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Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition

Jack Trout · 4 HN comments
HN Books has aggregated all Hacker News stories and comments that mention "Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition" by Jack Trout.
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"Any damn fool can put on a deal, but it takes genius, faith, and perseverance to create a brand."-David Ogilvy In today's ultra-competitive world, the average supermarket has 40,000 brand items on its shelves. Car shoppers can wander through the showrooms of over twenty automobile makers. For marketers, differentiating products today is more challenging than at any time in history yet it remains at the heart of successful marketing. More importantly, it remains the key to a company's survival. In Differentiate or Die, bestselling author Jack Trout doesn't beat around the bush. He takes marketers to task for taking the easy route too often, employing high-tech razzle-dazzle and sleight of hand when they should be working to discover and market their product's uniquely valuable qualities. He examines successful differentiation initiatives from giants like Dell Computer, Southwest Airlines, and Wal-Mart to smaller success stories like Streit's Matzoh and Connecticut's tiny Trinity College to determine why some marketers succeed at differentiating themselves while others struggle and fail. More than just a collection of marketing success stories, however, Differentiate or Die is an in-depth exploration of today's most successful differentiation strategies. It explains what these strategies are, where and when they should be applied, and how they can help you carve out your own image in a crowded marketplace. Marketing executives in all types of organizations, regardless of size, can learn how to achieve product differentiation through strategies including: * Revisiting the U.S.P. Rosser Reeves's classic unique selling proposition approach, updated for today's marketplace * Positioning Understanding how the mind works in the differentiating process * Owning an Idea Techniques to seize a differentiating idea, dramatize it, and make it your own * Competition How to use differentiating ideas against your competitors in the marketplace Consumers today are faced with an explosion of choices. In this environment, distinctive product attributes are quickly copied by competitors, perceived by consumers to be minimal, or both. Still, those who fail to differentiate their product or service in the mind of the consumer won't stand a chance. Differentiate or Die outlines the many ways you can achieve differentiation. It also warns how difficult it is to achieve differentiation by being creative, cheap, customer oriented, or quality driven things that your competitors can do as well. Praise for Differentiate or Die"Another great book by the king of positioning!"-John Schnatter, CEO, Papa John's International"Differentiate or Die differentiates itself on the groaning marketing bookshelf with its lucid prose, its clear vision of the future marketplace . . . and its sensible solutions for surviving the frenzied competition we're sure to find there."-Dan Rather, CBS News"What I like about Differentiate or Die is the book's emphasis on the power of logic, simplicity, and clarity-getting to the essence of a problem. In Silicon Valley, attributes like that can make the difference between having lunch and being lunch."-Scott McNealy, CEO, Sun Microsystems, Inc."Trout and Rivkin marvelously illustrate that differentiation is the cornerstone of successful marketing." -Philip Kotler, S.C. Johnson Distinguished Professor of International Marketing, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University"We've built our business by being first-and executing best. Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin are doing the same, delivering the timely, powerful insights that will drive tomorrow's marketing strategies. A must read for anyone looking to win in an unforgiving competitive marketplace."-Mike Ruettgers, CEO, EMC Corporation"Dotcom executives must learn the lessons of Differentiate or Die. If they don't, I pity their investors."-Aaron Cohen, CEO, Concrete Media; Co-Founder, Bolt.com
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Hacker News Stories and Comments

All the comments and stories posted to Hacker News that reference this book.
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A couple that might be worth considering:

https://www.amazon.com/22-Immutable-Laws-Branding/dp/0060007...

https://www.amazon.com/Positioning-Battle-Your-Mind-Annivers...

https://www.amazon.com/Differentiate-Die-Survival-Killer-Com...

https://www.amazon.com/What-Sticks-Advertising-Guarantee-Suc...

https://www.amazon.com/Made-Stick-Ideas-Survive-Others/dp/14...

