Whoever has will be given more and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them – Matthew 25:29

Every day we see the 80/20 rule at work inside our client’s advertising accounts.

Firstly it’s already fascinating that this principle holds true, regardless of client or industry.

What’s even more fascinating is that the 80/20 Rule holds true at every scale for every client in any industry:

• 80% of Ad Group results are caused by 20% of Keywords
• 80% of Campaign results are caused by 20% of Ad Groups
• 80% of Network results are caused by 20% of Campaigns
• 80% of Account results are caused by 20% of Networks
• 80% of Platform results are caused by 20% of Accounts
• 80% of Agency results are caused by 20% of Platforms

Google has even developed an algorithm to internally rank Certified Partner Agencies, so if we were to extrapolate the 80/20 rule further, we could very safely assert that 80% of Global Advertising results was delivered by 20% of Agencies.

For those prepared to go one level deeper, my mentor Perry Marshall, points out that the 80/20 rule is fractal within itself.

Within the 20% of factors that cause the 80% of results (ie. the vital few), there is yet another 80/20 rule at play – 20% of the 20% cause 80% of the 80%, or more simply, 4% of factors cause 64% of results.

The secret to maximising results therefore, is to continually identify and skew resources towards the vital few causes – taking resources away from the trivial many.

Regardless of whatever level you choose to apply the 80/20 rule, the same truth remains.

Whoever has will be given more and they will have an abundance.