According to Vilfredo Pareto — the Italian sociologist known for his 80/20 principle — marketers are either one of two types of thinkers…
These types, which he wrote about in French in his famous book, Mind and Society, are: rentier and speculator.
Which one you decide to be impacts your ability to come up with provocative marketing ideas. And that skill… may be, quite reasonably… more of a requisite to your success as a marketer than any other.
James Webb Young further explains these two types of thinkers in his book A Technique For Producing Ideas.
A rentier, says Young, “are the routine, steady-going, unimaginative, conserving people”.
Marketers who fall under this category are the ones who see things as most others do, are content with the common and ordinary, and are what we could call “in-the-box thinkers”.
A speculator, on the other hand, Young describes as, “constantly preoccupied with the possibilities of new combinations”.
Marketers who fall under this category are the ones who look for, and see, connections between seemingly disconnected elements. They’re constantly on the hunt for new combinations, new associations, new relationships, and new ways of looking at things.
Under this category I would certainly put my good buddy, and genius marketer, Rich Schefren. As I would: Jay Abraham, Clayton Makepeace, and my friend, Joe Schriefer, copy chief at Agora Financial.
These guys are consistently able to come up with new, fresh, and unique ideas… because they’re not looking for, or developing them, in the same manner as the typical individual or rentier.
These gentleman are looking for new relationships that produce new combinations.
And that, my friend, is the foundation of developing any idea.
“An idea is nothing more nor less than a new combination of old elements,” says Young.
In other words: It’s the bringing together of one thing from over “here” and another thing from over “there” to develop a “new” thing in front of us.
How do you do it?
I’m glad you asked.
Let’s once again turn to our friend, James Webb Young:
“The capacity to bring old elements into new combinations depends largely on the ability to see relationships.”
Relationships between what?
Relationships between seemingly disconnected elements.
Let me give you a couple of examples to bring this into greater clarity for you:
Written by Porter Stansberry of Stansberry Research, the above marketing promotion was about the spread of fiber optic cable usage for internet access and how it would disrupt the telecommunications sector. Leading… to a lot of new wealth.
Porter brilliantly made the connection between what was going to happen with this new technology, and its investors, and what had happened during the 1800’s in America with the spread of the railroad, and the financial dynasties that were created.
Hence… “There’s A New Railroad Across America… and it’s making some people very rich…”
This, from a marketing funnel I released a few months ago, was about the benefit and impact of “marketing intelligence”: dynamic, responsive, and adaptive marketing funnels.
Here, I saw the relationship between how “marketing intelligence” allows your marketing funnel to operate similar to the way a live sales person operates.
So, I simply used that relationship — in the form of a metaphor — to make “marketing intelligence” more understandable and relatable.
This idea I love. From my friend, Doug Hill, of Laissez Faire (a division of Agora Financial).
This marketing promotion was all about the financial implications of President Obama’s infatuation with… socialism.
Here, the idea came about by seeing a relationship — no pun intended — between President Obama’s “love affair” with the idea of socialism and that of a mistress.
Pretty cool, right?
This wildly successful promotion, written by copywriter, Mike Palmer, brought-in over 79,000 paid newsletter subscribers and total gross revenue of over $5.2 million.
The copy described this “secret currency” like this:
There is a “secret currency” that exists that lies beyond the reach of any government or corporation. This investment has helped many of the world’s wealthiest families — the Rothschilds, DuPonts, Morgans, Adams, Hunts, for example — build their dynasties. You can use this technique to make as much money as you want. A PROFIT OF 665% (which is what happened the last time the conditions for this investment were this good) is realistic.
What is the secret currency?
Gold.
Mike made the connection between gold… plain, old, ordinary gold… with that of the idea of a currency used by the wealthiest families.
Brilliant. And wildly effective.
And, you can begin to do the same with your own marketing promotions and funnels.
Here’s the key:
To come up with good ideas, you need to come up with lots of ideas.
And, to come up with lots of ideas, you need lots of input. Lots of new information. New research. New stories. New thoughts and concepts.
Then, be intentional about being open to, and looking for, relationships and similarities between all that material. And don’t be afraid to let it marinate in your mind allowing your subconscious to go to work on it for you.
And, of course, be patient. Coming up with big, provocative and compelling marketing ideas often takes time. Be willing to put in that time.
Quality marketing ideas can be worth their weight in gold. Believe me.
As my friend and mentor, Mark Ford, said to me many years ago while sitting outside a cigar lounge in Delray Beach, Florida, “That’s really the business we’re in. We’re in the business of developing and disseminating ideas. The quality of your ideas ultimately determines your success in this business.”
Editors note: One of the primary reasons why marketers struggle to get their funnel to convert is due to an inadequate or weak marketing idea. When your funnel is built on the foundation of a “big marketing idea” it not only stands out, increases engagement, and bumps sales conversions, it also makes up for a lot of other weaker areas within your funnel (i.e. copy, multi-media elements, selling, etc.).
