The Long Tail
One of the few business books out there that actually makes some sense to read in my view. Frankly, most 'Marketing' or 'Business' books are no more than a rehash of old strategies and maxims.
"Let's see how we can say - segment your customers! customer focus! give them what they want - if it makes sense!" and so on and so forth. Blah, blah, blah. Go and read any bleeding 1st year marketing book and you'd get the same thing, if not so explicitly spelled out.
I guess you do need it for the simplistic thinkers out there, but if you consider it, most of the books out there aren't that good.
So that leaves two types of books worth reading - the basic strategy guides (like the Art of War and general marketing management books) and tactical books (like Jakob Nielsen's Usability) which deal with specific tactics you can take. Anything that shoots for new 'strategy' is often rubbish.
Except... in this case the Long Tail actually makes sense. As it discusses a trend in the industry due to a technological change, it provides actual useful information. To sum it up - companies need to consider making money over a period of time (the long tail) from a specific product or products (multiple products, again instead of concentrating on one).
A good example would be TV shows - from just first run to syndication to DVDs to now IPODs, etc. And by creating multiple content (like Apple's iPOD downloads for videos) but making it available for multiple shows. The point is, since it barely costs anything for the products, even a few hundred downloads means money. And profits.
This is obvious in terms of new technology, but with the addition of the Internet as a highly viable distribution channel, it is also possible for retail and other organisations. Consider how E-bay sellers can as easily work as drop-shippers with thousands of products listed, making only marginal profits from each but a huge amount in the end.
Huge margin products are still possible, but the fact is, with globalisation and the pace of change in the modern world, to continue to have high margin products, you need to constantly change.
"Let's see how we can say - segment your customers! customer focus! give them what they want - if it makes sense!" and so on and so forth. Blah, blah, blah. Go and read any bleeding 1st year marketing book and you'd get the same thing, if not so explicitly spelled out.
I guess you do need it for the simplistic thinkers out there, but if you consider it, most of the books out there aren't that good.
So that leaves two types of books worth reading - the basic strategy guides (like the Art of War and general marketing management books) and tactical books (like Jakob Nielsen's Usability) which deal with specific tactics you can take. Anything that shoots for new 'strategy' is often rubbish.
Except... in this case the Long Tail actually makes sense. As it discusses a trend in the industry due to a technological change, it provides actual useful information. To sum it up - companies need to consider making money over a period of time (the long tail) from a specific product or products (multiple products, again instead of concentrating on one).
A good example would be TV shows - from just first run to syndication to DVDs to now IPODs, etc. And by creating multiple content (like Apple's iPOD downloads for videos) but making it available for multiple shows. The point is, since it barely costs anything for the products, even a few hundred downloads means money. And profits.
This is obvious in terms of new technology, but with the addition of the Internet as a highly viable distribution channel, it is also possible for retail and other organisations. Consider how E-bay sellers can as easily work as drop-shippers with thousands of products listed, making only marginal profits from each but a huge amount in the end.
Huge margin products are still possible, but the fact is, with globalisation and the pace of change in the modern world, to continue to have high margin products, you need to constantly change.
posted by Tired | 3:27 PM
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