While mass communication has become more individualized and singular in focus, there’s still a feeling, that in order to have any effect, you have to spread your message to thousands (millions?).
That’s not always true. You don’t need a big crowd. You just need a dedicated group of people who are willing to listen.
That group of dedicated followers is always in the crowd. That’s why the big message always works. You’re just spending lots of money and time to identify those dedicated people out of the masses.
So why spend the money and the time on the whole crowd if you’re just needing the smaller group? It’s because of the natural inborn reaction to see the big crowd and run toward it hoping to get in on the attention. But in reality, many times you’ll have better luck going against the crowd.
One of the tricks of avoiding lines at big venues is to turn left whenever possible because most people are right-handed and insinctively go right instead of left.
I have always advised clients and placed my own media buys counter to the market. I love to run radio in the 1st quarter. I design negative space print ads. I never advertise between September and November in an election year.
In the past week, I’ve been able to connect with other people who were not at SXSW because we were all sitting on the sidelines.
From today until Sunday, you can garner attention from those people not interested in college basketball.
Don’t run with the lemmings. Don’t go toward the light. Find the smart place where everybody doesn’t go. It’s a lot less crowded away from the crowd. You’ll find people who will pay attention.
Chris Houchens is a marketing speaker and the author of Brand Zeitgeist. Follow him on Twitter or Facebook.
