Ries 5. Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition by Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin 6. Marketing High Technology by William H. Davidow 7. Marketing Warfare by Al Ries 8. The Discipline of Market Leaders by Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema 9. Crossing The Chasm by Geoffrey Moore
on “Good marketing books with more substance than Seth Godin's?” ↗Marketing Warfare by Al Ries and Jack Trout. I read the 25 year anniversary edition which revisited some of the advice these two giants of marketing gave some of the big brands of the '80s - PC vs. Mac, Coke vs. Pepsi,…
on “Ask HN: Do you recall any book or course that made a topic finally click?” ↗…The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding - Al Ries and Laura Ries Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition - Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin Marketing High Technology - William H. Davidow Marketing Warfare - Al Ries The Discipline of Market Leaders - Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema Crossing The Chasm - Geoffrey Moore How to Measure Anything - Douglas Hubbard Fooled by Randomness - Nassim Nicholas Taleb…
on “Ask HN: Which books you have read till now that were worth investing time in?” ↗…In particular, I wasn't familiar with any online marketing tactics. The following books helped me a lot in that respective, and more: 1. Positioning, 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing/Branding, Focus, Marketing Warfare 2. Purple Cow, All Marketers are Liars, Permission Marketing (I didn't like "The Big Moo", "Free prize inside" or "Small is the new Big"). 3. Founters At Work 4. Wikinomics, Wisdom of Crowds, The Tipping…
on “Startup founders, what books did you find most helpful?” ↗…got a head start. Not everyone does. I really enjoyed his Art Of The Start talk. I also found "Selling the Dream" among the best marketing books available, along-side Ogilvy on Advertising, "Focus"/"Marketing Warfare" (either one will do, as they are effectively the same theme by the same authors), and "What's the Big Idea?" by George Lois. As someone else mentioned, Seth Godin has successfully re-purposed quite…
on “Don't Waste Your Time With Guy Kawasaki” ↗Creating a new brand is a classic move described in Ries and Trout's excellent "Marketing Warfare" book. The Gap is a great example of a company that avoids brand extensions. They have separate brands for low/medium/high-end clothing stores (Old Navy, Gap, and Banana Republic) and Athleta for sportswear.…
on “Ron Johnson ousted as JC Penney CEO” ↗…that "better" does not necessarily mean "better product". It could mean better marketing, better sales force, all of the above, or "other". I suggest that you read The Discipline of Market Leaders, Marketing Warfare, and Differentiate or Die, and give serious thought to those ideas.
on “Ask HN: Is it worth starting a SaaS in a niche that already has a clear leader?” ↗…journey. Bruce took decades to discover what worked by trial and error and working with others, you can read these books to get you started on the right road.” I’ll contribute one book recommendation: “Marketing Warfare” by Reis and Trout. It’s also lightweight and easily digestible, but it contains a simple model of competition that divides business into four different strategies (offence, defence, flanking, guerrilla)…
on “The Key to Becoming Extraordinary” ↗…Knowledge - Dorothy Leonard-Barton If Only We Knew What We Know - Carla O'dell and C. Jackson Grayson Started, but haven't finished yet: The Discipline of Market Leaders - Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema Marketing Warfare - Jack Trout and Al Ries Naked Statistics - Charles Wheelan Wiki Management - Rod Collins Antifragile - Nassim Nicholas Taleb Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal - Ayn Rand Fiction: NOS4A2 - Joe Hill…
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in 2013” ↗+1 In the book "Marketing Warfare," Reis and Trout emphasize that a strategy should attack a competitor's strength, not its weakness. Weaknesses will all be fixed over time, so attacking a weakness is simply making hay while the sun…
on “The Android Opportunity” ↗