Remember that classic business school graph about product lifecycle. The one that shows innovators, early adopters, early majority, etc. It seems that the early adopters will try anything so the biggest hurdle for marketers has always been bridging the early majority and getting them to take hold, in order to reach critical mass.  The first thing necessary is to innovate and have a great product; the second thing is to initiate strong word of mouth.

Blogs and consumer opinion sites serve as a publishing platform for early adopters. Word of mouth has now turned into “citizen journalism” and it has become the trusted pace for information gathering and pre-purchase research.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To communicate with bloggers offer first look opportunities. By getting information out early to bloggers you will show that you respect them and play into the ego driven culture of the blogoshere to post fast and first

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you advertise in blogs, feature advertorial in a straight forward conversation tone and have link for them to give you feedback. Then you can use that feedback to proactively address concerns of the early majority.  If you respect the early adopters of your product/service by recognizing them and communicating with them, you will incent them to share their opinions on your offering and to populate credible areas of (early majority) pre-purchase research in blogs, reviews & search engines