Just finished Chris Anderson’s book The Long Tail, and had a few thoughts. The “Long Tail” concept, of course, is defined thusly:
“What happens when everything in the world becomes available to everyone? When the combined value of all the millions of items that may sell only a few copies equals or exceeds the value of the few items that sell millions each? When a bunch of kids with no profit motive can record a song or make a video and get the same electronic distribution for it as the most powerful corporation?
The Long Tail is really about the economics of abundance, and entirely new model for business that is just starting to show its power as unlimited selection reveals new truths about that consumers want and how they want to get it.”
Overall a good, quick, solid read. However, while reading through the book, it triggered two primary questions for me:
- If what I am marketing is in a niche in the tail, how do prospective customers find me?
- Being in a niche is great and all, but it would be nice to be closer to the head of the curve…how do I move my niche to the left?
Some thoughts on those two questions in the following posts.
Related:
Getting found in the Long Tail: Direct
Getting found in the Long Tail: Recommendations
Moving Your Niche