Image via Wikipedia

One of the more difficult mental models to challenge is thinking of marketing as anything but a direct effort.

You have something you want to sell (and we all do), so you go out and find those people whom you think are most likely to buy whatever it is you are offering.

This is the language of “targeting” and “segmenting.”

And it worked in a world with only a few channels. (This was Sarnoff’s law.)

But, in the past, oh, I don’t know…15 years or maybe fewer, the communications models have undergone seismic shifts. (It may be longer, but I’m thinking specifically as it relates to the mass adoption of the internet.)

First, we came upon the era of “destination” sites, portals, hubs, and ultimately Google as the universal start page and cost-effective communication (email). The benefits of each person adding to the network were described in Metcalfe’s Law.

Still a mostly direct model for marketers, but the fact that people could to connect to each other began to change the way that markets worked. In the words of Cluetrain Manifesto, “markets are conversations.”

Now, however, we’re on the cusp of another change in the way that people find information. And it’s a much, much bigger shift.

There’s a new law in town: Reed’s law.

From Wikipedia: Reed's law is the assertion of David P. Reed that the utility of large networks, particularly social networks, can scale exponentially with the size of the network.

It’s already happening. In fact, Clay Shirky describes many of these changes very well in his book “Here Comes Everybody” (a must read, imho).

How this plays out, I’m not exactly sure. I don’t think anyone really knows, but I do know that it will necessarily alter the way that we gather information.

For example, in a Google-centric world view, if you need a new mortgage broker, you search for “mortgage broker” and look at the top 3 results to begin your search.

In a exponentially scaled social network world, you put out a note on Facebook, get 6 recommendations (basically links back and begin your search there.

No Search Engine Optimization necessary.

Reputation Optimization or, dare I say, Raving Fan Optimization is the name of the game.

Lesson: Now is the time to invest in in the long-term reputation and raving fan building exercises that will position you at the forefront when the market shifts to a world that aligns to Reed’s law.

HT to Maddie Grant for the tweet that sent the article about Susan Boyle that prompted this post.