It is really sad when a great idea fizzles out due to, for lack of better word, arrogance. I could have used the mismanagement, to use a nice jargon and give a McKinsey-Boston Consulting feel, but ultimately it all ends up in arrogance.
But why arrogance?
Arrogance because most of the failure of ideas are because what we want and what we want to impose on others. We are the gate keepers for others and we are the ones who decide what is good for others. We are the subject matter experts and we are the trend-setters of the industry. That is Arrogance, with capital A.
What people are interested in is NOT what you have to offer, NOT what you make, NOT what you find interesting, NOT what the great idea you have, NOT because you have an interesting shop/establishment/domain name.
They are only interested in THEMSELVES and things THEY care about. They are interested in how they can enjoy or benefit them or do things that will give them joy or that will enable them to do/learn things that will give them joy in future. It is not easy to write a prose on what will attract customers but it is not difficult either.
Customers are interested in what they are interested in. Period.
Being an observer of marketing and how things usually play out, one recent event Blogathon was to me was a great idea lost. Let me take this opportunity to analyze this.
Blogathon was an event to celebrate the bringing together of all the bloggers, for social issues. A Good idea. A good medium. Too restrictive. Misled cause. Commercials dictating good sense. Sensational journalism. Transient values. No points for common man to connect to. In short - there was no reason for anybody to participate.
Blogathon dictated terms and topics that bloggers have to write about. That was first insane move. Any body who is good at something, passionate about something, does not mean she/he is not good at everything. Just because you are interested in does not mean customers have to be interested in that.
Opinions make no difference at all. What makes a difference in the world is action. Blogathon, explicitly or implicitly, sought opinions. The management team can never dare say they were seeking a good advice or even ask customers to give opinions on Expert advice. It was an opinion eat-the-tail stuff that will round and round for eternity with nothing to show off. There is no end, a result. And any activity, especially one taking the stance of social cause, has to see something at the end. Else, world will be just the same as it was before.
As the saying goes, no matter what you invent, unless it is used, it is useless. Unless customers see how their efforts can helps shape things up, they have no incentive to go out of way to do it.
The real mockery of this event was its ivory tower / page 3 attitude. (Page 3 guys are still not blogging! And if they blog the number of hits on their site will show them how popular they are, which I guess is the reality they don’t want to confront.)
Social issues? Or Psuedo-social issues! It was pathetic that team chose some subjects that were meant to sizzle and attract crowds and for that end they used the sensationalistic yellow-journalistic methods. Paris Hiltonesque people are rare in blogosphere. If the attempt was to kick up a debating storm and increase foot-falls, they grossly failed. Again, nothing wrong in failing, but it could have been avoided with simple measures.
Traffic problems etc are social issues. But so are health issues, poverty, education, illiteracy, water scarcity, urbanization, diseases, pandemics, jobs etc. Last thing a person can make a difference is by analyzing media and rantings on cricket-hypes. That’s Page-3 stuff not NGO-stuff.
Idea was to build a community. And Community is not built by a monarch imposing strictures, not in internet era. Community is built by way Digg is built, the way Youtube is built, the way internet and blogging is built - by offering freedom and complete control of medium of communication while taking care of back-end for them. Blogathon was a great effort in trying to build a platform but fell flat on when the control and freedom mattered.
I believe the number of people participating in this platform would have been huge if they had been cared for. Many peoples' posts were removed by team. Which is unfortunate as it just meant their voices were not cared for. Agreed, they were on different topics. Sometimes totally off-topic, but guys, it is the topics at blogathon that are outlandish
Hope next such attempt is better managed.
But why arrogance?
Arrogance because most of the failure of ideas are because what we want and what we want to impose on others. We are the gate keepers for others and we are the ones who decide what is good for others. We are the subject matter experts and we are the trend-setters of the industry. That is Arrogance, with capital A.
What people are interested in is NOT what you have to offer, NOT what you make, NOT what you find interesting, NOT what the great idea you have, NOT because you have an interesting shop/establishment/domain name.
They are only interested in THEMSELVES and things THEY care about. They are interested in how they can enjoy or benefit them or do things that will give them joy or that will enable them to do/learn things that will give them joy in future. It is not easy to write a prose on what will attract customers but it is not difficult either.
Customers are interested in what they are interested in. Period.
Being an observer of marketing and how things usually play out, one recent event Blogathon was to me was a great idea lost. Let me take this opportunity to analyze this.
Blogathon was an event to celebrate the bringing together of all the bloggers, for social issues. A Good idea. A good medium. Too restrictive. Misled cause. Commercials dictating good sense. Sensational journalism. Transient values. No points for common man to connect to. In short - there was no reason for anybody to participate.
Blogathon dictated terms and topics that bloggers have to write about. That was first insane move. Any body who is good at something, passionate about something, does not mean she/he is not good at everything. Just because you are interested in does not mean customers have to be interested in that.
Opinions make no difference at all. What makes a difference in the world is action. Blogathon, explicitly or implicitly, sought opinions. The management team can never dare say they were seeking a good advice or even ask customers to give opinions on Expert advice. It was an opinion eat-the-tail stuff that will round and round for eternity with nothing to show off. There is no end, a result. And any activity, especially one taking the stance of social cause, has to see something at the end. Else, world will be just the same as it was before.
As the saying goes, no matter what you invent, unless it is used, it is useless. Unless customers see how their efforts can helps shape things up, they have no incentive to go out of way to do it.
The real mockery of this event was its ivory tower / page 3 attitude. (Page 3 guys are still not blogging! And if they blog the number of hits on their site will show them how popular they are, which I guess is the reality they don’t want to confront.)
Social issues? Or Psuedo-social issues! It was pathetic that team chose some subjects that were meant to sizzle and attract crowds and for that end they used the sensationalistic yellow-journalistic methods. Paris Hiltonesque people are rare in blogosphere. If the attempt was to kick up a debating storm and increase foot-falls, they grossly failed. Again, nothing wrong in failing, but it could have been avoided with simple measures.
Traffic problems etc are social issues. But so are health issues, poverty, education, illiteracy, water scarcity, urbanization, diseases, pandemics, jobs etc. Last thing a person can make a difference is by analyzing media and rantings on cricket-hypes. That’s Page-3 stuff not NGO-stuff.
Idea was to build a community. And Community is not built by a monarch imposing strictures, not in internet era. Community is built by way Digg is built, the way Youtube is built, the way internet and blogging is built - by offering freedom and complete control of medium of communication while taking care of back-end for them. Blogathon was a great effort in trying to build a platform but fell flat on when the control and freedom mattered.
I believe the number of people participating in this platform would have been huge if they had been cared for. Many peoples' posts were removed by team. Which is unfortunate as it just meant their voices were not cared for. Agreed, they were on different topics. Sometimes totally off-topic, but guys, it is the topics at blogathon that are outlandish
Hope next such attempt is better managed.
Comments
Post a Comment