The Long Tail in Email Marketing
What exactly is “the Long Tail” in Marketing?
The Long Tail in marketing is the concept that, outside the mainstream, exists a large, diverse and potentially underserved market. For a growing number of products and services, reaching the underserved market is increasingly becoming the primary goal, and online marketing appears to be coming out on top as the way to get the job done. (Evans 2007)
According to Anderson (2004), “everyone's taste departs from the mainstream somewhere, and the more we explore alternatives, the more we're drawn to them.” Anderson speaks of the amazement in the sheer size of the Long Tail; speaking about music as an example, he exclaims, “Combine enough non-hits on the Long Tail and you've got a market bigger than the hits.” This is basically describing the rising demand for an obscure product or service. Anderson sums up the Long Tail in the article title itself; “Forget squeezing millions from a few megahits at the top of the charts. The future of entertainment is in the millions of niche markets at the shallow end of the bit stream.”
Is Email Marketing an Effective way to market to the ‘Long Tail’ of customers?
Anderson (2004), in his article regarding the Long Tail in marketing, differentiates between the world of scarcity and the world of abundance. The scarcity he describes is that of there not being enough shelf space for all of the CD’s and DVD’s; there not being enough screens to show all the available movies. His belief is that now, between the likes of online distribution and retail, we are making our way into “a world of abundance.” In other words, it is possible that a market could be twice the size it appears to be, provided we can overcome the economics of scarcity. Venture capitalist and former music industry consultant Kevin Laws reports: "The biggest money is in the smallest sales."
Email marketing is described simply as the promotion of products or services via means of email. The main problem posed by
The Long Tail in marketing is the concept that, outside the mainstream, exists a large, diverse and potentially underserved market. For a growing number of products and services, reaching the underserved market is increasingly becoming the primary goal, and online marketing appears to be coming out on top as the way to get the job done. (Evans 2007)
According to Anderson (2004), “everyone's taste departs from the mainstream somewhere, and the more we explore alternatives, the more we're drawn to them.” Anderson speaks of the amazement in the sheer size of the Long Tail; speaking about music as an example, he exclaims, “Combine enough non-hits on the Long Tail and you've got a market bigger than the hits.” This is basically describing the rising demand for an obscure product or service. Anderson sums up the Long Tail in the article title itself; “Forget squeezing millions from a few megahits at the top of the charts. The future of entertainment is in the millions of niche markets at the shallow end of the bit stream.”
Is Email Marketing an Effective way to market to the ‘Long Tail’ of customers?
Anderson (2004), in his article regarding the Long Tail in marketing, differentiates between the world of scarcity and the world of abundance. The scarcity he describes is that of there not being enough shelf space for all of the CD’s and DVD’s; there not being enough screens to show all the available movies. His belief is that now, between the likes of online distribution and retail, we are making our way into “a world of abundance.” In other words, it is possible that a market could be twice the size it appears to be, provided we can overcome the economics of scarcity. Venture capitalist and former music industry consultant Kevin Laws reports: "The biggest money is in the smallest sales."
Email marketing is described simply as the promotion of products or services via means of email. The main problem posed by