Marketers around the world are in a relentless and constant battle for the attention of buyers, consumers of services, readers, visitors to cafes and restaurants, voters and other population groups. They often draw inspiration for their work from the books of Jack Trout.
John Francis Trout, who later came to introduce himself as Jack, made a significant contribution to the development of marketing strategies. One of his achievements is that he taught those who offer something to people to clearly position themselves. He also introduced the concept of "marketing war" and throughout his life taught enterprises, firms and even entire countries how to behave correctly in a market and competition.
Jack Trout founded the consulting firm Trout & Partners, which is still based in Greenwich, Connecticut. The firm has opened representative offices all over the world: its branches operate in thirty countries, including Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.
Biography
John Francis Trout was born in 1935 in New York. There he spent his childhood and graduated from school. He graduated from Iona College, a private Catholic educational institution located in New York. Here he studied business and was one of the top students. He was especially interested in the issue of sales and promotion of goods and services.
Therefore, after graduation, Trout went to work in the advertising department of General Electric. Having gained experience in this place, the young specialist goes to the promotion: he occupies the position of the head of the advertising department at Uniroyal. A capable young man very quickly climbed the career ladder, and soon a high position awaited him.
Advertising career
At the time, marketing agency Ries Capiello Cowell was recruiting for a variety of roles, including Vice President. Jack went for an interview and then happily announced to those close to him that he was now vice president of Ries Capiello Cowell. It was a great success and a good career advancement.
Apparently, Trout actually showed himself on the good side, because in this agency he stayed for twenty-five years. Here he met and befriended Al Rice and together they developed various marketing strategies.
Together, the friends wrote and published the book Marketing Wars, in which they used methods comparable to military strategy and tactics. “In marketing, it’s like in a battle,” they write, “Here, too, there is a struggle for leadership, for power.”
Later, their views on marketing theory diverged, but former colleagues remained friends. Rice started a family business, and Trout began traveling to different countries and promoting his ideas there. With his lectures, he visited Spain, New Zealand, Grenada. He believed that personal life and business were incompatible.
In parallel with teaching and consulting, Trout began writing books on marketing theory. Gradually, they became widely known, were tested in practice, and as a result, those who followed the advice of the marketer received excellent results. Subsequently, his books have been translated into dozens of different languages and are still published in huge editions.
In total, Jack wrote and published twelve books that are read in thirty-four countries around the world. His ideas were used in their works by such celebrities in business theory as Michael Porter, Peter Drucker, Philip Kotler and others. All his books are studied by students of the world's leading universities.
Trout also wrote many articles on his specialization, and in 1969 proposed introducing the concept of "positioning" into the vocabulary of businessmen. Soon, in Industrial Marketing magazine, he published an article "Positioning is a game …" ("Positioning is a game"). Since then, he has become a recognized positioning theorist and practitioner who invented not only the term, but also revealed its content.
Moreover, he said that positioning can be applied anywhere: on the scale of a small company or on the scale of an entire state. Positioning is a clear understanding by customers of what your product, service, or yourself are delivering. Trout attached great importance to this strategy. He said that it is impossible to become a leader without this.
Since the 1970s, Trout has consulted and helped large companies position themselves, manage the process, and develop their own business strategies.
Own business
In 1991, Trout founded his own company called Trout & Partners and became its president. However, even after that, he did not sit still, but traveled to different countries to convey his ideas to businessmen first-hand.
In 2012, he came to St. Petersburg, the next year - to Moscow. And at that time he was already under eighty. In the capital, he gave a lecture on positioning and, after talking with Russian marketers, came to the conclusion that in Russia this business is very bad: if by points, then one and a half points out of five. And he advised to actively engage in branding.
Books
The following books by Jack Trout are most popular in Russia:
1. “Positioning. The battle for the minds. " Trout co-wrote it with Al Rice. It also gives the concept of "differentiation" - the need to prove to the client that it is your product or your service that he needs. Coupled with positioning (a clear understanding of what your company is about), this will lead to increased sales and victory over competitors. The book is quite difficult to understand, but if you understand it, it will certainly be useful.
2. "Marketing wars". The book is also co-authored with Al Rice. This book is called "cult", but it will be useful only to employees of very large companies - such are the strategies and decisions here. Moreover, this book is rather controversial, because the authors say almost the following: if you do not destroy a competitor, then tomorrow he will destroy you.
3. "Strategy from Trout". Perhaps this is a short summary of all the previous books - very capacious and clearly structured. This book helps you understand how your company differs from others, and you can quickly position yourself.
