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The Strategy of Marketing Stupid Names By The Tail
“What?” “What?!” D-Oh!
I just simply could not believe my eyes. With all the hype and histrionics about it, turns out that “The Long Tail” is just a fancy made-up analogy for niche marketing.
There. I just saved you the time and expense of buying the book and slogging your way through it. So if you understand about niche marketing then this book is not for you. I wish someone had told me that.
Yes, ‘there’s a signpost up ahead’ and it’s got reinvention written all over it.
Anderson’s book even has a clever subtitle “why the future businesses selling less of more.” Now look, as a sales writer I know that one of the ways to nourish curiosity is by juxtaposing the opposites. Now, if you don’t know what the juxtaposition of opposites is, then that subtitle is a perfect example: “selling less” and “more.”
Reading the book wasn’t a total wash, if you want updated examples using Netflix, iTunes, and Amazon — it’s pretty good for that. But make no mistake, it’s not about anything new. It’s just plain old, good old-fashioned, niche marketing.
Over the last few months this “long tail” approach has been revitalized by people talking about pay-per-click and search engine optimization. Realistically folks, it’s the same old strategy of effectively using keywords to find a niche market.
And if you’re a client of mine, then you’ve already done this and it has built your list out and you’re making more money hand-over-fist, or you’re the process of doing that right now.
Now my idea of a niche market differs slightly from a lot of stuff I see online, so I would like to redefine what a niche market is. In fact, I’m gonna redefine that more fully in a separate post — but for here, in a nutshell, I’ll define a niche market as those who are already searching for something and not finding it.
If you’re a client or a reader of this blog, then you know this is a long-winded way of me saying an underserved market.
By Walter |
Topics: Marketing Mishaps, Pet Peeves |