I’ll bet you thought you knew all about Paul Revere. He was,

of course, responsible for inventing the Internet…uh, no…

sorry, wrong turn.

Not that he couldn’t have used Internet marketing

principles, however, had the Internet been available.

Putting an ad up on Google sure would have made life a lot

easier than, say, getting captured by the British…not to

mention a greater impact, as Internet marketing goes.

But, his famous ride to awaken the colonists has historians

- but not marketers – utterly baffled. Why? Let’s see first

the problem … then how marketing (particularly Internet

marketing principles) solves the problem.

Most historians don’t understand the 80/20 Rule. Don’t get

me wrong. A lot of people don’t understand the implications

of the 80/20 Rule. They don’t understand its recursive

nature, the “64 – 4 Rule,” the “51.2 -0.8 Rule,”

“Sierpinski Triangles,” and so on.

But, it’s really not necessary to understand all of that,

anyway. What you should know is simple: the 80/20 Rule

simply means 80% of your results will flow from 20% of your

efforts. That’s the simplicity of the 80/20 Rule for

Internet marketing…or anything else.

Paul Revere understood the 80/20 Rule well, in concept. I

bet he would have taken to Internet marketing too.

You see, historians can’t understand why Paul Revere’s ride

produced a word- of –mouth- epidemic (“buzz”) and why fellow

yeller William Dawes’ ride did not. After all, Dawes

traveled 17 miles on horseback that night. But, almost no

one from the southerly circuit of towns he visited – towns

like Roxbury, Brookline, Watertown, and Waltham – responded

to the call.

That’s the reason he goes as an unsung hero in our history.

I am a wandering, bitter shade,

Never of me was a hero made;

Poets have never sung my praise,

Nobody crowned my brow with bays;

And if you ask me the fatal cause,

I answer only, "My name was Dawes"

'Tis all very well for the children to hear

Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere;

But why should my name be quite forgot,

Who rode as boldly and well, God wot?

Why should I ask? The reason is clear --

My name was Dawes and his Revere.

History rings with his silvery name;

Closed to me are the portals of fame.

Had he been Dawes and I Revere,

No one had heard of him, I fear.

No one has heard of me because

He was Revere and I was Dawes.

(The Midnight Ride of William Dawes

by Helen F. Moore -Century Magazine, 1896).

Seems unfair. Many historians lament Dawes, the

unrecognized hero. But, then again, the 80/20 Rule shows us

that life is disproportionate in its results.

That wasn’t Paul Revere’s only ride:

You see, the 80/20 Rule teaches us one simple lesson and

…several very powerful ones. So don’t go away.

The simple lesson? That’s easy. Focus and prioritize on

what you do best. Each of us is, or should be, a specialist

in a particular niche. In other words, very good in one area

– and a “duck out of water” elsewhere.

That was Paul Revere. As renowned historian David Hackett

Fischer put it, unlike Dawes, Revere had an “uncanny genius

for being in the center of events.”

• From the Boston Tea Party to the Revolution, committees

and congresses sprang up all over New England. Revere rode

from one city to another, bearing messages and linking to

each other. Consequently, he was well known.

• He rode to Philadelphia from Boston regularly carrying

organizational messages. He rode from Boston to New

Hampshire, from Boston to New York, and from Boston to just

about anywhere in New England.

• He connected people to people, and people to news and

events. And he did it well. While 80% of the leadership

belonged to but one committee, he was only one of two men

who served on almost all of the committees in Boston.

(80/20 Rule: The most accomplish the least. The least

accomplish the most.) More popularly known as: “If you want

something done well, give it to a busy person.”

• He was a clearinghouse for information about the British.

In other words, if you knew something and didn’t know who to

tell, you went to Paul Revere.

So, when the stable boy overheard the conversation of the

two British officers, he went to Paul Revere.

When Paul Revere mounted his horse that fateful night, his

travels were strategic…He knew who the town fathers,

militia commanders, Minutemen officers, key ministers,

opposition lawyers, merchant leadership, and other

strategically placed individuals were… and where they

lived.

Dawes did not have that gift. He was not well known. He had

not traveled widely. Consequently, his efforts that night

were spent on arousing common folk, no doubt, but most

people didn’t know where to go, or who to contact, or what

the next step should be.

Paul Revere knew the leadership. What they needed was what

we all call in Internet marketing, a “message to market

match,” (when and where specifically the British were

moving).

Paul Revere supplied that match. The 80/20 Rule is a filter

for precision matches between effort and result. He supplied

that filter:

• Preparation and research? His “keywords” were people,

places and events learned over three years…

• Key knowledge? The information from the stable boy… and

when the British would move …

• Strategic “niches”? Most “profitable” towns to alarm in

the shortest amount of time…

• “Pre-qualified traffic”? The individuals who were

prepared to respond to his call, did so, like clockwork.

• “Message to market match”? They would act in direct

response to his focused message… and …

• Call to action? “The British are coming. Resist

them…now.”

Revere was less a rider and more a “guided missile” that

night. Specific. Targeted. Effective. Those are the

ingredients for successful Internet marketing…and the call

to Lexington Green that next day was an 80/20 Rule “in

play”.

Every Internet marketer knows from the 80/20 Rule, that

Internet marketing is a process, broken down into steps,

each step catering to the comfort zone of different kinds

of individuals. The days of “one stop, one purchase” are

over. Most people will NOT purchase in one stop…so devise

other kinds of response (email follow-up, mini-courses, opt

ins, surveys, etc.)

As any Internet marketing specialist knows, if people are

confused, they take no action, except to leave the issue

(or website) alone.

If Dawes had had a website, they would’ve left it confused

with no way to respond to any call to action.

So, people didn’t act under his call … until days later,

after Lexington and Concord were history.

Yes, William Dawes was a hero. But, his ride took so much

more effort, accomplished much less, and took much longer

to finish … Mixed results, at best.

History and Internet marketing turn on hinges produced by

the 80/20 Rule.

For Internet marketing training: http://www.Icanmarketonline.com.

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