The bad kind of average — Kelford Labs Daily

Imagine you just stepped off a plane.

You’re tired, oddly clammy, and you just want to get where you’re going. You don’t know where baggage claim is, and you’re having trouble deciphering the signs.

What should you do?

Well, you should do what I suspect all of us have done at some point: You just follow the crowd and hope for the best.

Because, on average, everyone’s going to make it there.

The whole airport is set up to keep people from going the wrong way—it’s literally someone’s job to make sure you don’t linger. And if you plucked out any individual passenger and followed their path, it’s probably going to end successfully at the baggage carousel.

In cases like that, following the crowd is useful.

(Just don’t follow the crowd by standing at the gate before your zone is called—that’s unforgivable).

Now, what about marketing? Does the same principle apply?

Well, if you plucked out—claw game style—any individual business and observed them, are they likely to be successful with their marketing?

The statistics aren’t pretty. Any way you want to cut it, most businesses will be out of business within a few years.

It would be like if half the passengers got off the plane and just stayed in the airport for the rest of their lives.

So, should you follow the crowd? Should you copy your competitor’s marketing? Should you do what the average is doing?

In the case of marketing, no. The average is actually disastrous.

The businesses that survive are the ones that stand out from the crowd, not the ones that follow behind and hope for the best.

When you get off of a plane, feel free to follow everyone else.

But when you launch your business or make your marketing, carve your own path.

Because nobody else is going exactly where you want to go.

I expand upon this metaphor on my recent guest appearance on All Hands on Tech. Give it a listen or watch here!

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