The Law of Diffusion of Innovation
It’s the reason we seek to be as purely authentic and transparent as we can
I first learned about the Law of Diffusion of Innovation some years ago when I read Simon Sinek’s book Start with Why. The concept immediately resonated with me and after some time we began incorporating it in our brand process, the work we do of helping individuals and organizations cultivate deeply authentic brands. Initially, I saw it as merely another necessary step in the process of better understanding an audience. But the Law of Diffusion of Innovation is much more than that.
The Law of Diffusion of Innovation, also known as the Roger’s Adoption Curve or the Multi-Step Flow Theory, is a way of illustrating how new innovations progress through a population. It shows that while some people will adapt more readily to new innovations, others will be slow to adopt. It defines five categories within each market: the Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, and Laggards. When crafting a marketing strategy this is a highly important understanding.
Sinek provided the example of TiVo as a company that could have completely owned a market if they had been less hubristic by seeking to cultivate loyalty from their core audience (the innovators and early adopters) while taking a slower approach to reaching a larger mainstream audience (the early majority and late majority). He posits that every innovation takes time to reach the mainstream regardless of how beneficial or revolutionary a new product or service may be.
When it comes to fashion I’m a laggard because I have little interest in it. When it comes to computer technology I’m in the early majority because I wait to make sure a new technology is fully flushed out before I get on board with it. And when it comes to tools or backpacking gear I’m all about it, most likely an early adopter or an innovator.
This means that fashion advertising directed to people like me is a waste of resources. Even for new technology, as I’m more likely to wait to talk with people who have purchased and used a new gadget or software for a period time and still have good things to say about it than to respond to advertising. I’ll even read an article about Apple’s latest operating system and then wait a year before upgrading.
But there is a deeper meaning to the Law of Diffusion of Innovation than merely the adaptability of an audience. If we focus a marketing strategy primarily on the innovators and early adopters we are committing to growing a company slowly. And slow growth is how we challenge the capitalistic paradigm of growth at any cost.
The capitalist philosophy is all about more — more revenue, more ROI, larger market capitalization, more employees, market share, and on and on. It’s more for the sake of more, merely because we’ve accepted the notion that more means better.
The Law of Diffusion of Innovation says less is better because it illuminates the wisdom of building loyalty with an audience who truly cares about what we have to offer. It tells us that we will only hit mainstream if and when our loyal audience of innovators and early adopters tell enough people how great our product or service truly is.
If a company has enough financial resources to game the system by pushing a massive ad campaign to the majority they may be able to bypass the early adopters and innovators, but their method is invasive because advertising invades our attention, which is far more valuable than we give ourselves credit for.
Advertising is a push method that appropriates our time and attention. Building loyalty with an audience who genuinely cares about what we have to offer is more of a pull method, or what I like to call the Pied Piper method of marketing — we play our flute and those who like its sound will take an interest.
The Law of Diffusion of Innovation also teaches us that the only way to build loyalty with the innovators and early adopters is through authenticity. The innovators in particular can’t be fooled. They’re true enthusiasts. They will pick our products apart and publish informative blogs or YouTube videos about them. They’ll tell their friends and family. They’ll share the pros and cons with anyone who asks. And if our offering provides real value, over time it will catch on because our small army of brand ambassadors will make it happen for us.
Seth Godin’s definition of marketing is “change” — that true marketers are people who bring change. Which I translate to mean that marketers are people who seek to bring meaningful products and services and slowly cultivate loyalty with a core audience of innovators and early adopters. The key distinction in Godin’s definition is that it’s not about “more.” One of the words he uses is “remarkable” — that we seek to make something that is truly remarkable.
But the culture of more is not about better or remarkable, it’s just more for the sake of more. Committing to the innovators and early adopters is about seeking to make something they will truly love and feel compelled to tell their friends about. It’s not about creating new trends or fads, but about change that improves things (if even just a little).
The Law of Diffusion of Innovation is a complicated name for a simple concept. It’s a bell curve that illustrates the importance of authenticity in all we do. And it’s also about letting go of the narrative that says more is better and embracing a new narrative that slow is good.
With every truly innovative client we’ve worked with we’ve advised an approach that cultivates a relationship with (or at least speaks the language of) the innovators and early adopters. The more innovative, unique, and revolutionary the product or service, the more we focus our attention farther to the left on the curve.
The Law of Diffusion of Innovation is more than a mere analytical tool, it’s the reason we seek to be as purely authentic and transparent as we can. And when we seek authenticity it’s not about more, but rather how good, how useful, how important, and how transformative our product or service is.
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