Early in the life cycle of a product category, a product ladder with many careers is formed. Gradually, the ladder becomes a two-rung affair.
In batteries, there’s Eveready and Duracell. For rental cars, they are Hertz and Avis. In hamburgers there is McDonald’s and Burger King. In toothpaste, it’s Crest and Colgate.
The Law of Duality suggests that during the life cycle of the product category, the lower reaches of the ladder will lose market share and disappear; the top race will lose market share; and the number 2 rung on the product ladder will gain market share ensuring the market is a two-horse race.
Are the results predetermined? Of course not. There are other laws of marketing that can also affect results.
Also, your marketing programs can strongly influence your sales, as long as they are in tune with the laws of marketing. For example, instead of going out and attacking two strong leaders, what you can do is create a profitable niche (as Crest prevents cavities as described in number 5, The Law of Focus).
Knowing that marketing is a two-horse race in the long run can help you plan your short-term strategy.
It often happens that there is no clear number 2. What happens next depends on how skilled the contestants are.
What is especially tragic from an economics perspective are the wasted resources on many high-value product categories, yet this is the cost of capitalism.
Look at the history of the automobile industry in the United States. In 1904, 60 companies assembled 195 different automobiles. Over the next 10 years, 531 companies were formed and 346 perished. By 1923, only 108 car manufacturers remained. This number dropped to 44 in 1927. Today, Ford is on the top rung of the product ladder with General Motors and Chrysler fighting for the second rung of the ladder.
Successful salespeople focus on both major careers. Jack Welch, during his tenure as Chairman of General Electric, said, “Only companies that are ranked #1 or #2 in their markets can win on the increasingly competitive global stage. Those that cannot be the #1 or the #sold.”
This type of thinking has turned companies like Procter & Gamble into powerhouses where it is either #1 or #2 in over 80% of its product categories.
In the early stages of a product’s life cycle, rung #3 or #4 of the product ladder looks attractive. Sales are increasing. New and relatively unsophisticated customers are entering the market. These clients don’t always know which brands are the leaders, so they choose the ones that seem interesting or attractive… hence the interest of many Internet Marketers in marketing MyStory and the brand You Inc. Very often, these brands happen to be the No 3 or No 4 runs on the product ladder.
As time goes by, however, these customers educate themselves. They want the leading brand based on the naive assumption that the leading brand must be better.
The customer believes that marketing is a battle of products. It’s this kind of thinking that keeps two brands on top. Customers think that the top two brands “must be the best because they are the leading brands.”
As an Internet marketing professional, you need to understand the Law of Duality. To compete, use You Inc and MyStory brand marketing methods and techniques to create your own product category or define a niche where you can be the leader and occupy the top rung of the product category ladder (such as described in #7, The Law of the Ladder).
Many internet marketing entrepreneurs use techniques and tools like Mind Mapping, Keyword Research, Pull Marketing Formula, Magnetic Sponsoring, and MindMeister to conduct market research and plan a successful marketing campaign. They then use the marketing power of MyStory, the You Inc brand, and hypnotic writing skills in their marketing campaigns to realistically address their brand’s position in the world that includes the Law of Duality. The goal is not to emphasize why your offering is better, in terms of features and functionality, than a competitor’s, but rather to develop a message that is recognized, accepted, and agreed upon that will seduce and convince a customer that what you are offering it is real. and will work for them.
Marketing is not a battle of products. It’s about the strategy you use to take advantage of the Law of Duality to ensure that your brand and product is one of the top two brands on the product ladder as the market becomes a two-horse race.
You can learn more about internet marketing and home-based businesses by reading the updates that will be posted on my blog over the next few weeks.
As a former General Dynamics engineer and Deloitte management consultant… I am on a mission to empower people by increasing their financial literacy, improving their personal sustainability skills, and contributing to the program that aims to create 100 Millionaires by 2012.
