« Little in Life is Truly Free… | Home | Sharing Age »

Internet Marketing…Getting Her Knickers Out of a Knot

By admin | January 10, 2008| Popularity: 44% | 310 Views

http://blackcloakppc.com/assets/green-world.jpg

For this post I have relied heavily a little known copywriter by the name of Michel Fortin ;)

 

Anyone can see that Internet marketing is changing drastically.  As markets continue to expand exponentially, Google  continues it’s bid for world domination,  and competition in the IM sector becomes even more fierce and dirty, many people have begun to take on a doomsday outlook.

 

More Internet marketers than ever are trying to break into the boss-less industry and “live the dream” so to speak, and more people than ever are failing…But is internet marketing really doomed to become a writhing stew of drowning bodies, and a forum fueled, detached exchange of virtual road rage.  Are we all going to start pointing fingers and busting out the ‘angry smiley’  :evil: ?

 

Or are we simply going through a readjustment phase?

 

Michel Fortin weighs in:

 

“Internet marketing is correcting itself.

When the stock market tumbles, short of a full-on crash, they call it a “correction.” Sometimes it happens precipitously. Other times, it takes place over a period of time.

Likewise, I believe that Internet marketing, right now, is going through a similar correction. It may not be as precipitous as the stock market, but it’s indeed quite significant.

To explain what I mean, let me back up a bit.

If you’ve read Geoffrey Moore’s “Crossing The Chasm,” then you understand the product adoption curve. (In marketing and academic circles, they call it the “Diffusion Process.”)

In plain English, it means that new markets go through a certain adoption process that looks very much like a bell curve.

At first, new products are consumed by the innovators and early adopters (i.e., niche and early markets). They’re the type of people who buy new things the moment they come out.

Then, they are consumed by the majority (i.e., mainstream markets, at the top of the bell curve, where products get widely adopted by the majority of people).

Finally, the laggards make up the late markets. They usually wait until everyone else has tried the products, which are no longer new.

According to Moore, between the niches and the mainstream, there’s a gap. A chasm, as he calls it, especially with technology. It’s where things seem to slow down once a product has saturated the early markets.

But then, after a while, something happens.

The product, if and when it crosses the chasm, enters the mainstream (often called the “middle” or just the “majority”), and becomes widespread.

This is where the bulk of the market lies (about 68% of the market pie, according to studies). And often, it happens fast. Very fast. (For example, Moore’s follow-up book, “Inside the Tornado,” explains this in detail.)

What does this mean in terms of Internet marketing?

It means that the geeks (e.g., the risk-takers, innovators, Internet enthusiasts, and the like) are the first ones to penetrate the Internet market. They set many precedents that shape the way we do business online, whether it’s through a new method, software, business model, or teaching.

(That’s why we often call them “gurus.”)

We’ve seen this happen. Top marketers have entered the market, sold many a product, and made massive amounts of money. But now, things are starting to change. We’re hitting — if not crossing — the chasm.

One obvious piece of evidence is the recent flurry of “death of” reports. Whether they’re meant to promote something or not is a moot point…

Bottom line, these shifts represent not only a major correction affecting the world of Internet marketing, but also show the three major markets to watch out for in the coming year:

  1. The newbie market;
  2. The offline market;
  3. The Asian market.

And that’s my prediction for the new year and beyond. Watch out for these markets. Enter them. Serve them. Or get out of the way.”

 

You can read the rest of Michael’s blog post here:

 

http://www.michelfortin.com/three-hot-trends-to-watch-out-for/#more-465

 

 

<><>

Last 5 posts by admin

Topics: Power Profit Plans |

  • Author:
    • Jabber:
    • AIM:
    • Notes:

Comments