How To Reach The Tipping Point
January 31st, 2007 | Categories: blogs, marketing, networks, social media, strategy, trendsEvery modern-day home business libraray seems to contain at least one or two titles by Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki, and/or Malcolm Gladwell. Together, these new-age business revolutionaries have paved the way for a for a new type or marketing and thought-process.
Gladwell’s first title, The Tipping Point, gained widespread acclaim and went on to hit the bestseller list. A cult-like following ensued. The same can be said for the former two authors, but years earlier. In any case, there is a common thread among their books that entails the idea of evangelists, connectors, ’sneezers’, mavens, and influencers. These are the people who will not only use your product, but rave about it to others. These are your loyal fans, your army. But reaching them has always been a problem. Until the advent of the Internet…
Much has been said about the micro-communities, niches, and target groups that marketers strive to reach. Offline, locating these tight-knit groups is next to impossible. Even in a case where a marketer is able to reach the intended audience, messages are more often than not ignored or over-looked. Finally, the level of interaction leaves much to be desired.
Enter The Blogosphere
What if a marketer was able to tap a pre-existing network that of micro-communities that were focused around a specific niche or topic? What if there were search tools to simplify the process even further? Locating your influencers and evangelists, and creating product conversations would be much easier. The process could in theory be broken down into a set of steps. This ‘art’ of marketing is all of a sudden a science.
The blogosphere and blog search engines are the stuff that dreams are made of - for marketers. Add to that blog directories and ranking systems, and not only can a marketing strategy be tailored around a specific group, but around the status or hierarchy of a given group.
For obvious reasons, I am not going to outline the entire marketing process, but you can begin to see how valuable the blogosphere and an accompanying toolkit can be.
Use it wisely and treat these users like gold. The Tipping Point is closer than it appears…
January 31st, 2007 at 2:47 pm
There has to be levels of tipping these days depending on what the goal is. Tipping point for an initial venture might be a stead sales stream; but then the next Tipping Point might be a new stream in a differeny country or demographic.
I also feel that the Interweb/Blogwebs have created a feeling that you can reach people by just Blogging or having a website. This is false.
Value for time spent, a sense of engagement/involvement, and reasonable cost are the triggers that I think have the most appeal to users of a system. Involvement and excitement are especially important if that tool is perceived as new.
We also have to remember to not preach to the choir. Getting a bunch of techo-types excited about a new thing is far easier than getting Ma and Pa Kettle.
January 31st, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Andrew,
Some good points there…
The Tipping Point I am referring to is the point when an idea or product goes ‘mainstream’. In other words, the majority of regular people have heard of or about the given product or service.
To your point of reaching people by simply blogging or having a website, I totally agree. I never said that’s all you needed. You need to take on a more proactive approach and market your blog or website once it is launched.
There are many advantages to reaching out to bloggers and members in a given niche. Not only is it more cost-effective than traditional forms of marketing/advertising, but it is also proven to be much more effective at transmitting the desired product message. So the cost is essentially free (disregarding sweat equity) and the effectiveness is optimal. Seems like a great way to market a start-up on a low budget… or a larger, more traditional company for that matter.
Finally, I understand the idea of the ‘echo-chamber’ and preaching to the choir. But by reaching out to the influencers and media moguls in the given industry, the message will eventually filter/trickle down to the enthusiasts, hobbyists, and offline folk.
It’s all a question of opportunity cost and ROI. Where can I get the best value for my time and money? And it seems that an approach as such has been the best I’ve come across so far.
I’d be very open to hearing any better possible strategies…
Cheers,
Aidan