August 2003
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
In 1994, Wolverine considered discontinuing its Hush Puppies lines of shoe — understandable since the company only sold 30,000 pairs that year. In 1996, the company sold more than 1.5 million pairs and earned fashion accessory of the year honors. The most fascinating part of the story is that Wolverine had done nothing to promote the shoe — it’s success was literally a market epidemic.
In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell offers a fascinating look at social epidemics, their root causes, and how the smallest action can actually have enormous consequences. In doing so, he shows how to start “positive” epidemics of their own that require little input to start and can spread very, very quickly. Gladwell’s theories parallel the line of thinking that have made word-of-mouth and viral marketing so popular.
Gladwell borrowed the term “tipping point” from epidemiology. Epidemiologists use it to describe the moment in an epidemic when a virus reaches critical mass — the boiling point on the graph when the line starts to shoot straight upwards.
Gladwell examines some obvious epidemics, such as the growth of AIDS and teen smoking. He also shows an interesting side of why crime in New York City plummeted in the mid-1990s and as well as the Hush Puppies story.
The Tipping Point is thoroughly researched and well written.
June 2003
Creating Customer Evangelists by Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba
Word of mouth is vital to any successful marketing effort. Creating Customer Evangelists is a step-by-step approach for converting loyal clients to a volunteer sales force. McConnell and Huba lay out and provide examples of their six strategies:
- Customer Plus-Delta: how to understand what motivates your customers
- Napsterizing Your Knowledge: building value for your knowledge by allowing widespread use
- Build That Buzz: identifying and capitalizing on opportunities to showcase your products and services
- Create Community: helping customers bond with you and each other
- Bite-Size Chunks: use small bits of your service to open the door and wet a prospect’s appetite
- Create A Cause: find a meaningful pursuit to impress others
The book contains great examples and case studies from Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Southwest Airlines, and IBM.
June 2002
http://www.marketingprofs.com/
This website bills itself as specialists “in providing both strategic and tactical marketing know-how to Internet and offline marketing professionals through a combination of provocative articles and commentary.”
The site is an excellent resource of information and commentary about marketing. Recent tutorials include “Power Writing for the Web: 10 Golden Rules” and “Does Advertising Even Work?” Marketing professionals also provide insightful perspectives about a number of marketing topics from website optimization to public relations to advertising.
Marketingprofs.com offers free membership and a bimonthly broadcast e-mail about the latest editions to the site.
