The Power of Three

The Power of Three

From the time you were knee high to a grasshopper, you were probably being taught the Power of Three.

Humans like to have choices, but not too many. Our minds categorise and classify everything – and most things into three. The categories are usually small, medium, and large:

Cars – Two door, four door and SUV

Stories – Goldilocks and the Three Bears – Daddy (Large), Mommy (Medium), and Baby (small)

Stock Market – Blue Chip, Red Chips, and Soggy French Fries

Crockery – Dinner plate, Pudding bowl, and Bread Plate

Athletics – Gold, Silver, and Bronze

Body Shapes – Mesomorphs (Square and Muscular), Endomorphs (Round and Soft), and Ectomorphs (thin and fine-boned)

Brain v4 download

Human brains evolved a security system to protect us from harm and we need choices. If we are presented with too many choices, though, we get confused. (Perhaps when Brain v4 is installed, it will become easier).

Give us a list of ten things to recall and only the smartest recall more than three – unless we use songs, rhymes, acronyms, images, phrases, or sentences (mnemonics).

The Olympics (and other sporting events) provides further evidence of the power of three. The victor gets a Gold medal, second place gets a Silver medal, and third place gets a Bronze medal. Unlucky for you if you got fourth, fifth, or sixth. You get nada, nothing, zero, zip. No one cares.

When it comes to choosing what to invest in, who looks at what is in fourth place? Or third and second, come to think of it. Then there are the Risk categories, of course – High Risk, Medium Risk and Low Risk. Oh, and the other Risk (which I invest in), which tends to lose everything.

How you apply the power of three to promote your business?

In one scenario, you could have three products, all retailed at different price points.

Let’s take shopping bags as an example:

Low Price – Sainsbury’s bag for Life (20p)

Medium Price – Disney Mickey Mouse Love Earth Extra Large Shopper Bag at Primark (£4.00)

Ludicrous Price – Bao Bao Issey Miyake Tote Bag at Harrod’s (£380)

*Prices correct at date of publication.

Patterns

Patterns are a lot easier to remember than a random sequence of events or facts, and 3 is the lowest number required to create a pattern. Look at some of the advertising slogans:

“Reduce,Reuse, Recycle”

“Mind, body, and spirit.”

“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

“Coke, Pepsi, and tap water.” (okay, that’s not one)

“You, Me, and one chocolate.”

Marketing

Humans always have a reason why they look for something. Think of the top 3 reasons what people are looking for in a product and focus on those.

Humans usually go to Google for information or recommendation on a product. If you know the top 3 places people go to, you will know how to position your product in the market.

Humans usually buy the product they can afford. If your core market can only afford three cheese biscuits and a bottle of cheap plonk, don’t try to sell them caviar and Screaming Eagle Cabernet 1992.