One of the things that we learn very early on in the communications industry is of the existence of a trend pattern. It goes by many different names, but we call it the 80/20 Factor. In a nutshell, it states that at any given time in our industry, 80% of design and communications will not be as strategically correct or well executed as the smaller 20% of work that is truly relevant and appealing to its target audience.
The communications people who are able to achieve and help clients benefit from high calibre communications are a rare breed. These “Twenty Percenters” are the kind of people who love, live and breathe communications 24/7. They’re always learning, working to add to their skill sets and never willing to settle for good when they know they are capable of great.
Consequently the kind of communications company needed to help you create powerful, memorable, relevant and effective communications that will help grow your business and reputation, should always possess a good mix of these 20 percenters.
A Great Leap of Faith vs A Small One
When you find a group of people who you believe possess the qualities that put them into the 20% category, you must still make a leap of faith, and trust them to deliver for you. You must understand that they will not always be doing something that appeals to you personally, unless of course you are right in the middle of your business’ own target group. In fact, the best results that you, as a professional can achieve, will come from trusting other professionals to do their job on your behalf and not letting it become personal. If you can do that, then you will have made the leap of faith that will get you where you want to go.
What To Look For To Assist In Your Choice
When talking to prospective suppliers who you are likely to be working with for quite a while, your determination will be based on how you feel about them from a personal point of view (i.e., chemistry or click factor), but also how they think about your business from a professional point of view.
Do they feel that:
- All communication needs to consistently be clearly focused on the target audience.
- The main benefit of your product or service should always be clearly evident.
- The character of your company should always be portrayed in a positive way, helping you put your company’s best foot forward?.
- All work should have enduring quality about it
- All work should be synergistic with the look and feel of your company’s
existing communications; or - If it is re-branding, all work should display a logical evolution in your company’s image.
Our Philosophy is the Same as Yours
At Rapport, we have concentrated a great deal of our core energies into finding people who, through innate brilliance and/or vast experience, absolutely fit into the 20% category.
Our people are capable of great work every day of the week, and their track records, both creatively and from a success perspective, reflect that. Additionally, we are people with a real desire to help clients achieve and often surpass the levels of success they define for their products, services and companies.
At the end of the day, we operate our business on the same principles as you are probably operating yours… find the best people and trust that they will do great things for you.
For us it’s been a very good policy.
How about you?