⬐ wellthisisgreat
Thank you! How did you like 22 immutable laws? I saw it recommended elsewhere too.
⬐ mindcrime
It's been a while (several years) since I read it, so my memory of specifics is kinda fuzzy. But I recall a generally favorable impression of it. Enough that I'll probably go back and re-read it at some point.
Classics:

https://www.amazon.com/Positioning-Battle-Your-Al-Ries/dp/00...

https://www.amazon.com/22-Immutable-Laws-Marketing-Violate/d...

Seth Godin is another author well worth reading:

https://www.amazon.com/Seth-Godin/e/B000AP9EH0

And a few others:

https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Chasm-3rd-Disruptive-Mainstr...

https://www.amazon.com/Kellogg-Branding-Marketing-Faculty-Ma...

https://www.amazon.com/Differentiate-Die-Survival-Killer-Com...

https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Advertising-Man-David-Ogi...

And, of course:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=vaynerchuk

There are no magic pills though. The best thing is to read and learn from a lot of perspectives and then start to navigate the waters you happen to be sailing. No two markets or products are going to be the same. In fact, the same product will require a different based on where it is in the adoption/maturity cycle.

"Differentiate or Die"

Google this phrase or buy the book:

http://www.amazon.com/Differentiate-Die-Survival-Killer-Comp...

My favorite passage:

"The best way to really enter minds that hate complexity and confusion is to oversimplify your message. The lesson here is not to try to tell your entire story. Just focus on one powerful differentiating idea and drive it into the mind. That sudden hunch, that creative leap of the mind that "sees" in a flash how to solve a problem in a simple way, is something quite different from general intelligence. If there's any trick to finding that simple set of words, it's one of being ruthless about how you edit the story you want to tell. Anything that others could claim just as well as you can, eliminate. Anything that requires a complex analysis to prove, forget. Anything that doesn't fit with your customers' perceptions, avoid."

with particular emphasis on:

Just focus on one powerful differentiating idea and drive it into the mind.

Why should anyone choose you?

⬐ dasil003
Fantastic quote, I am enlightened.

As developers this is the polar opposite of how we are required to think in order to do our job, therefore it stands to reason that for tech startups this would be easier to achieve then in more marketing-heavy industries.

⬐ DanHulton
This is exactly what I'm doing with Bill On Site, an invoicing application I launched earlier this week. The online invoicing market has many big players in it with excellent applications (Ballpark, Freshbooks, Curdbee, Ronin, just to name a few), but of all of them, only Freshbooks caters to the mobile market, and they only support iPhones.

It's early days yet, but we're getting some good reviews from sites that have tried our app out with various mobile phones and found it fast and intuitive.

From here we scale up traffic and drive conversions, and oh, BUST YOUR ASS FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS.

Differentiation is good and all, but the #1 thing I've read that helped grow a business is being there for your customers when they need you most. Answer emails ASAP, fix your product ASAP, offer discounts, extended trial time, everything you can to make your customers super-happy.

My experience is that none of the self-help books ever did very much for me. This includes Steven Covey, Dale Carnegie, Tony Robbins, Zig Zigler, the Secret, etc., etc., etc. Some were entertaining, but that was it. I understand that these books do help many people who need their messages; I'm just not one of them. I prefer books that inspire me and tell me what to do.

My favorites?

How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Get-Rich-Felix-Dennis/dp/009192166...

Differentiate or Die by Jack Trout

http://www.amazon.com/Differentiate-Die-Survival-Killer-Comp...

Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Start-Time-Tested-Battle-Hardened-...

The 22 Immutable Rules of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout

http://www.amazon.com/22-Immutable-Laws-Marketing/dp/1861976...

Digitial Aboriginal by Mikela Tarlow and Philip Tarlow

http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Aboriginal-Direction-Instincti...

and, of course

Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston

http://www.amazon.com/Founders-Work-Stories-Startups-Early/d...

Hackers and Painters by Paul Graham

http://www.amazon.com/Hackers-Painters-Big-Ideas-Computer/dp...

Before you do anything else, go to paulgraham.com and read all of the essays! I don't want to sound like a shill or hero worshipper for pg, but, understand, these essays are the very best thing out there for anyone on this forum. I am here because of the essays, not the other way around.

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