Comments on: Think Small

By: olivier blanchard

olivier blanchard — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:30:13 +0000

I totally agree, but perhaps not in the case of commodity products/companies. If you’re McDonald’s, the wide net probably works better than the focused approach.

Same with most soft drinks, WalMart, gasoline brands, candy bars, and other brands with insanely broad distribution channels.

By: christyb

christyb — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:46:13 +0000

Christian, you must have missed Geno’s presentation the other day with Umbria. The key take-away for us was that they were able to monitor bloggers and commenters and found that the best target was not who they thought it was. It was fabulous to see this played out through the campaign, too.

Heck, I often wonder if we’re talking to the best people, even though we keep monitoring and measuring…

By: JournaMarketing

JournaMarketing — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 21:17:03 +0000

Think small — and big…

…

By: Scott White

Scott White — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:58:01 +0000

Actually the group size does not matter. What matters is that you take your brand identity and then hit your target market. You become focused with your brand identity not trying to win anyone group over.

Example: Volvo’s brand identity is safety. They leverage that with soccer moms, families etc. Volvo owns safe. Whether they choose a large group or a small group as long as they deliver on their brand identity that’s all that matters.

The problem is people like Seth Godin know NOTHING about branding and that’s what this post is talking about. Big group, small group means nothing. Living your brand identity means everything. And this is why most companies have a gap between identity and image.

Don’t think in such small terms. A whisper can start with a big group as long as that big group understands and associates with whatever the brand identity is…think Apple or Nike.

By: Spike

Spike — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:39:15 +0000

Howdy Jenny,

Thanks for the comment.

But you tell everyone how great Jump, Little Children’s music is, don’t you? Why? Because you feel like you’re a part of something bigger than yourself. And you know about this great band and feel so loyal to the band that you want to see them do well as well as expose your friends to great music? That’s powerful stuff.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:27:03 +0000

for many things we do, we start small. i think i’ve always been drawn to anything that is smaller and not mainstream, but then i sometimes feel bad when people don’t know what they are missing out on. for example, i feel bad for anyone who has never heard jump, little children’s music. once you find something that sparks emotion in you, it’s hard to imagine life without it!

By: Spike

Spike — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:38:50 +0000

Christian,

I think you have a valid point, but I also think that it’s so easy to find those people that are already talking about you that you need a bigger excuse NOT to engage with them. With companies like Umbria and other blogosphere mining companies - or even with Google for a top-line search - you can find and engage with your fans (as long as you do it in an open, honest and transparent way).

How is it “safer” to cast a wide net? That’s the “less than 4% ROI method. Engaging and arming that small - but hugely powerful - group that want to have a relationship with you seems to be the much safer route to me.

By: Christian

Christian — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:19:34 +0000

I wonder if this is because in many (larger) organizations, people can’t identify that small group of people they should talk to. And then if you don’t identify that group correctly, you risk wasting 100% of your resources talking to the wrong people.

I’m not saying that speaking to small groups is wrong. I’m just saying it’s understandably safer to cast the wide net if you don’t know who the opinion leaders are. Spike, any thoughts on how to ID those opinion leaders?