Nicolas Cole 🚢👻 Profile picture
Sep 14, 2021 12 tweets 5 min read Read on X
The OG Category Designers: Al Ries & Jack Trout

In 2001, these two ad executives wrote one of the most impactful books on Marketing Psychology, called "Positioning."

In it, they revealed the 9 secrets for getting into the mind of the customer.

🤯👇
Secret #1: Positioning is about being known in the customer's mind for something specific.

And the easiest way to do that is to be FIRST.

Their rationale was simple:

It's better to be first in a NEW category than try to be "better" in an existing category.
Secret #2: Choose 1 leading benefit.

Legendary copywriter, David Ogilvy, used this technique often.

The only way to become "known" in the customer's mind is to own 1 specific benefit.

(Listing lots of vague benefits like, "Great, terrific, super tasty," etc., does nothing.)
Secret #3: If you can't be first, be a DIFFERENT second.

Instead of competing with the competition, position yourself against them.

Own the position the customer has already placed you within their mind.

It's easier to be known for what you are.
Secret #4: You cannot overthrow a category leader at its own game.

We write about this often in Category Pirates.

Category Kings take 2/3 of the economics. Everyone else fights over the rest.

Do not bother attacking a category leader head-on.

categorypirates.substack.com/p/the-category…
Secret #5: When you're No. 1, you don't have to say it.

Once you achieve a leadership position in the customer's mind, it's better to keeping marketing the CATEGORY.

Not the brand.

It's the category of "thing" you are known for that the customer remembers.

Not your logo.
Secret #6: Repositioning = reframing the competition's measures for success.

Comparison Marketing is where you show your brand side-by-side the competition: "30% sweeter! 10% cheaper!" Etc.

Repositioning is when you reveal the flaws of competition's CATEGORY.

Not brand.
Secret #7: Name your brand/company after the position you want to own in the mind.

Clear > clever

When your name represents "the thing" you are known for in the customer's mind, your position just got 10x stronger.
Secret #8: Don't try to extend your leadership position via your brand.

Outside of the position you own in the customer's mind, your brand is worthless.

Ex:

• Google+
• Red Bull Cola
• Ford Electric

To expand to new categories, you must own new CATEGORY positions.
Secret #9: To position yourself/your business, think in reverse.

Start with what position you already own in the mind of the customer, and crystalize it.

Don't market your brand. Market your position within the category.

This is the big secret to "standing out."
If you're interested in learning more about positioning in today's digital age, I encourage you to educate yourself on Category Design.

Every week, @lochhead, @EddieWouldGrow and I write a "mini-book" on the topic here 👇

categorypirates.substack.com
And if you want to learn how to start writing online, I encourage you to join the next cohort of Ship 30 for 30.

You'll learn how to write Twitter threads like this, as well as dozens of other Online Writing principles, frameworks, templates, and more.

ship30for30.com

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Nicolas Cole 🚢👻

Nicolas Cole 🚢👻 Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @Nicolascole77

Mar 13
How Game of Thrones was created is wild: Multiple plots. No single hero. No clear villains.

But it won 59 Emmys and held the World Record for "Most pirated TV show" for years.

I studied its storytelling and psychology tricks.

Here's the philosophy I found: 🧵 Image
George R.R. Martin didn’t just write multiple plots—he made four unstoppable forces clash:

• Power struggle over the Iron Throne
• The Stark-Lannister war
• The White Walker threat
• Rise of Daenerys

Each story crashed into the others, reshaping TV forever. Image
The brilliance was in how these plots connected.

While most writers struggle with 1-2 storylines, GOT made its complexity an advantage.

Every major moment in one plot created ripple effects in all others.

The secret? It's not what you'd expect: Image
Read 18 tweets
Mar 7
With 300+ million books sold, James Patterson holds the Guinness World Record for the most #1 NYT bestsellers in history.

But many refuse to call him a "real" writer, and Stephen King called his work "terrible."

Here's the controversial writing method behind his $800M empire🧵 Image
Born in Newburgh, NY, in 1947, James was a good student but confessed that he did not enjoy reading until after high school.

He attended Manhattan College before studying at Vanderbilt University.

In 1971, he worked as a copywriter at J. Walter Thompson. Image
While working his way up at J. Walter Thompson, Patterson wrote his first novel on the side.

After 31 rejections, "The Thomas Berryman Number" won the Edgar Allan Poe Award in 1977.

But his big break came in 1993 with "Along Came a Spider."

That's when everything changed: Image
Image
Read 20 tweets
Mar 4
5 dead-simple steps to write a 60,000-word book in 30 days—even if you've never written a book before:🧵 Image
For context:

It took me 4 years to write my 1st book and it took me 4 months to write my 2nd book.

Now, I can write a 60,000 word book in 30 days.

Here's the framework: Image
1. Your book's Main Title/Subtitle is 80% of the work.

• What question (of the reader's) are you answering?
• What problem are you solving?
• What solution are you unlocking?
• How are you going to get there?

Don't start writing till you can answer these 4 questions.
Read 9 tweets
Feb 28
The Rick and Morty approach to storytelling is fascinating:

• 1 circle
• 8 plot points
• Repeated over 71 episodes

Dan Harmon adapted The Hero's Journey framework to create one of the most successful TV shows ever.

Here's how it works (and how to master it):🧵 Image
Before Rick and Morty, Dan Harmon was struggling as a writer.

He kept starting scripts but could never finish them. Until he discovered something that would revolutionize television:
He wanted to use Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, but there was a problem:

It was too complex for TV writing. So Harmon did something nobody expected.

He stripped it down to its core and created the Story Circle.

Here's how it works: Image
Read 16 tweets
Feb 21
I'm a TV addict.

Over the last 10 years, I thought I had seen it all, but when I found Seinfeld 'a show about nothing,' it blew my mind.

Everyone should understand the psychology that created one of the most successful TV sitcoms in history.

Here's how it works: 🧵 Image
Larry David had two simple rules for every episode:

"No hugs and no learning."

While other sitcoms taught life lessons and showed character growth, Seinfeld did the opposite: Image
Most sitcoms follow 4 key themes:

• Work
• Hobbies
• Romance
• Friends/Family

What Seinfeld did with these themes would change television forever: Image
Read 18 tweets
Feb 16
This guy has published 83 novels and more than 200 short stories.

He is a towering figure in the world of writing.

All writers should memorize these 14 epic tips from Stephen King's book "On Writing":🧵 Image
Image
Tip #1: Above all others: read and write a lot.

Your fingers have to learn the feel of the keys and your mind must acquire the habit of story-making.

Combine the two and copy a short story by hand to absorb the style.
Tip #2: Stories consist of three parts.

• What happens: Narrative moves the story forward.
• How it happens: Description creates a vivid reality for the reader.
• Who said what: Dialogue brings characters to life with speech.

Leave one out, and the reader will feel cheated.
Read 16 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(