The Law of the Ladder - Law #7 under the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
“The strategy to use depends on which rung you occupy on the ladder”. ‘It is better to be a small fish in a big pond than being a big fish in a small pond’.
There is a hierarchy that we need to consider before talking about the ladder in the first place. First comes first, are you the first in the industry, do you have a category of your own, do you own a brand word in the audience mind, do you have anyone above you for the brand word on the audience mind and then comes which position are you on the audience mind. If you have an answer for all of the above then you will have to accept your position in the market boldly and openly and then patiently wait for your turn. Not that your competitors ahead of you will give their place to you on a plate, you will have to wait for an opportunity like the Volvo company gave in the India public transport market. This might be a great opportunity, only if you do not precede with any similar incidents yourself, you can only capitalize on the opportunity if you have a better slate to show the audience at that point of time compared to the competitor.
Digital Media has stirred up a hornet’s nest that has depleted the customer loyalty factor like never before. We do not have as many market leaders as we had before. The customer has become more alert and adventurous compared to their predecessors as they have more options than before and are handy too. New and old brands are offering aggressive trial offers and discounts to lure the customers. It would not be completely true to say that the market leader owns more than 50% of the market now. It can be even as less as a 20% share and that might be the single largest share owned by a brand and therefore be called the market leader due to the overcrowded market place.
The law of the Ladder does not have the same kind of impact as it had before the emergence of Digital Media. Not many people rely on ladders these days as it is the era of escalators. Today, it is important to hang on to the ladder and not worry too much on which position you are or how to go past the nearest competitor and instead simply focus on acquiring more and more customers day after day, month on month , quarter on quarter and so on. The customer base has increased substantially when you rely on Digital Media as the reach through it is more spread out and accurate. You can now explore newer markets and geographies by sitting in the comfort of your office even out of a remote location.
In fact if you happen to catch your competitor in front of you on the wrong foot, Digital Media is so fast and accurate that you can pick your audience and target them with the campaign within days of the opportunity showing up. While the competitor is fire fighting with the situation, you would have erased the brand word association of your competitor from a sizable number of customer minds.
