Kramer's lucky break

How many people do you really need to buy into your product, business, mission, or idea to make it worth your while?

Are you busy chasing tens of thousands of Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn followers on the hopes of making it 'big'? Or worse, millions?

Whether you're the owner of a local bakery, the marketing director at a big company, the volunteer president of your local social organization, a self-published author, or the bass player in a prog rock band, you probably spend a lot of time thinking about how to make more people aware of and support your project, either financially or with their time & energy.

Here's a story for you.

Nothing much

I turned 31 this year, which isn’t a number that typically inspires celebration.

But I have the most wonderful friends who, conspiring with my wife, surprised me with tickets to Kramer's Reality Tour.

There’s a very good possibility you have no idea what I’m talking about. And if by some chance it jogs your memory, you probably vaguely recall it having something to do with the legendary 90s sitcom Seinfeld.

And you’re right.

Kramer was the wild-haired, wide-eyed character who lived across the hall from Jerry Seinfeld’s TV version of himself. Larry David, the show’s writer and creator, based the character on his one-time real life neighbor, Kenny Kramer.

Kenny Kramer asked Larry David if he could play the Kramer character, since he was both an actor and a comedian, and it was based on him. Larry David refused, casting Michael Richards in the role instead.

After Seinfeld exploded, the real Kenny Kramer saw an opportunity to capitalize on his tangential relationship to the show, and Kramer’s Reality Tour was born.

Whose reality is it anyway?

Kramer's Reality Tour began as a bus tour around New York City of sites made famous by Seinfeld, hosted by the real Kenny Kramer, and over time evolved to a half-day affair.

These days the tour begins with a 1-hour sit-down in a tiny theater, featuring Kenny Kramer telling stories and dishing about the early days with Larry David.

The bus tour is true to the original, driving past locations made famous by the show while Kenny narrates from the front telling the true behind-the-scenes stories that inspired the episodes we know and love.

We stopped for photos at Tom’s Restaurant, used for exterior shots of the diner frequented by the characters of Seinfeld.

It even included a quick stop for lunch at the original Soup Kitchen location that inspired the Soup Nazi episode and character. The soup was fine, but the experience was excellent.

Who’s it for?

For 23 years the real Kenny Kramer, now 76 years old, has made a very comfortable living doing nothing but Kramer's Reality Tour. He currently operates only a few months of the year, from late spring to early fall.

The tour includes a lengthy pitch for merchandise, everything from t-shirts to coffee mugs and bumper stickers. He does the pitch himself, promoting products shamelessly while telling jokes, stories, and keeping it fun.

Everybody bought tons of stuff on top of the $50/ticket price tag.

As a diehard, dedicated Seinfeld fanatic, I can tell you this tour is only for people like me. It’s not for casual observers or folks who are merely fans of the show, or simply enjoy the reruns.

No, it’s for the lunatics who already know every piece of Seinfeld trivia, own all the books, authorized and especially unauthorized, scour the Internet for extra tidbits, have watched all the behind-the-scenes footage on the DVDs, and quote the show multiple times per conversation.

There’s not that many of us out there.

Smallest Viable Audience

But as it turns out, Kenny Kramer figured out a long time ago that he doesn’t need millions of fans. He’s not trying to reach the largest possible audience. He just needs enough to make a living.

Marketing legend Seth Godin calls this the "smallest viable audience" in his latest book This Is Marketing:

"The challenge for most people who seek to make an impact isn't winning over the mass market. It's the micro market. They bend themselves into a pretzel trying to please the anonymous masses before they have fifty or one hundred people who would miss them if they were gone.

While it might be comforting to dream of becoming a Kardashian, it's way more productive to matter to a few instead." (p. 93)

Kenny Kramer’s website is stuck in the 90s. His cell phone number is on the site. He answers his own calls and emails, and conducts the entire tour with very little assistance. He’s generous with his time and shows up fully present to tell the same stories over and over again.

That’s why no one gets upset when he hawks merch and aggressively insists we rate the tour on Trip Advisor, or asks us to tell our friends.

“I don’t spend a single penny on marketing,” he explained towards the end of the tour. “We survive on pure word of mouth from good folks like you.”

He’s found the least amount of people necessary to do what he loves. He’s (probably) not a millionaire. But he’s making a good, consistent, and sustainable living.

And he’s making lunatics like me very happy.

Shout out to Ben, Kasey, and Lindsey for giving me a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And thank you to Kenny Kramer for making the most of a lucky opportunity.