Selling fads or trends
Do your customers follow fads or trends - they're two very different business models
Did you notice how important it was for some people to have an iPad as soon as they came out? It was important to them to have a blog on their website as soon as it was possible, to use Facebook, or to have an opinion on that year’s X Factor. It was important to them to be there; at the front, as it happened.
They were also there with Friends Reunited, Big Brother, and MiniDisk. All successes. All now faded stars.
Early adopters create waves of excitement, generate copy and articles, and drive sales. But it’s important to understand how those waves work. The iPad might not be forever cool but it will probably change the way we use personal computing. So if you’re wanting a piece of that market you need to understand whether you’re aiming at the iPad glitterati who are more faddish buyers and who ride those waves, or those who want a tablet computer who are those who will follow the move towards that media if there’s longer term merit in it.
The difficult bit is to know whether to work on (shorter term) fads or (longer term) trends. They’re business models which are worlds apart.
There’s no right or wrong, just depends who you want. Or who you can get
