Posted on: 02 December, 2001
Author: Jud Banks
Have you ever noticed ... how ... "new" is usually viewed ... and ... until people become familiar with it? This is human(or animal) nature and cannot be ... ... m Have you ever noticed ... how something "new" is usually viewed withsuspicion and dis-trust until people become familiar with it? This is human(or animal) nature and cannot be discounted. Successful marketers know thisand devise strategies to shorten the time a new product takes to becomeaccepted.There are dozens of examples. "Fads" begin among teenagers, who, havingnothing to un-learn, quickly embrace new products, new ideas. Manyfad-products are first introduced in Japan and spread rapidly throughoutthe world.One needs only to look at the Internet, something that was very avant-gardeas little as four years ago, but today it is taken for granted. While itdidn't start among teenagers, nor in Japan, its world-wide growth has beenexplosive! What brought about this phenomenal acceptance - and how can one profit fromit? ++++++Once upon a time, there was a colony of 100 monkeys that lived next to astream, which coursed through the jungle. The trees bore abundant fruit andthe monkeys were well fed.But the monkeys, like some of their human cousins, were sloppy eaters. Theyfrequently dropped their food to the jungle floor where it got dirty andinsects pounced on it almost as soon as it hit the ground. A monkey whodropped his food and retrieved it had to eat it - dirt, insects and all, orpick it clean before he could resume his lunch. There came a day when one little monkey dropped his morsel. When it hit theground, it bounced into the stream. The monkey scampered down from the treeand grabbed it back out of the water. Voila! No dirt, no insects. It wastasty indeed! Soon, whenever he dropped his dinner to the jungle floor, hewas taking it to the stream and washing it off instead of picking off theinsects and dirt as did his brethren.Monkeys are not stupid people and the others learned very fast from theexample of the one who first discovered that food tastes better when it'sclean. Soon they were all taking their dropped food to the stream andwashing it off. In fact, they started washing it even BEFORE they dropped it!++++++Thus the "Legend of the 100th Monkey." It can be applied to marketingefforts. All that is needed is for ONE person to be the adventurer, andsoon there are throngs of followers. Already electronic books are appearing on the Internet, available bydownloading or to be read directly on-line, or on Compact Disks. CDversions of encyclopedia and research material have been around almost aslong as the CD-ROM drive. The National Geographic magazine has put itsentire collection - back to the year 1901 - on CD and markets it throughcomputer stores. Much informational content is now being distributed exclusively inelectronic form.Computers are as ubiquitous as television and radio sets. They're beinggiven away free with subscriptions to Internet services, much as cellularphones are given to customers who will sign up for a year's service. Books on tape have been available for many years, but they were not readilyaccepted when they were new. Part of the resistance was due to a reluctanceto change established habit. But at one time, even printed books were ararity. People were used to being TOLD stories, and few could read. Ofcourse that changed over time. Then those who read books avoided books on tape because they viewed it as astep backward. Many felt a loss of intimacy with the printed word that theycould read at their own pace and that allowed them to paint their own"mind-pictures" of the activity being described. Then came movies based on books, and the screen-writer's interpretation ofthe author's words don't always agree with those of the viewer who has"read the book."With E-Books one still can read. If he wants, he can have the printed wordto read from. But just as e-mail has supplanted written correspondence to a great degree,gaining knowledge by reading from the computer screen has become commonplace.Some have said that nothing can take the place of sitting in a chair andreading a book to a child.They're absolutely right. But the truth is thatthe computer already has become the learning center in millions of homes.Adding E-Books to one's educational toolbox can only enrich the lives andenjoyment of families everywhere. Article Tags: 100th Monkey Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com