My name is Scott Perin and I’m one of the directors at Hannah’s Bretzel. Just wanted to thank you for the kind words about our concept. Folks like you are our best form of advertising + we’re happy to have you as a customer!

Best,
Scott
Hannah’s Bretzel
Über Sandwich Makers®

I agree with your point and I tried to salvage it in the last couple of paragraphs, but I fear I didn’t do Ries and Trout justice. There’s a lot of stuff in this book and on jstef.com I just pick a single topic to focus on. It struck me that these guys were so far ahead of the game on info overload because I deal with the topic every day, although in a different context.

I’ve highlighted about 75 passages from the book that I’ll use to get my marketing strategy on track. We may be sorting through them ad nauseum in about a month. See you soon.

It’s interesting that you chose to focus this post on the “info overload” factor… that’s not at all what I would have picked as the main treatise of a marketing book about market selection and effective competition.

OK, here’s what I think you should have taken away from Positioning… and what we can certainly talk about ad nauseum because it IS timeless and it DOES work today and it WILL benefit your business…

(1) People associate you and your brand with certain feelings and thoughts (your position).
(2) They do the same with competitors, but two competitors cannot “own” the same feelings and thoughts. Thus, position is relative to competition.
(3) The more you embrace that, the more you can own the feelings and thoughts that they already associate with your name / brand and build on it.
(4) Recognizing (or building) your position makes it SOOO much easier to attract, retain, and defend your market. Just the fact that you HAVE a position makes you different from many competitors who don’t try.
(5) Grab a unique position, rise up and own it, conquer the competition, and you will build a lasting brand that customers love.

Don’t you think this is more important than the “dripping sponge” lesson?
Don’t you hate people who try to school ya on your own personal website?

Talk soon,
David

artists. see also genius
–backup plans of, 116
–characteristics of
—–intent to change people, 83-85, 95
—–not perfectionists, 68
—–optimism, 98
—–posture, 76
—–seeing world clearly, 184-185, 235
—–shipping, 99-100
–children as, 31-32, 122
–defined, 8
–employees as, 36, 38
–vs. factory workers, 96-97, 153
–great vs. mediocre, 207
–need for, 8, 17-18
–reasons to become, 90-91
–unpaid, 227-228
–whether working more is better, 195

shipping
–banishing busywork to enable, 135-136
–and coordinating teams, 105-106
–even if feels unfinished, 102-103
–as habit of artists, 99-100
–importance of, 102-103
–and lizard brain, 112
–and thrashing, 104-105, 130-131, 146-147
–of unique creativity, 219-220