Does Marketing Have Laws

Does Marketing Have Laws?

MKTG 508-020

Does Marketing Have Laws?

In the introduction of their book The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, Al Ries and Jack Trout ask “[there] are laws of nature, so why shouldn’t there be laws of marketing?” (Ries & Trout 4). While they make a strong argument, the answer is not so simple. The trends of consumers today have changed, and it has become increasingly clear that the marketing landscape has changed. Today, there are no such hard and fast laws of marketing.

Technology Is Rapidly Changing How Consumers Choose Products

One development that is rapidly changing the marketing environment is the growth of technology and how consumers use technology. Marketers now have the ability to reach more and more people, and as Laura Kennedy notes in the Kiplinger, “the growth of data mining -- the collection and analysis of billions of bits of information, which lets marketers figure out the needs and wants of individual shoppers and how to appeal to them. Instead of marketing to all…marketers can filter their potential audience to find just those who are most likely to be interested” (Kennedy 1).

The Law of Leadership Is No Longer Valid

The first rule set forth in The 22 Immutable Law of Marketing actually sets a great example for why there are no such types of laws in the world of marketing. Today, being first does not guarantee success. Augustine Fou of ClickZ notes some of the prime examples of the better product overtook the incumbent, pointing out that “Apple's iPod wasn't the first MP3 player, but it beat out the ones that came before it. Facebook wasn't the first social network, but it beat out substantial predecessors like MySpace and Friendster. Flickr wasn't the first online photo sharing site, but it beat out large incumbents like Snapfish, Ofoto, and Kodak Gallery” (Fou 1). Today’s consumer, armed with more information than ever before, seems to be much more focused on which product is better, not which...