Using The Rule Of Thirds To Crush Competition

In business, being different is good. Being wacky is good. But being extraordinary is better.

Have you seen any of this year’s auto expos? Wacky. Crazy. Extraordinary. SOME of these cars are magnificent. Others, though – need to get scrapped.

Welcome to the rule of thirds.

The rule of thirds says that every car should cause one-third of the people to absolutely hate it and one-third of the people to absolutely love it. The remaining one-third simply isn’t paying attention.

Smart marketers know that if a car was built to the preferences of the majority, no one would really be passionate about it. It would just blend in. But by captivating one-third of the crowd, they are capturing far more enthusiasts than they could by simply building something that the majority preferred.

Hence, concept vehicles.

Goths Are Masters Of The Rule Of Thirds

Employing the rule of thirds isn’t particularly hard. In fact, our younger goth generation has been doing it for ages. If you were actually to walk up and suffer a conversation with a ‘goth’ you would find that most are very nice, pretty well educated, and particularly laid back. In fact, take off the black nail polish and dyed hair, and they would be well suited for a shirt and tie job.

The next time you are walking in the mall, pay attention. How many people take notice of goths? How many have opinions?

Everyone.

Employing The Rule Of Thirds

Think about your business. What do you sell? Do you sell professional services? Or are you the marketing director at a discount chain? What ways can you stand out?

Many, many marketers use direct mail to convey their message. In fact, I get 10-15 postcards a day. The trouble is, they all look the same. They have nice messages, clean lines and pretty pictures. But none of them stand out.

Imagine getting an oversized postcard in the mail (5×11 or so) that was done in high gloss orange. On the card was an offer for a free informational download or a $100 discount for some service that you offer. Would that get a person’s attention? You bet it would.

Now, send that piece out again, and again. You have just captured your one-third share.

Is it true that two-thirds either won’t react or will hate the mailer? Yep! But the other third will react positively.

Think about direct mail, now. Direct mail has a response rate of 1.2 percent if sent to a good mailing list. If you tie it to a personalized url, it jumps to about 7 percent. Both or which are a far cry to the 33 percent that are now looking at your orange piece!

Building Your Next Marketing Campaign

Before you go ahead with your next marketing campaign, think about what you can do to make it different and unique. Think about how you can choose your message or your colors or your offer to cater to one-third of your audience. Be bold. Be extraordinary.

Just remember, capturing the attention and passion of one third of the people is a whole lot more effective than catering to an unresponsive popular vote.