Small Business Marketing Consultants Detroit MI

“Early adopters” are the crème de la crème of customers, the “know-no-fears” types, as we call them here at StartupNation. These people crave goods and services that push the envelope, whether it’s some new tech device, the latest shoe style or a trip to a vacation destination that’s still unknown to the outside world at large. And they want to be the first to get them.

If you manage to land these influential customers and please them, you can kick your startup’s marketing and sales efforts into overdrive. That’s because early adopters tend to be very opinionated and outspoken, willing to spread positive word-of-mouth far and wide if they’re pleased and impressed – or, just as easily, to damn what they don’t like to anyone who will listen.

Here are some ways to engage and enthrall early adopters.

Go after the right kind of early adopters

Know-no-fear early adopters come in grades, at least as far as your business is concerned. You don’t just want people who eagerly glom on to the latest fashion statement or cell-phone feature – you’re after customers who seek out innovation and then effectively influence other people to want the same things they do.

Linkedin, for example, is a networking website for professionals and creative people that’s fueled by the interest and attention of early adopters – but not just any early adopters. The Palo Alto, Calif., company tries to be sure it entices particular kinds of know-no-fear customers whose presence will attract others.

Copyright 2009 StartupNation, LLC

Click here to read more from StartupNation