Much has been written about the benefit of integrating long tail bloggers as part of your communications programs. As some have argued in the past (here - and here), some of the long tail blogs have smaller – but often times more loyal audiences. In addition, the long tail blogs are frequently great sources of information for the A-listers.
But it is my opinion that there is more to it than that. Long tail blogs offer a tremendous opportunity for people who are trying to reach small and medium business. In the past, the only way to reach these people was by buying local media ads and/or organizing seminars in secondary markets. By incorporating the right long tail blogs in your communications programs, you might save yourself a lot of time and effort in trying to reach those smaller audiences who do not get well served by national media.
And even if your goal is to sell your product to those people in the head of tail – you need to realize that the long tail folks use your product as well. It is to your benefit to listen to what they have to say. Take a lesson from focus group organizers – they will always try to populate some focus groups with long tail folks.
The other reason why you should pay attention to the long tail – no matter who you are trying to sell to – is because crisis will often originate there. And with the speed of crisis propagation the way it is today, you better be prepared. You cannot afford to wait for it to spread to the head of tail – by then it is too late. Learn from Kryptonite, Mazda, and most recently Dell.
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