Your Marketing Theory - Fizzle, Sizzle, or Big Bang?

By Dave Franzwa
Posted Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Let me show you how you can use a universal law to supply you with an endless stream of ideas to stimulate the growth of your business this year, and for years to come.

The Entropic Principle, or the Second Law of Thermodynamics, states that everything goes from a state of organization to that of chaos.

In layman's terms, "What gets wound up, must, and will wind down."

So, other than the fact that this simple statement is the core principle behind everything, what exactly does it have to do with marketing in general, and you, specifically?

To answer that question a few examples are in order. (Only a few though. After all, we are talking about *everything*
ya'know.)

* Before there were digital, or even electric clocks, we had clocks that were wound up with a key, by hand, of all
things;-) A single winding would only keep the clock going for from a few days to a week.

You supplied the energy, and when none was input, the clock would run down. The technical terminology was, "No windeth - no worketh!"

* When you go about building a campfire, you must contin- ually add wood (fuel) to the fire or it goes out. (Do I hear a "no duh" out there?)

* Imagine a jet airliner 5 miles high. Now imagine that jet running out of fuel. That makes for an unusually hard
landing... on it's nose!

I use all three of these examples to point out that without some form of energy continually being added, each model uses up its limited supply, and stops.

I'd like to ask those of you who may not hold with, or believe in this principle one simple question:

What would your kitchen look like if you didn't do dishes for a couple of days? How about a week? A month?

Not a pretty picture, is it? That's Entropy at work.

Everything, it appears, winds down (or stacks up, depending on your viewpoint) after a certain amount of time.

Like everything else, promotions on the net also have life ex- pectancies. Their duration will vary, to be sure, but they all wind down eventually.

The majority of our activities are aimed at getting things up and running, or are attempts at keeping them moving along in an orderly and organized fashion.

That's why we continually work to come up with new promotions, ways to attain new traffic, create new software, and build new and better widgets.

That's also why new products and information are so critical to the needs of those doing business online. The faster something moves, the more energy and fuel it uses. (Take a car for example.)

That right there is the grand-daddy of all secrets, though it really isn't a secret at all. Trying to get or stay organized is something we all do everyday, in some form or another.

This is one of the few examples that I can think of where taking the "path of least resistance" (POLR) by doing little or nothing, applies a force against something (any type of organization), and will take you to a place I'm sure you'd rather not go. Nowhere or chaos.

On the flip side of the coin, it takes a supply of energy (yours) to fight that downward spiral into chaos. You could
call it "the path of some resistance," but most people just call it "work."

There are two more paths along that line. One is the path of "more" resistance, and the other is the path of "most"
resistance.

I've walked all three (Well, OK, all four. I coasted as a kid;-) and find that I identify the best with, and highly recommend "some" resistance.

"More" resistance tends to make me a bit cranky, and "most" resistance sends shivers of revulsion up and down my spine.

(Back on track, Dave.)

So when was the last time your dishes got done by following the POLR? How about the house being cleaned? The garage?

And what about your vehicles?

(I can come up with a zillion of these examples. Remember, we're talking about everything here;-)

Your vehicle runs on fuel of one sort or another. When it burns it all, how do you get more?

Well, it takes money. And where does that money come from?

You guessed it! Work!

In contrast to the Entropy principle, one thing that will never fade away or run out of gas, is the desire to find short-cuts to better organization.

Unless you run into a lot of those "path of most resistance" types, who get some sick thrill out of working 25 hours a day, I think you'll see that helping folks find a faster way to get organized and get things done has always, and will always be a very popular subject.

It *really* appeals to those of us in the "some resistance" category;-)

The reason for that is easy. The faster you can get more done, the more time you have left to play.

A wee bit self-serving, but incredibly motivating.

Use the knowledge of this law to help you ferret out specific areas in which you can help others to get what they're after.

Help them get what they want and need and you'll be operating under the umbrella of another universal law.

Give abundantly and you'll receive abuntantly.

One area of organization that many people seek help in is that of getting their thoughts, emotions, and ideas across, as well as finding target audiences to get those ideas across to.

The net is moving and changing at such a rapid pace that there is a constant need for more fuel. Newer, faster ways to get organized and propel our businesses down that information highway.

Discovering just one of these short-cuts and showing others how they can benefit from it could take your business from "fizzle" or "sizzle," to "big bang" a whole lot faster than just allowing it to evolve.

About the Author
Dave Franzwa is a self-confessed mixer of metaphors. Want to create your own "Big Bang?" Take a spin on over to:
(http://WorkatHomeSupertips.com/bigbang.html) You can get hot-off-the-press articles by Dave over at: (http://WorkatHomeSupertips.com/announceform.html)