Many smaller companies conquer early adopters and die. Similarly, many large companies introduce a new product and kill it by having success with highly technical early adopters. Why? Because when early adopters are your target, your company masters language, techniques, habits and platforms that are effective for a highly specialized, techie and tiny group of people. Your staff — and your channels — are trained to succeed with early adopters, who are about two percent of your total market.
But here’s the problem: None of it works with mainstream consumers, who are less technical, and need an entirely different language, habits and approaches. Mom and dad don’t talk to early adopters really. In the 1990s, Geoffrey Moore said it was a chasm that separates early adopters and mainstream consumers. Today, I believe it’s a solar system, and the two groups are no longer on the same bell curve. Rather, they’re on different planets.
So, start with the mainstream. Make them — 98 percent of your market — your early adopters.
I am a marketing consultant with clients that include TiVo, Logitech, T-Mobile, Sprint, Yelp! and ZAGG. My new book, Evangelist Marketing, was published last month, and is 288 pages on topics like this one. My Web site details my work.
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