the long tail

Folks, folks,


I am getting a free copy of The Long Tail from author Chris Anderson, and I am elated, not only because I am Singaporean and therefore I love freebies, but because The Long Tail is the articulation of a business concept that I believe in.


(And how did I get this freebie? Well Chris was giving it out for free and I emailed him for one. But they are all snapped up now it seems. The catch is, I have to review it, here, on worlds upon words, after I am done with it.)


Rather than take it wholesale from the site I am going to tell you what it is about in my terms. We all know what niche marketing is about, basically it means catering to a select group of customers, instead of the mass population. For example, Jasons supermarket versus NTUC, Sheng Siong and Shop n Save. Or lemon tea at the Ritz Carlton (where even the ice cubes are made of tea, and you get it served with a pot and a tray) versus the lei-mong-tai you get at the kopitiam (that by the way is how the auntie hollers the order to the counter if you do indeed order lemon tea at the kopitiam near my place).


Well, when I studied (or briefly read, for the exams) marketing in uni, I just thought, hey, you can charge a higher price if you go niche, but if the market is so small, you probably will die easily too.


Of course there are really a whole host of other reasons why a niche marketing company dies:

too much monetary risk taken without prudence (hedge funds),
a lack of market research - thinking there is a niche market where actually there ain't but for an over-tapped mass market (education centres),
poor marketing communications on what exactly that 'niche' is (cafes that think they are so different but are just duds),
the industry sunsets before you have started on your next business unit (Yashica cameras), etc.

All that aside, assuming you don't over-diversify before you make it (think of the many years of the brand of the Osim chair before they prudently went into their other i-deas), you make sound reconnaisance before everything, you plan years and decades ahead, and you have a clear marketing strategy:


Then you really should consider going niche. Differentiating yourself so that you are not only the market leader in your industry-segment, but really, the only market player to a thriving, close-knit industry. Word gets around easily, from staff to their friends, from customers to other potential customers. There would be no other apple to compare to your apple. All other comparisons will be an apple to orange or kiwi-fruit comparison. People want to interview you because you are special, and you might even get free press on the internet and on tv.


And then, can you survive the niche market? Will there be enough to go around, monetarily?


Well, if you are into maths, and you know the concept of the area under a curve, then read The Long Tail blog to know more it in terms of dollars and numbers. As for me, I am going try to put it in words. Factually, if you divide a large cake by a large number of people, for example, at birthdays with the whole extended family or with the whole church, then you get a small slice each, and maybe two if there are any more slices to spare. But if you were to celebrate your birthday by yourself, and you buy a slice of cake (like Chocolate of a Thousand Leaves from Coffee Bean, yum), then, you potentially get a much larger slice of cake per person, because, it is just you. Now it seems like no one knows about your birthday this way, but hey, if you like cake, and you have a good book with you or have loads of thoughts to write in your notebook, (and if you don't really care for big birthday dos) you might as well go for it this way! You get blessed solitude, and a whole lot more cake this way!


And you know what, if you can't find a good slice of your favourite cake anywhere in stores, bake it yourself or find someone who can. That is,


Create your own niche market.


Ooh and eat it all up by yourself, before anyone even knows about it. By the time they do, you are already doing some other thing, leaving them in your dust trail.


I hope that does the long tail concept justice, but regardless, I have to read the book to know if it is really a good book. Nonetheless, it will be free for sharing, and I will pass it around to whoever wants to borrow it after I am done (which means I know I might never get it back, but it is okay, good things must share).


More soon.