Creating a Buzz Requires Credibility

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers

A good friend of mine once said to me, "Credibility is hard to get but even harder to buy." When I heard this I thought it was simply genius. It's so absolutely true.

Lately, I've been reading Malcolm Gladwell's most recent book, "Outliers." In one section at the front of the book, he writes about how kids get into the Canadian Major Junior A Hockey League; the premier league for children and teens hoping to become professional hockey players.

Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers

Gladwell writes:

You can't buy your way into Major Junior A hockey. It doesn't matter who your father or mother is, or who your grandfather was, or what business your family is in. Nor does it matter if you live in the most remote corner of the most northerly province in Canada. If you have the ability, the vast network of hockey scouts and talent spotters will find you, and if you are willing to develop that ability, the system will reward  you.

Gladwell then goes on to point out that there's a lot of luck and being in the right place at the right time is so important towards becoming successful... But he also delves deeply into working at success and dedicating time and effort practicing and honing one's skills.

I'd like to point out that if a kid gets into Major Junior A hockey in Canada, then that kid gets "status." With Major Junior A hockey comes credibility. And this credibility is impossible to buy.

It's the same when you are trying to build a buzz for your product or service... Credibility is crucial. Without credibility, you will never build a long-term lasting success. Quality is crucial to credibility.

Not only is this critical for other people's perceptions, but it is also, I think, the deciding factor for yourself and your team. Think about this: If you or any of your team member's are not 100% sold on your idea, product or service; If you do not have complete and total faith in what you are doing, then you will have doubt in the back of your mind somewhere...

This doubt, no matter how small, will do great damage to your efforts so the elimination of this doubt is so important... This is where, even more than what others think, what you think, in your heart and in your sub-conscious, is critical. You must believe in what you are doing to be successful. It is even written in the bible, "Belief can move mountains."

I've told this to many people that I work with; creating a buzz and almost everything else we do is a form of sales. In sales, I must believe in my product absolutely to be totally effective. Why? Because sales is not a transference of data. If it were just passing along facts, then car salesmen could sell the best cars with a copy of a pdf. But it doesn't work that way. Sales is a transference of emotions. I, the salesman, must transfer my excitement and belief about my product to you, the customer. You must get excited about what I have to sell.

I have to believe. You have to believe. This is the key to sales (and creating a buzz)!  

I am now working with partners on promoting tourism to a former Eastern Block country in Europe. In some circles, this promotion has been extremely difficult. Why? Because twenty years ago, this country was involved in a civil war and many Japanese people still have the image of war when they think of this nation.

We have to change that image among the Japanese. Maybe you have guessed the name of this country already.... A war 20 years ago in Europe? Yes. It had to be one of the countries in former Yugoslavia. I'm talking specifically about Croatia.

Actually, Croatia is nothing like the image that many Japanese people have; a cold and dreary former Soviet Bloc territory. Croatia has a rich history; formerly part of the Hapsburg Empire; formerly Rome. Croatia's tourism promotional copy is "The Mediterranean the way it used to be." Croatia has 7 world heritage sites, glorious architecture, fantastic gourmet (including seafood) and more! See some sites here.

But some Japanese still have the image of war.

Recently, two things have greatly helped us to gain trust and credibility among the Japanese. One has been the push from Japanese travel agents for Japanese tourists to visit Croatia. It really helps to show people the tourism and travel brochures made by reputable Japanese companies like Japan Airlines (JAL), All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Travel Bureau (JTB) recommending Croatia. I mean, if Croatia weren't safe, they certainly wouldn't recommend it.

Regent Esplanade Zagreb

But the most recent thing that I think will be the watershed moment for Croatia tourism will be this December. From this December, Tokyo FM (TFM) will run a station-wide promotion on air and on the Internet (this will include, of course, SNS, blogs, Twitter, Pick, Mixi and Facebook!) The promotion will be for three lucky couples to win a vacation to Croatia including airfare and hotel....

The hotel stay is at one of the most prestigious hotels in all of Europe! It's the Regent Esplanade Zagreb. See photos here that will drop your jaw.

See more photos of the Regent Esplanade Zagreb here

There's not a person in Japan over the age of 18 who hasn't heard of Tokyo FM. Tokyo FM is the flagship station of a 34 station Japan-wide FM network. Tokyo FM is prestige.

Will Croatia become the huge buzz and "place to be" amongst the Japanese within the next two years? That remains to be seen, but Tokyo FM accepting Croatia as a partner for a big Christmas campaign gives Croatia the respect and credibility Croatia needs. With this credibility in hand, it is the final critical factor needed to build the buzz among the Japanese who like to travel.

Now, with this credibility, they can get to work on building a buzz.
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Keywords:
Croatia, SNS, ANA, Europe, Twitter, Social Media, Outliers, Japan, Christmas campaign, All Nippon Airways, credibility, Mike Rogers, Tokyo FM, U-Stream, Tokyo, Pick, Regent Esplanade Zagreb, blogs, Internet, Japan, Mike in Tokyo Rogers, Malcolm Gladwell, The Mediterranean the way it used to be, JAL, Japan Airlines, Japan Travel Bureau, JTB

Marketing Japan: Is the Long Tail all Junk?

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers

After reading my "Primer on the Long Tail" where I explained what the Long Tail really is, one kind reader wrote to me claiming that most of the stuff (products, services and merchandise) on the Long Tail is "crap" and claimed that the proof in this lay in the fact that the average product in the Long Tail doesn't sell well. This, he claimed, is logical because he reasoned that it doesn't sell well because the average person doesn't want to buy it. So, in his reasoning, if the average person doesn't like it, then it hasn't mass appeal; If it hasn't mass appeal then it doesn't sell well so it must not be "good."

