In this week's blogpost I decided to write about the third book, we had to read for my Marketing Management class this semester. The book is called The Tipping Point - How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell and it became the #1 National Bestseller.
First I want to explain what a tipping point is. It is the point where it starts to get viral or epidemic, how the author often describes it. A single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so a small but precisely targeted push can cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. These are some of the phenomenons described in this book of non-fiction.
Gladwell names three rules of epidemics: the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor and the Power of Context. The Law of the Few if the first rule in the book. It states that the success of an epidemic is heavily dependent on people with a specific social presence; he calls it the Law of the Few. The 80/20 principle supports his theory because it says that in most cases, 80% of the work is done by 20% of the people or the other way around, 20% are responsible for 80% of the success. Gladwell's three types of important persons are Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen.
Firstly Gladwell describes connectors. Connectors, as the name says, know a lot of people and if something needs to be spread they are the right people to do that. I personally think connectors are really important for your jobs because they can help you getting jobs you want just because they know the right persons. My own experiences are very positive with Connectors because I owe them a low already.
Mavens possess enormous amounts of knowledge and this kind of information specialists are relevant to connect us with new information. Mark Alpert is a typical Maven for Gladwell because he wants to solve other people’s problems and does is usually by solving his own problems. Mavens are very likely to start word-of-mouth epidemics. The book also calls Paul Revere a Maven.
Salesmen have strong negotiation skills, which make you always want to agree with them. Gladwell names Tom Gau as an example, who is a Californian businessman. If they are of the opinion that a product is good, they have the abilities to make you want this product too. This is the way how they can start epidemics.
The stickiness factor is the second part of the book. Gladwell’s first example is the cigarette brand Winston. Their slogan, “Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should” caused them to get the best-selling cigarette brand in the US because of sticky advertising; it was easy to remember and nice to say. The stickiness factor can be improved in paying careful attention to the structure of the material. An additional example in the book are Sesame Street’s and Blue’s Clue’s stories of success because they know how to attract their target group’s attention
The third rule included a lot of new stuff for me, it is the power of the context. If a fundamental change in people thinking and believing is wanted, a community around needs to be built up where those new beliefs could be practiced and expressed and nurtured. The reason is that small-close-nit groups have the power to magnify the epidemic potential of a message or idea. I have heard the first time of the rule of 150, which says that you can only have a social relationship with 150 people, a higher number is not possible. Furthermore, it is the most efficient way of managing people.
I hope you learned something from this book, the only thing I can say is that it is really worth reading. You can learn a lot for your general knowledge and also for your understanding and your Marketing career.
First I want to explain what a tipping point is. It is the point where it starts to get viral or epidemic, how the author often describes it. A single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so a small but precisely targeted push can cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. These are some of the phenomenons described in this book of non-fiction.
Gladwell names three rules of epidemics: the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor and the Power of Context. The Law of the Few if the first rule in the book. It states that the success of an epidemic is heavily dependent on people with a specific social presence; he calls it the Law of the Few. The 80/20 principle supports his theory because it says that in most cases, 80% of the work is done by 20% of the people or the other way around, 20% are responsible for 80% of the success. Gladwell's three types of important persons are Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen.
Firstly Gladwell describes connectors. Connectors, as the name says, know a lot of people and if something needs to be spread they are the right people to do that. I personally think connectors are really important for your jobs because they can help you getting jobs you want just because they know the right persons. My own experiences are very positive with Connectors because I owe them a low already.
Mavens possess enormous amounts of knowledge and this kind of information specialists are relevant to connect us with new information. Mark Alpert is a typical Maven for Gladwell because he wants to solve other people’s problems and does is usually by solving his own problems. Mavens are very likely to start word-of-mouth epidemics. The book also calls Paul Revere a Maven.
Salesmen have strong negotiation skills, which make you always want to agree with them. Gladwell names Tom Gau as an example, who is a Californian businessman. If they are of the opinion that a product is good, they have the abilities to make you want this product too. This is the way how they can start epidemics.
The stickiness factor is the second part of the book. Gladwell’s first example is the cigarette brand Winston. Their slogan, “Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should” caused them to get the best-selling cigarette brand in the US because of sticky advertising; it was easy to remember and nice to say. The stickiness factor can be improved in paying careful attention to the structure of the material. An additional example in the book are Sesame Street’s and Blue’s Clue’s stories of success because they know how to attract their target group’s attention
The third rule included a lot of new stuff for me, it is the power of the context. If a fundamental change in people thinking and believing is wanted, a community around needs to be built up where those new beliefs could be practiced and expressed and nurtured. The reason is that small-close-nit groups have the power to magnify the epidemic potential of a message or idea. I have heard the first time of the rule of 150, which says that you can only have a social relationship with 150 people, a higher number is not possible. Furthermore, it is the most efficient way of managing people.
I hope you learned something from this book, the only thing I can say is that it is really worth reading. You can learn a lot for your general knowledge and also for your understanding and your Marketing career.