It’s happened to everyone at some point. You hear about a great new movie coming out, lets call it for arguments sake, Sex and The City. Actually no, we can’t use that, that was beyond terrible. Let me think of another example. Ok so you hear about this new movie called Australia and plenty of hype was behind its release into cinemas. It comes out and surprise surprise, the critics blast it. Rubbish, terrible, boring, awful. In reality, it was probably just an average movie. If you picked it up off the shelf at the DVD store you’d watch it and say, yeh not bad. Not great but not bad, you know.. average.
So why did the movie critics absolutely blast it? Think about it, the movie wasn’t terrible. Wasn’t even bad, it was simply average. You would be right in saying that the hype behind it caused a massive anti-climax when the movie finally came out and because it didn’t live up to the hype and the expectation, people deemed it as a flop. However that’s another story completely.
There is another element here that is taking effect. That is that people no longer tolerate “average”. We live in a world of web 2.0 where everything is intertwined and whatever information we need is literally on our finger tips. We expect everything for free or maybe in return for our (other) email address. Even the Telcos are treating us like people! Can you believe it.. people! That’s just insane!
Only 10-15 yrs ago people expected average. Average customer service. Average airlines. Average electronics. Average cars. Bank West. Virgin. Apple. Tesla. Just think about this paragraph a little bit before going onto the next one.
The key point is that people no longer tolerate average stuff. TV advertising is dying because its pretty average. Mobile media is growing because it’s not average, although in a few years it may be. Today, if you release a product that is average then it’s not actually average, its boring and awful.
The aim here is to be extraordinary in whatever you deliver and also how you deliver it. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in the product itself but can be through your execution, your marketing and your communication. I know it can be a bit scary going out on a limb and not following the standard procedure but if you don’t someone else will. That person may not succeed but if they do, not only will the rewards be highly prized but you’ll probably find yourself doing what they do but with less reward.
William Bakhos is a 26 year old entrepreneur who has founded and built four start ups. His knowledge in the online world as well as the offline makes him a great resource for any budding entrepreneur or anyone trying to break free from the traditional. To learn more visit his Entrepreneurs Resource Site