He claimed that sales are the ultimate determining factor in deciding whether or not something is "Good" or "Bad."

Is this pile of junk the Top 40 Charts or the Long Tail? You decide!

Well, I won't go into the subjectiveness of "Good" or "Bad" as what I think is good you might not like or vice-versa (or what is an "average person" - I like to think that I am not average and I hope most people realize that they are special too!) But the idea that one person's "Good" translates into "Everyone's Good" is, I believe, a little bit too simplistic so, I think you will have to find someone more intelligent than I to debate that point with you. But! I will show you how, without a doubt, for many smart companies who are doing intelligent business in Japan, the Long Tail provides them with better sales, profits and opportunities than the "hit" products. And I will prove to you, once again without a doubt that, when it comes to quality, what the the "average person" buys can often be a poor indicator of quality.

Popular and best selling? Yes. Quality? No comment (not from me at least).

The evidence of the booming business that the Long Tail offers on the Internet is all around, but even with that, some people refuse to see it, so I'll make some simple examples today.

Like I said, sure there is a lot of junk on the Long Tail, but there's a lot of junk at the top of the best seller list too. Would anyone argue that there's not a lot of crap on the, say, hit charts of popular music too?

Whether something sells well or not, is not completely a measure of it being "Good" or "Bad"; it is also a a factor in whether or not something was promoted or marketed well. It has to do with distribution problems and whether or not there was enough shelf space for it in a brick and mortar store.

I disagree that sales, in and of themselves, is a measure of "Good" or "Bad" and, once again, would like to point out what Chris Anderson wrote in The Long Tail to support my arguments. On page 118 it says,

"...for many people, the best stuff is in the Tail. If you're interested in Audiophile stereo equipment, the finest equipment is not going to be among the best sellers at Best Buy."

Think about that, that's exactly right. The best stereo equipment in the world would never be a top ten seller at a discount electronics shop or at K-Mart. Those places sell cheap boom-boxes imported from Asia. The best equipment would have to come from a specialist shop. I doubt that the average person is spending over ten or twenty thousand dollars for the world's best component stereo equipment. I won't argue that the average person is scooping up the compact, battery powered, CD, cassette, radio made in China that K-Mart has marked down to $8.99 for after Christmas clearance.

No arguments there. K-Mart also sells a guitar for $24.99 too... But I think you'd have a very hard time finding a professional quality Gibson or Fender for that low, low price - holiday clearance or not (OK, well, perhaps during the coming of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalyse!)

OK. I think anyone would agree with me on the examples above. Yes?

Now, I'd like to point out that, when done correctly, a company in the year 2010 and beyond can sell and profit more through exploitation of the Long Tail and products residing in the Long Tail market more than they can by just selling hit products.

Because the Long Tail offers a virtually unending source of goods, then niche marketing can find the perfect product to fit exactly what the customer wants... Not so with a brick and mortar store! Think about this: How many times have you gone to the store to buy something but couldn't find exactly what you wanted, so you settled on the next best thing? I know I have many times.

This should never happen with Long Tail retailers.... You search for what you want; find other customer reviews and recommendations, and order the best product to fit your needs. Not a product that is the least of two evils.

Read The Rhino Records Story here

A good case in point how this niche marketing can be hugely profitable is Rhino Records. When I was a student in California in the late 1970's, I used to go to Rhino Records store in West Los Angeles. It seems to me that they had two shops at that time. I thought Rhino Records was dirty and dingy but I also thought it was cool as they sold 60's music as well as the local underground Punk bands too.

Rhino built a strong and loyal niche in that market for the Punk Music, underground, and 1960's psychedelia.... The story would have ended there, but they later made a deal with Capitol Records where they would remaster old Capitol back catalogue and re release it under the Rhino name. From that one deal, Rhino Records became a force to be reckoned with in the music industry.

Rhino Records didn't release big selling artists nor Top 40, yet they became one of the most respected and profitable record labels in the United States. They got that way by being cool and having street credibility. Credibility is hard to get, it is even harder to buy. Rhino got it by sticking to their guns and only marketing to a niche audience... A niche audience who, by the way, were sick of the big stars and the top sellers.

And all from releasing old material and back catalogue.

There is a huge opportunity for all of us in the Long Tail. The Long Tail, like Punk Rock in the 1970's, is taking the market out of the hands of the big corporations and bringing it back to the people.

And that is a key factor here: The Internet is bringing back business into the hands of the people; whether it be a small businessman promoting his company through blogs and blogging, video blogs (vlogs), Social Media and networking sites like Facebook, Linkedin or Mixi; to the housewife who has started a business out of her home utilizing Pick, Twitter, YouTube or U-Stream to freely promote herself and her business, the Internet has opened up an entirely new world to all of us.  

The Long Tail has lots of junk to be sure; but one man's trash is another man's treasure and, on top of that - say in the case of a record store  - the Long Tail has millions and millions of titles whereas the local record store has how many? A few thousand?

So, where do you want to shop? The Long Tail businesses that have these millions of items  - and the list keeps growing longer day by day - that are easy to find at the tips of your fingers from the comfort of your own home, or do you want to have to get up and travel to the brick and mortar shop that only sells a limited number of items in the hopes that they might have what is merely acceptable to you?

Your choice.

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Keywords: Pick, Networking sites, Capitol Records, YouTube, Linkedin, Blogs, Facebook, Popular music, Networking, Long Tail, hit charts, Rhino Records, vlogs, business, big corporations, Mike Rogers, Chris Anderson, the Long Tail, small businessman, Mixi, China, smart companies, Twitter, U-Stream, video blogs, Top 40, Mike in Tokyo Rogers, Marketing Japan, smart business, Social Media, Internet, blogging, best seller, Punk Rock,