The Long Tail Debate

For those of you who don’t know what the “long tail” is, I will use Chris Anderson’s recent example: ”Head” is the selection available in the largest bricks-and-mortar retailer in the market (that would be Wal-Mart in this case). “Tail” is everything else, most of which is only available online, where there is unlimited shelf space.

It is simply all the stuff that isn’t widely or easily available (or in the case of search engine marketing - the keywords that get fewer searches because they are so specific). Last week I shared a great article from Harvard Business Review with my friends on Facebook: Should You Invest in the Long Tail?  (http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbsp/hbr/articles/article.jsp?ml_action=get-article&articleID=R0807H&ml_issueid=BR0807&ml_subscriber=true&pageNumber=1&_requestid=171283)

 That article provided actual data to finally question the long tail theory that has so taken the Wired devotees. Without weighing in on whether the long tail actually exists or not, Erik Sherman has managed to write an insightful piece on BNET that is a must-read: Wagging The Long Tail: What Distribution Strategy Will Make Sense? (http://industry.bnet.com/technology/2008/06/30/wagging-the-long-tail-what-distribution-strategy-will-make-sense/)

 The example he presents based on the real world leads to the correct conclusion that “Out on the tail, you could double or quadruple your sales and still make diddly squat.” Read the post to understand why I agree with him.