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Differentiate or Die cover art

Differentiate or Die

By: Jack Trout,Steve Rivkin
Narrated by: Patrick Cullen
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Summary

In today’s ultra-competitive world, the average supermarket has 40,000 brand items on its shelves. Car shoppers can visit the showrooms of over twenty auto makers. Differentiating products today is more challenging than at any time in history, yet it remains a key to a company’s survival.

In Differentiate or Die, best-selling author Jack Trout takes marketers to task for taking the easy route of high-tech razzle-dazzle and sleight of hand instead of marketing their product’s uniquely valuable qualities. He examines successful differentiation initiatives—from giants like Wal-Mart to tiny Trinity College—to determine why some succeed and some fail. The author outlines the many ways to achieve differentiation, while also warning of how difficult it is to achieve differentiation by being creative, cheap, customer oriented, or quality driven, things that your competitor can do as well.

Jack Trout is president of Trout & Partners, a marketing firm with offices in thirteen countries and a client list that includes AT&T, IBM, Sears, Merrill Lynch, and other Fortune 500 companies. He was the first to popularize the idea of “positioning” products in the minds of consumers. He is a sought-after speaker and the author of numerous marketing classics.

Steve Rivkin, the coauthor of The New Positioning and The Power of Simplicity, is head of his own communications consulting firm, whose clients include Kraft Foods, Olin Corporation, and Horizon Health System. He is based in Glen Rock, New Jersey.

©2000 Jack Trout (P)2001 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

" Differentiate or Die differentiates itself on the groaning marketing bookshelf with its lucid prose, its clear vision of the future marketplace…and its sensible solutions for surviving the frenzied competition we’re sure to find there." (Dan Rather, CBS News)
"What I like about Differentiate or Die is the book’s emphasis on the power of logic, simplicity, and clarity—getting to the essence of a problem. In Silicon Valley, attributes like that can make the difference between having lunch and being lunch." (Scott McNealy, CEO, Sun Microsystems, Inc.)

What listeners say about Differentiate or Die

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Outstanding

Whatever business you're in this is required listening... Slightly dated but the principles are fundamental and apply across the board

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Timeless advice

Timeless advice for all experts in their field. Take heed and stand out in a crowded market.

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some good content but it hasn't aged well

the book has some good insights but the writer had very limited foresight as couldnt even see the smart phone would be a hit

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tried again, actually some good points

This isn't a story more a historic review of strategy or rather differentiating market performance

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Out of date

This book is too old to really be worth listening too. Not because the advice isn’t valid… it simply doesn’t have examples that are relatable anymore and it keeps name dropping companies that, 20 year later, often directly contradict the message.

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Hilarious Outdated examples

Some good ideas. Unfortunately some examples of how strong Toys R Us, Blockbuster and Nokia are scattered throughout make you question the validity of the rest of the contents.

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fantastic

it is a really insightful listen. some can be found in other books but it's given me a few ideas to differentiate my products.

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A MUST-READ for all marketers everywhere!

This one is very special to me. Uniqueness is always something I've struggled with....and this book lays out a clear way of doing so. Not only that, it gives many examples of the spectrum of differentiation.... showing how even the smallest changes to "differentiating" ideas can make a huge different and pull in a greater audience. This is will definitely be a re-read for me.

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Obvious

This ties in with other books I have read on Lean, Communications and business - has given me the most important points of Marketing

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