Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers

by Geoffrey A. Moore

If two people buy the same product for the same reason but have no way they could reference each other, they are not part of the same market.

Marketing professionals insist on market segmentation because they know that no meaningful marketing program can be implemented across a set of customers who do not reference each other. The reason for this is simply leverage. No company can afford to pay for every marketing contact made. Every program must rely on some ongoing chain-reaction effects—what is usually called word of mouth. The more self-referencing the market and the more tightly bounded its communications channels, the greater the opportunity for such effects.

The goal should be to package each of the phases such that each phase: 1. is accomplishable by mere mortals working in earth time 2. provides the vendor with a marketable product 3. provides the customer with a concrete return on investment that can be celebrated as a major step forward.