Making a Ripple in an Ocean, Part I

The Myth of a Quiet Launch certainly got quite a lot of attention thanks to Robert Scoble (also mentioned in his side "aggregator" blog).

The more I think about it since the more I realized that to big media (and alot of us other folks) it appears to be subversively "quiet" if it's not BIG, not massive (as in mass media) in scale.
I notice that everyone (myself, included) is grappling with: How do I (or product/service, company) stand out among the overwhelming myriad of messages out there? Not an easy question.

I want to talk about this misconception that getting our message across is only achievable through "mass" or big efforts. I'll focus on it over the next week because it's too much for a single post. Pretty busy these days, so apologize for the rambling post (I believe it was Mark Twain who said: I didn't have time to write a short letter so I wrote you a long letter).

Seth's rant about the blogosphere, especially the A-List, being another manifestation of the properties inherent in "big media" is pretty illustrative. Several folks, including moi, went back and forth with Seth on the Scoble post, but at the end of it I came away with understanding that ultimately Seth is exasperated, just plain frustrated, trying to answer that age-old question (which has only gotten more difficult) of: Ugggh, How do I stand out?!!?@$#!

"It's because when you pick the right hive (and a small enough hive) you have a chance of overwhelming it - of pumping so much positive juice into your digital word of mouth that you really do dominate, that so many sneezers [aka influencers] are recommending you to the rest of the hive that the majority surrenders and the entire hive converts." - Unleashing the Ideavirus, by Seth Godin.

"The mistake that's so easy to make is to get greedy as you choose your hive, to say, "this product is for everyone" or "anyone can benefit from this idea." Well, there are seven billion people on the planet, so it's unlikely your comment is correct; even if it is, there's little chance that a virus would spread across a hive that big." - Unleashing the Ideavirus

I see this with entrepreneurs all the time - they don't want to "limit" their product or message to a really focused targetted customer segment. They think I am purposefully scaling down their dream, their baby. That's not the idea at all. The idea is to get critical mass SOMEWHERE first before you scale to become the next Microsoft or WalMart or Starbucks or Nike or Time Warner. And from a customer point of view, I'd like to feel you really grok all my (perceived or not) unique issues and problems and dreams and opportunities. Doubtful, if you are not out courting every single warm body with a wallet.

"Success will come to marketers that pick small but initimate hives." - Unleashing the Ideavirus

(BTW, Unleashing the Ideavirus was written during the peak of the New Economy (and hence what appears on the surface to be outdated examples), but it is more relevant today than it was then in this world of conversational marketing and social software, including blogs.)

Whether it's a blog or a book or a mantra or a product, you have to win over some definable segment before you can conquer the world. For a blog, you should be crystal clear on your own objectives (different for everyone) first. What are you trying to achieve? A better dialogue with customers? Visibility as a thought-leader in your industry? More business? Changing an embedded meme or popular perceptions? Building a supportive community around a shared interest? Electing a candidate of your choice?

Next, get a really a clear picture of your audience -- not as an amorphous crowd -- but flesh them out as individuals. Are they the sci-fi geek who adores Slashdot and writing open source code or the socially responsible, Fast Company-reading, change agent type? Or are they a select group of the press and industry analysts that are the most influential in your space?

What really makes them tick? What do they care about? What are their passions, drivers, motivators? There's got to be some glue that makes this a viable match. When in doubt, make your target even more definable (and even smaller).

A9 launched "quietly" (i.e. smartly) on a popular SEARCH ENGINE blog. This is what I mean about a match. Channel9 was mentioned (i.e. with intrigue) prior to launch on Scobleizer, the popular MICROSOFT DEVELOPER blog (and with those that follow Microsoft). Coincidence? These audiences already care about these launches. It's easier to spread and take over the hive. "If the hive doesn't want it, you've picked the wrong hive." - Unleashing the Ideavirus

But the Crossroads Dispatches blog seems a little random and tangential in topics, you say. If you really follow it, you'll notice it all fits into my theme. I do have a particular audience in mind even if it's not spelled out. My objective, my mission statement, my target reader are in writing -- but for my internal use.

There's some good insightful nuggets in the comments arising from the A-List rant. I only picked a few illustrative ones as there were a total of 49 comments (thus far):

"One interesting post does not an interesting blog make, though. But, if you do post something interesting, I do appreciate an IM or an email telling me that there's something that my readers might like to see." - Robert Scoble

"Robert, I understand your advice. If I may paraphrase: "Seth, if you want your freelance writing bought by editors, *pitch* *them*. Find out what they want to sell to their readership. If you don't know, read what they put out. And have you introduced yourself to any bigtime editors? Go do lunch, network (link!) with them, they like it when people talk to them. Anyone can make it, look at that breakout hit on the New York Times bestseller list."

Which is not bad advice _per se_. But my point is more exactly why it's good advice. Once again, that Big Bloggerdom is exactly like Big Media structurally, to the point that the advice maps almost word-for-word. Frighteningly so." -- Seth Fenkelstein

"What it means is that the few people at the top of the power law form *gatekeepers* of audience attention, in a structurally similar manner that publishers did for content costs. Not for the *same* scarcity, but leading to *similar* outcomes." - Seth Fenkelstein

"As far as the audience attention scarcity...yes, there is something to that, but how in the world am I supposed to filter and juggle 2M blogs (and growing) to read each day? What do you propose as a solution?

I'm now going 180 degrees now...what if "big" is the wrong metric for "success"?

