Does this beard fit into that niche?

I recently decided to grow a beard. It started because my electric razor’s charger blew up when I plugged it into a 220 volt European outlet, and became a bit of a joke between me, and the guy in the mirror. While the general consensus was that facial hair of such a beardy nature would be a hindrance with the opposite sex, a friend of mine had a different logic. The clean-shaven heard was competing for the clean-shaven-appreciating heard. According to his logic I was competing in a niche market. While perhaps a decidedly smaller number of girls appreciated my rugged appearance, the supply of bearded men is much smaller than that of the clean-shaven. In his words, you could go to a party in a chicken suit, and while most girls may think you’re obnoxious, 5 will think your funny and that’s 4 more than you need.

 

Another friend of mine is a clean-shaven, 6’5”, model. He has had decidedly more luck in his flooded market than I have in my niche one.

 

This analogy sheds a bit of light on the traditional view of the niche market. First the preferences of the niche may include that which is actually disliked by the majority, not merely un-preferred. By competing in a niche, are you alienating the majority and limiting future growth? Second, the market for 6’5” models is nearly everyone, how can you differentiate in a way that applies to the entire market, not just the niche?

Viral Marketing – cough cough

Viral marketing is sick, and not in the awesome sort of way, but rather the has-a-runny-nose-and-coughs-on-the-subway sort of way.

 

There are a few metrics that can be used to judge when a business concept has nearly peaked in trendiness and as a result lost all its meaning. Perhaps the most useful of these metrics is an abundant use of the tag words by MBA students. Viral marketing is pitched as a viable strategy in nearly every marketing and strategy class I attend. When asked for specifics on the strategies used to create said viral marketing, the suggestions are much fewer in number. Many seem to feel completely justified in saying that all you have to do is get your product in front of the right network, or the right individual and voila! Instant virality. This is crazy. This is like the marketing of the 1940’s or what I like to call SALES. It is backwards and does not work

 

A better idea would be to focus on building a product that people want to talk about. Rapid growth of an idea or product happens because the product is something that people want to talk and hear about, and consequently there is a nonmonetary value associated with sharing.

 

People like to be the one to tell someone about the great new restaurant, the hip new iPhone ap, or the hilarious YouTube video. Not only that, but they like to be the FIRST. On the flip side, people like to hear about these things. The result: an information arms race.

 

Let’s make this clear: people don’t like to tell people about the crapy stuff, thus, no arms race. Do you think people were clamoring to tell each other about Coke Zero? It’s a new Coke, it has zero calories, end of discussion. But do you think that viral marketing was discussed in the Coke strategy meetings? I guarantee it was. Do you think Christian Lander thought about how he could create a viral marketing campaign around his book, Stuff White People Like? No, he started a website because he is creative and funny. The website was creative and funny and people wanted more, he wrote a book and people paid for it, lots of people.

 

The more effective use of resources (your time, your money, other people’s time, other people’s money, natural resources, shelf space, bandwidth) is to design a product that people WANT to talk about.

 

It’s about making things that excite people, not exciting people about things.

Kumquat Theory

The kumquat theory is when a concept reaches the forefront of your consciousness and your subsequent increased awareness of the concept leads you to believe in coincidence.

 

Take for instance the day you first learn what a kumquat is.  In the coming week you will undoubtedly see kumquat soda at your local coffee house and kumquats on sale at the grocery story.  Now, it is not that kumquats are new to any of these locations, just that you now recognize them.  But you are likely to view these events as coincidences, “funny, I’d never heard of a kumquat till last week, and now I see them everywhere.”

 

Coincidence can be a very compelling selling point.  If you can induce “kumquat experiences,” you can likely induce further exploration and even better, execution.  I’ve seen this happen time and time again with business pitches, new products, restaurant suggestions, or job candidates. (When pitching this to your boss it may be best to not say you want your new product to elicit “kumquat experiences”)

 

The disclaimer of course: once you garner the attention you desire from the contrived/serendipitous coincidence, you have to have something to back it up. If the first kumquat soda you try, after learning what they are, sucks, it doesn’t help other kumquat products.