Unlocking the secret to reaching early adopters can be a game-changer for your product or service. Let's delve into strategies that can help you connect with these crucial influencers, and understand their role in shaping market trends.
An idea, product, or behavior becomes rooted in society through different segments of our population
The product takes off slowly after “innovators” pick it up, but when “early adopters” take a shine to it, only then does the product have a chance of changing a society’s status quo.
- Early adopters buy products based on calculated risks and decisions
- They see opportunities before they are there, and they’re willing to experiment
- Because of this, they’re notoriously hard to target and sell to unless you’re using contextual targeting strategies
Partner with a premium network
By partnering with a network which only chooses good publishers, early adopters will only be shown ads on websites they already like
- This will give you an unfair advantage because you’ll be able to advertise on websites that your target audience knows and trusts
- Use a premium advertising partner like BuySellAds to do this
What makes selling to early adopters unique?
They don’t respond to certain types of marketing
- Early adopters want to be the person that introduces the product to their friends, family, and coworkers
- Their opinions matter to their social circles because they have knowledge around if a product is going to solve a person’s problem
- If your product isn’t up to scratch, they’ll tell the people around them that they’ve had a bad experience and this can damage your product when you’re preparing to launch to the mass market
Get early adopters using your product
Even if your offering isn’t perfect, early adopter are willing to work with your minimum viable product if it solves their problem.
- Get them seeing value in your product as early as possible, and even offer up a tasty reward as thanks for spreading the word.
Contextual Targeting Strategies for Early Adopters
Early adopters have 3 traits in common
- They know they have a problem that needs solving
- Know exactly what that problem is
- Are actively looking for a solution
- Use these niche strategies to target them before you start targeting the masses
Always ask for feedback
Use early adopters to your advantage and seek their feedback to help you fine-tune your product
- By using surveys and questionnaires, you can gather feedback about what’s great about your product and what needs improvement
- Let them know you’re using their input to make the product the best it can be
Wrapping Up
Early adopters aren’t mythical beings or impossible to win over-you just have to know how to market your product to them on their own turf.
- Strategically pick out niche marketing opportunities, build smarter campaigns, and target early adopters in their own backyard.
Strategy 1: Target them in their own neighborhood
Early adopters hang out in low-traffic areas like web forums, YouTube, and even their own Slack channels.
- Use these channels to ask for feedback and advice about your product in its early stages, and pique the interest of early adopters.
Use push-based acquisition
Target early adopters before they’ve started actively seeking a solution
- Outline characteristics of your ideal early adopter and build targeted ads around it
- Facebook will target based on their behaviors and characteristics
- This maximizes ad spend with minimal effort
