Are You Sure That Will Work?

Same tactics or different? That’s an important question to ask.

We are trained to ignore the similar.

Our brains, that is.

They’re scanning, constantly looking. If it’s the same, the brain, us, doesn’t see it.

If you want to be noticed, you need to be different. You need to send slightly different signals. But not too much, mind. Make the signals too different and you might be considered a danger.

The question, when we’re launching a new venture, project, product or service - or pitching any new idea - is how different is the right amount of different? How different should I be to get noticed, to ensure the ever scanning brain notes the anomaly, but not too different so the ever scanning, yet risk averse, brain sticks a giant reg flag warning on it, ejecting the message to the dustbin of the dangerous.

Play with contrasts. Think incongruous.

If you’re using a familiar medium, blur the boundaries with words, the language.

Better still, use an unfamiliar medium (whilst remembering that the more unfamiliar the medium, the more familiar the content should be).

Different enough to be noticed but not too different to be scary. That is the balance.

Or better still, yet further, the very message your product, your service, your idea, embodies should in itself be incongruous. It should talk to me about something important to me. It should move my needle in an important way. And to do this, you need to know me. You need to know what other options I have, which will be many. You need to know what is important to me personally, emotionally, professionally and commercially (if you’re selling to a business). The more you know, the greater the needle can be shifted. The more you’re guessing. well, enough said.

Your greatest marketing and sales asset should be your product. And something about your product should be a little incongruous, it should do something for me that others don’t. It should be different.

But, watch out, not too much.