I was talking to my friend Marko DeSantis earlier this week and he said something really profound to me. He said “I’d rather be the single red dot in a sea of blue than be one in a thousand people doing the same thing.”

Let me back up a second and give you some back story and context. Marko is the guitar player in the band Sugarcult (Full Fanboy disclosure: I’ve been a fan of Sugarcult for 10 years – long before I ever met Marko). This week we happened to be talking about SXSW Interactive and how he was there to DJ an event for our friend Mike Barash.

Conventional wisdom will tell you that Marko should have skipped the Interactive portion of SXSW and intead showed up to hang out during the Music event. After all, he’d fit in much better among his rock n’ roll brethren, right? That’s when Marko dropped that line I noted above on me. He went on to explain that by going to Interactive rather than music, he got to be the only rock n’ roll guy in a sea of tech people. By going to SXSW Interactive he was a rockstar – someone that everyone wanted to see and talk to. If he had gone to Music, he would have been just another person in a band that you may or may not have heard of. Sure, it’s comfortable to be among people that are just like you, but how can you really stand out and make an impact in that situation?

This got me thinking about business and how we approach marketing. A great example of this outside the box thinking that I saw in Austin was Chevy. I’m sure the easiest thing for them to do would be to “check the box” and attend every auto show to peddle their latest cars. But how bold of them was it to exhibit and show off their new vehicles at SXSW Interactive? At first glance it may not make much sense, but then you realize that they essentially got a monopoly on eyeballs because they were the only car company living and breathing in the tech space at that event.

This also applies to standing out on an individual level. When I attend SXSW each year I’m just another technology social media guy. There are thousands of those. But, if I were to attend something like a national hotel owners conference, I’d probably really stand out and be able to bring in a lot of business for myself. At a social media conference I’m just another guy in a band. But, by stepping outside that box as the lone red dot, I can be a rockstar.

Do you have a situation like this where you’ve had some success? I’d love to hear about it.