Chris Anderson - Author of The Long Tail and FREE

For anyone who has heard or talked about “the long tail,” i.e. targeting a massive amount really specific terms or concepts that are not widely used but lead to a higher rate of sales than a few general terms/concepts, (for example, “cell phone battery” vs. “Samsung P300 lithium rechargeable cell phone battery,”) the author of the book The Long Tail , is working on another interesting read. Chris Anderson (also the editor for Wired Magazine ) is writing a new book called, FREE. (Read the article here.) The idea is that more and more marketers are finding ways to entice consumers with free items that allows them to educate, cross pollinate, and develop a loyal group of followers. This initial interest from the consumer is then translated by marketers into some other profitable venture by:

Re-marketing after initial customer data capture
Advertising from free content (We've had some positivie experience with this recently with our client Fujitsu)
Promoting books by giving away the first chapter (a tactic seen by publishers on Amazon)
Selling a real life experience after enticing customers with a free virtual version (“pay to play” online gambling sites that first encourage visitors with a “play poker free” message)

To provide a good glimpse of the book’s premise, an article has recently been written in Wired by Mr. Anderson .

About the Author: Chris Sietsema

As Director of Interactive Marketing, Chris oversees day-to-day digital marketing responsibilities including search engine optimization, paid search advertising, social media, email marketing and media buying.

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