In this volatile economic climate, says Brian Solis, a principal at FutureWorks PR, the ‘echo chamber’ can be “your direct connection to success, or at the very least, help to kick-start market adoption of your products.” Exactly what is the echo chamber? It’s the first 16% on the left-hand side of the bell curve of ‘influence and adoption’ in technology marketing, explains Solis — the first 2.5% being ‘innovators,’ and the next 13.5% being ‘early adopters.’

Traditionally, the term echo chamber describes a group of media outlets that tend to parrot each other’s reports. In the online world, where much early marketing is done, the expression has expanded to refer to blogs that write about the views of other blogs, echoing the same information back and forth. It is this process — resulting in highly viral marketing, that Solis recommends taking advantage of by targeting the small group of highly interested individuals first, whose excitement and discourse can drive more widespread interest. “If you dissect the art and science of technology marketing using a car as a simple metaphor, your product serves as the chassis, your cash as the fuel, Social Media, Interactive/Web, Sales, SEO, and PR as the accelerator, marketing strategy and execution as the gears, RPMs as a market indicator for listening and responding, the speedometer to convey inertia, and you … sitting in the driver’s seat, steering and controlling the entire operation,” says Solis. “Marketing to the echo chamber, believe it or not, is how you get that car rolling, starting everything in first gear.” Innovators and early adopters, Solis notes, “are global citizens and do not solely reside in Silicon Valley. Remember: reporters, bloggers and online tastemakers (aka trendsetters) who spotlight innovation can send tens of thousands of [prospects] to you almost instantly. When done right, the echo chamber can generate real world interest and support.” Go to: TechCrunch

Posted October 28th, 2008 under Intellectual Property Marketing

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