Imagine that you invented a product that would make life easier for everyone who used it. You might assume that all you needed to do was put it out there and let word of mouth do the rest for you. After all, if it’s as good as you think it is, it will sell itself. Right?
Well, not exactly. While some people are always on the lookout for new things, they only account for a small percentage of the population. Most people are less likely to change their behaviour so easily. Broadly speaking, we can segment people (and organisations) into these five groups of receptiveness to new ideas:
- Innovators are driven by a desire to be first. They want the newest thing precisely because it’s new, and want to be the ones to start trends and create change. They are also the people most likely to develop new products and systems themselves. They have traits of creatives and gamblers, and are unafraid of risky behaviour, often adopting ideas which are still in prototype phase or not fully proven.
- Early Adopters are usually in a growth phase in their business, or wanting to get into something new and make a change. They will be actively searching the market for new ideas and products, doing diligent research. They differ from Innovators in that they are more focused on how adopting a new idea or product will solve an existing problem for them, and not interested in the pure novelty of it.
- The Early Majority want to evaluate a new product, wait for reviews, and look to jump on the bandwagon when it’s clear that’s where things are headed. They keep their ear to the ground for anything that may be of benefit to them, but they are generally happy with the way things are currently and will need to be convinced that making a change will result in a benefit for them.
- The Late Majority are moved by forces around them, when it has become apparent that everyone else has already made a change and they will be outmoded if they don’t follow on. They tend to be highly risk averse and follow the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” attitude. Businesses will only make changes when they start losing customers or seeing profits declining. They are reactionary rather than proactive.
- Laggards are highly resistant to change, even when it has been adopted by everyone around them. They may be contrarian just for the sake of it, or they may genuinely not like the new product. Laggards will take time to convert even when that delay is causing problems for them. They often do not act rationally or intelligently.
You might think one group would automatically pass it to the next like a funnel, but it doesn’t work like that. The Early Adopters aren’t looking for the same things as the Innovators, so even if they see Innovators using something, it won’t necessarily make them start using it too. In order to make the transition, the information has to be repackaged for the next group. That’s where marketing comes in – it’s translating the information, so the idea becomes palatable for the next group, until everyone is onboard.
Many people make the mistake of thinking that marketing means targeting everyone as individuals, but really it’s about understanding how different groups of people interact, and working as a connector between those groups of people. It’s about ensuring that when one group talks, another group listens, and soon everyone is talking about the same thing.