The best "solution" (I just ain't going read more than 15 blog per day, I have a life) I have found is Google and Technorati and Feedster. I have discovered tons of blogs that are not on the A-List (mostly because the topics are not naturally going to rise to mass attention levels). I care about these topics though. And through serendipity or a calculated search on my interests, I find them.

So what if you are not on the A-List...as long as people whom are interested in your topics/themes/keywords can find you. Why does your audience have to be the majority of the blogosphere? I'd say be counter-intuitive. Target YOUR audience and be clear on YOUR objectives. Know YOUR audience. Sure, you can throw in a few A-List links but ONLY if they are totally on target to furthering YOUR objectives, YOUR audience, YOUR style, YOUR voice. Not because you'll get more random attention.

Success is not necessarily being on the A-List or being heard by the A-List. Forget "big" media - forget "big".

Big media is not having a easy time of it these days. Precisely because AUDIENCES ARE FRAGMENTING. Saw this quote yesterday: "Fragmentation of markets means shared social groups have more importance than demographics." Days of mass media are over...big corps like Coca-Cola say mass media is dead. It's becoming more and more irrelevant as a means of spreading messages (including advertising). OK, I could go on and on, but I think you catch the drift. - Evelyn Rodriguez

You have a good act, you show up in comment sections and get everyone talking about you. Now if you threw an idea or two in there, other than "poor pitiful me" you might be able to use that for good effect. - Dave Winer

Yeah, that's interesting. Hey, why didn't you link to your writings here? Believe it or not there's lots of bloggers who subscribe to my comment feeds. It's perfectly OK to post a relevant link or two here in the comments. - Robert Scoble

[Notice two "A-Listers" give Seth lay out advice on how to self-promote himself that he doesn't pick up on.]

I keep telling you all how I did it and you seem more interested in telling me how unfair it is. It isn't unfair. Be interesting and you'll move up the scale. How do you be interesting? You talk about things that people will want to link to. You link to others. You share information. You tell your readers what's important to pay attention to. You start conversations. - Robert Scoble

The one big difference is that 15 years ago back when Fawcette wanted to get into media, he needed to talk advertisers out of money so that he could afford to print a magazine. Today that barrier has been blown away. I publish my weblog to the world for $40 a year. - Robert Scoble

There is no difference today in *results*. The production barrier has been replaced by a publicity barrier. - Seth Fenkelstein

Yes, thank you, I could be better at pitching editors, I know. It's the fact that I - and everyone - still *needs* *to* *be* (good at pitching editors) which is, err, interesting. - Seth Fenkelstein

There is just too much damn information out there. It doesn't mean what you have to say is NOT interesting by any means. But how does anyone even know you exist or what you have to say is worth listening to among the 6B+ voices out there. A big percentage of whom are pitching editors (human with 24 hours a day to their disposal) every single day.

How do YOU stand out? That's the $64K question. You are certainly not the only one with this question. That's supposedly the question that marketing tries to address. But that's a long discussion. And most marketing/PR lit is crap (looking for a better word, but that suffices). For starters, read some of Seth Godin's stuff (see Unleashing the Ideavirus -- free online at www.ideavirus.com, or The Purple Cow). I'll think of other suggestions; but I gotta get some other stuff done today. - Evelyn Rodriguez

Comments

[Seth Finkelstein]

1) "Finkelstein", not "Fenkelstein"

2) I picked up on that. I HEARD them. I know what they are saying. That's not my point.

IT'S NOT ABOUT MY WINNING THE LOTTERY! IT'S THAT *IT* *IS* A LOTTERY!

Please note I've won a DMCA exemption, exposed censorware, analyzed Google, done "citizen journalism", etc.

The frustration is when I point out *IT* *DOESN'T* *WORK*, then too many people slam me for not working hard enough.

Oh, I didn't post links in the comment section because of the original dig at me for supposedly begging for a link. Can't win.

[Evelyn Rodriguez]

Seth-I'm so sorry about the misspelling. Crazy week and I really wanted to get something out quickly. Partially why it's such a rambling post. And it's not quite complete, yet.

It's not a lottery. That implies randomness to what or who gets attention. I am TOTALLY with you on that there is definitely a "publicity barrier" as you call it. That's inevitable as the amount of information and messages trying get attention (a huge amount is really interesting too) escalates. Yes, it's definitely a reality in the blogosphere as it is outside the blogosphere.

I don't know your "objectives" and "audience" well enough to give you specific suggestions, but I think you need to target a specific core of people you can almost name by name that you want to influence and that probably already care about your message first. I don't know anyway around it. It's a fallacy for anyone to think that you "If I build a field, they will come". Proactive marketing effort is required. Now the trick is to LEVERAGE your effort.

Funny, I was just in the middle of writing an email to a classmate in a book proposal class on how to seed her "manifesto" to the right hive online. I understand (because I've been in a very small class with her) what she is trying to achieve with her book. She could have just posted her eBook online (she is offering it free, but that alone is not attention-worthy) without spending a little time thinking through how the message/meme will disseminate. It would for all intents and purposes been invisible and ignored if she does not do that exercise -- regardless of the message. Now she spends a little time researching her hive and who are the bloggers are that already care about her "manifesto" themes and it's going to make a huge difference in impact.

I'll write more about this next week. I know that Robert Scoble says "write something interesting" and I'll link to you, but he's oversimplifying it. It's pretty obvious that you have done some hard work on the content side, but again, the message isn't (quite) enough. (A lousy message given any amount of "PR" won't fly either; that's the first prerequisite.)