People resist change. We also tend to resist going against the grain. It is much easier to fit in with the social mainstream than to swim against it, and arguably this is probably the wise decision 80% of the time. But it’s the 20% that can make all the difference…
It’s the other 20% of the time when differences are made. I can guarantee you that less than 20% of the available population will get the chance to act on an opportunity that will bring them success.
Only 20% of that 20% (4%) may actually *see* the opportunity presented to them — and then probably only 20% of them (less than 1%) will actually act on it. This phenomenon is called Pareto’s Law.
That means 1% of those who are in position to recognize an opportunity actually *do* recognize it AND take action.
But as Woody Allen so famously said, 80% of success is showing up. You don’t need to make a monumental difference — you only need to make a significant difference that can impact your life positively and the lives of those around you. Just showing up will improve your chances of success over all those others who don’t even bother — probably 80% of people.
Think of public speaking for a moment. There are naturals who stand-out at the craft. They sometimes become extremely successful people who have made multi-millions of dollars and gained widespread fame. Think of Brian Tracy, Zig Zigglar, and Herb Cohen. These are the legendary masters. If you’ve never heard of them, just check out this guy’s 2-minute YouTube video review of Brian Tracy after hearing him speak for the first time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC6uVF9YLbU
These guys are in the top 1% — 20% of 20% of 20%. But you don’t have to have their level of talent to be a success as a public speaker. The barriers to entry for public speaking are high. It’s the #1 fear. You don’t even have to be very good at it to get started — just be willing to be the person who does it. You will gain the respect of everyone in the room just by making the decision to stand up and do it — even if you don’t do such a good job. If you practice and hone your skills through Toastmasters then maybe you can make a good living by just being a public speaker.
But you have to be willing to stand up. You could make hundreds of thousands of dollars — much less than Brian Tracy, but certainly enough to live comfortably on — just by recognizing the opportunity and acting on it when no one else around you will.
The same thing can be said about your advertising. Many of the techniques of direct-response advertising carry through into all forms of advertising. They work. They are highly effective. And yet no one likes to apply them. It’s the strangest thing.
Advertising agencies tend to shun good ads because good ads don’t have to be glamorous and award-winning. Strong-pullers don’t have to be creative, and they had certainly better not be clever — clever doesn’t sell, as a rule.
It’s also common for advertising agencies to remove the feedback mechanism that allows their client to measure the success of their expensive ad and judge its merit. How often do you see advertising that doesn’t offer a coupon? Or an ad that doesn’t encourage you to “bring it in for a discount” or visit a special website or call a special phone number? Without those things, how can you expect to measure what kind of return your ad generates?
Just because most ads and ad-writing practices shun these techniques doesn’t mean you should, too. An agency can get away with it because they can develop an ad for a business that will stroke the CEO’s ego. People pay for that kind of thing — don’t get sucked into the same trap. You probably can’t afford it. Not many of us can.
You want an ad that increases your sales. You do not want an ad that strokes your ego and has negligible impact on sales. That makes for an expensive ego trip.
If you can resist this urge, you will stand out from your competitors. This is one of advertising’s secret tips. Implementing it means that success will be accrued to you.