A Tipping Point is a pattern observed in nature in which some property or object slowly grows or is propagated among a population until it reaches some critical point or vector, after which its growth rate experiences a sudden rapid increase within the population.

It must be noted that the Tipping Point isn’t something that exists, but is a phenomena observed in some system as a result of a simple change, or compound changes, in the system.

For the TP phenomena to occur four elements must be present: 1. Some signal, force or influence to be transmitted. This signal may be a virus, an idea, or any creature of nature. 2. Some population or system of connected nodes in which the signal is propogated. 3. Some means of reproducing or propagating signals among the members of the population. 4. A force or effect which inhibits the reproduction of the signal or removes it from members of the population.

Your message, the signal you want to be copied throughout the network, must resonate in some way with a member of the population for it to be repeated to other members. The better tuned it is, the more likely it is to propagated, and even amplified. Often the original message gets distorted, filtered, reshaped, or altered in some other way when passing from one member to another. The change may be what is needed for the essence of the message to find ready adoption throughout the population, both being easier to replicate and circumventing the signal inhibitors in the system.

Sometimes, it isn’t a change in the signal which has the impact, but external factors: temperature changes, prices of commodities, international events that alter the importance of certain signals over others.

When you develop your marketing message, keep these four elements in mind. Test that your message is tuned to your market, is easily propagated and isn’t negatively distorted by the current state of the system.