BornEntrepreneur

You still haven’t read this yet? Well, the basic premise of this novel is that word of mouth is one of the key sources for success in today’s marketplace. Gladwell explains how to systematically engineer a word of mouth epidemic—control that no one thought was possible. It’s genuinely fascinating. I’ve boiled it down to its key points and enlightening realizations. Enjoy.

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The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

by Malcolm Gladwell

1. Definition – The tipping point is the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point.
2. Epidemics tip because of extraordinary efforts of a select carrier
3. stickiness – means message makes an impact
4. 3 rules of the Tipping Point: (Law of the Few, Stickiness Factor, Power of Context)
5. connectors are one of the few –people who have a special ability for bringing the world together : they have mastered the “weak tie” which is when you have lot’s of friends by casual social connections
6. when it comes to finding out about new ideas “weak ties” are always more important than strong ties. Because our friends occupy the same world that you do.
7. Word of mouth – it’s not me telling you about a new restaurant with great food, and you telling a friend, that friend telling a friend, etc. Instead, word of mouth begins when one of those friends tells a connector and the bam! Word of mouth requires connectors.
8. Mavens – a person who has lot’s of information on different products, prices, or places – like to be helpers in market place, distribute coupons. They take you shopping, has the inside schoop on the marketplace.
9. Mavens are not persuaders. Their motivation is to educate and to help.
10. Salesman – what makes someone persuasive?
    - small things can make as significant a difference as big things
    - non verbal cues are as important/more important than verbal cues
    - *persuasion works in ways we do not appreciate or realize *
11. Emotional contagion – emotion goes outside in. Ex. If I can make you smile, I can make you happy. Make you frown, make you sad.
12. One critical factor in epidemics is the nature of the messenger. The messenger must have credibility and reputation (like Paul Revere)
13. It’s possible to systematically engineer stickiness into a message
14. The line between hostility and acceptance, between and epidemic that tips and one that does not, is sometimes a lot more narrow than it seems. Ex. Adding Big Bird to Sesame Street, or adding a map to a pamphlet
15. Ideas have to be memorable and move us to action.
16. Crime is contagious like fashion—broken window can turn into an epidemic
17. Minor things can be tipping points for huge spread
18. power of context – says what really matters is the little things
19. good substance -> makes it sticky ->salesman ->context
20. people want inclusion—want to be part of a group
21. If you want to bring change in beliefs and behavior you must create a community around them, where beliefs can be practiced and expressed and nurtured.
22. Rule of 150 : once membership in a community surpasses 150 it is no longer as effective.
23. Better off to build lot’s of little communities, rather than one big one (or two big ones). Because crossing the 150 line is a small change that can make a huge difference
24. When making a community, structure it like a family—builds intimacy and trust. This will help to naturally create delegation more effectively.
25. To create one big contagion, must create many many small movements.
26. Early Adopters & Innovators – are visionaries.
27. Following the ride of success requires you to help show benefits of product to early majority because they may not be attracted to the same aspects as an early adopter.
28. The early majority takes the product the early adopter liked and tweaks it to fit their own wants—to change it and make it okay for them. It is key that you help them see it can be changed to fit their needs—to get past the style of the innovators.
29. How mavens and connectors and salesman make an idea contagious- they alter the idea so that extra details are stripped and others are exaggerated so that the message comes to acquire a deeper meaning.
30. Trendsetter kids – they pick up on bigger things. Mainstream kids are thinking about being overweight, their grandparents dying, etc. Trendsetter kids are typically activists, people with more passion.
31. What Airwalk did was find the trends in their infancy and then associate their products with these trends and then assimilated the trends into mainstream—in a pair of shoes.
32. The way Airwalk kept from losing the coolness factor of the innovators was by segmenting distribution so limited edition went to certain places. Made consumers feel special. Make sure to promise stores the exclusive and then keep that promise.
33. People need permission from others to jump onboard. So, they need to see other people liking it. The people who give permission are the salemen.
34. The tipping person can be the Maven, the Salesman, or the Connector.
35. Get the cool people to give permission to everyone else—(ex. Smoking was never cool. Smokers just happened to be cool kids. So, everyone wanted to mimic the cool kids.)
36. Contagion is a function of the messenger. Stickiness is primarily a property of the message.
37. Be Smart. Change context of the message. Change messenger. Change the message.
38. The cure for immunity to marketing your message is finding mavens, connectors, and salesmen to do it for you.
39. Find mavens by creating “maven traps.”