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July 18, 2006

The Long Tail and Direct Response Marketing

It is interesting to see Seth Godin's endorsement of the book "The Long Tail". On his popular business blog he says it is full of ideas that "will be talked about for the next ten years".

The author, Chris Anderson, writes that the theory behind the book is that due to a number of recent trends driving down the cost of production and distribution, our economy is becoming less comprised of a small number of massive home run hits and more comprised of a large number of small niche base hits.

Much about this theory appears relevant to direct response marketers and direct response advertising providers. Issues of mass market appeal verses niche appeal, targetability of media channels, fragmentation of TV audiences, costs of ad production, and the success rates of infomercials are constant considerations for electronic retailers.

Applying the perspective put forth by Chris Anderson, direct response marketers may be open to a new - no, additional - definition of success that is less based on the massive money machines that most often get the press and more like the less visible, long-term successes that have nonetheless made many entrepreneurs very wealthy.

No doubt there will be more discussion on how the theories in The Long Tail relate to direct response marketing.

Posted by Brett Astor at 05:40 PM | Permalink