Breakthrough Business Ideas

The Harvard Business Review annually publishes a catalog of business breakthrough ideas for the year at hand. To see how their thinking could impact small businesses, here is a quick summary of a couple big ideas that could change how entrepreneurs market to their customers:

1. The Accidental Influential: Duncan Watt's academic research turns upside down Malcom Gladwell's theory in The Tipping Point that the rapid spreading and acceptance of big trends, "social epidemics," are triggered by a small subset of highly influential individuals in a particular social environment. Influentials are described as a smallish, select group of people who supposedly have "influential" impact (influence) on various market subsegments (people) - thereby negating the need to market to everyone in these market subsegments, but rather to a few key influencer's.

Watt's research instead shows that the key requirement for what his calls "global cascades" - the broad propagation of an concept through networks - occurs via a critical mass of "easily influenced people." Via this theory adoption and buying trends are not led by a few influentials, but rather though many easily influenced individuals. So, we can see why today's popular social media vehicles (MySpace, Facebook, YouTube) are the real catalysts and drivers today for the adoption of new ideas, concepts and products/services.

2. Brand Magic: In brand marketing theory it goes without saying that a brand strategy matches up with a market segment - an audience category defined by its primary and differentiating characteristics such as age, interests, education, and socioeconomic status. As an example take a look at the range of cosmetic brands, by the same parent company, targeted at different age groups. To follow traditional brand principles, the brand parent graduates their customers to new brands once customers "move beyond" a certain age.

However, this approach can discourage customer loyalty, cause indiscriminate brand jumping, and is the root source of significant overspending in product development and marketing. Instead, a brand parent should build and evolve a brand along with its customers' natural developmental processes, and adapt the brand as their customer base grows older, has (or doesn't have) kids, and moves forward in life. They call this form of brand strategy "Harry Potter marketing" - a branding concept that grows up with you like this fictional character did with its reading population.

Shivonne Byrne, Innuity CMO

Comments

[Heidi Richards]

Hi, Shivonne,

I recently discovered your blog (via google alerts) and love it! In fact, I recently listed it it in a post " Lucky 13 women bloggers share it all" on one of my blogs Virtual Woman's Day (http://www.virtualwomansday.com).

Wishing you all the best and continued success.

Heidi Richards, Founder & CE) - The WECAI Network™ - Publisher & Editor in Chief – WE Magazine for Women – www.wemagazineforwomen.com