Al Ries Quotations

It's the first company to build the mental position that has the upper hand, not the first company to make the product. IBM didn't invent the computer; Sperry Rand did. But IBM was the first to build the computer position in the prospect's mind.

Your brand's power lies in dominance. It is better to have 50% of one market, instead of 10% of five markets.

Branding is simply a more efficient way to sell things.

War and marketing have many similarities.

It's better to be first in the mind than to be first in the marketplace.

It normally takes decades to build a brand... It's the forgetting of the old truth that allows a person to accept a new truth. You need to allow enough time for this forgetting to take place

Strategy should evolve out of the mud of the marketplace, not in the antiseptic environment of an ivory tower.

Good things happen when you narrow your focus

Only brand names register in the mind... What you should generally do is take a regular word and use it out of context to connote the primary attribute of your brand.

Strategy and timing are the Himalayas of marketing. Everything else is the Catskills.