What You Want Isn’t Important
Thanks for visiting! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to by RSS, or by Email. And if there's anything else I can do for you, feel free to drop me a line.
I just got back from spending the weekend in Chicago, as part of the summer program. On the bus, there was this really annoying girl. She basically kept trying to insist on what she wanted - what movie to watch on the bus, getting people to stop making noise that she didn’t like,. People got annoyed, to the point of people specifically requesting for what she didn’t want.
What’s my point in saying this? I’m not just trying to rant or defame her. But the point is this. At the risk of sounding harsh, people don’t care about what you want.
No matter who you are, that’s a fact. Most people aren’t going to care about what you want, as an individual, personal brand. It’s worse if you’re a company. People will care what you want only if you’ve built a reputation with them, such that they trust you and like you enough to care. But even then, the extent is limited, and you can’t push it too far.
It’s a relatively obvious lesson, I guess. But one that we often forget. In whatever we’re doing, whatever message we’re trying to spread, it’s not about what we want.
If you want people to listen, you can’t just be talking about what you want. You’ve got to give them what they want.
[?]Background Music
I’m at the Summer Discovery Program in Michigan at the moment (which is why I haven’t really been blogging much lately, and my apologies for that). It’s been a really interesting experience for me so far, and I’m sure that upon deeper reflection, I’ll have much more to write about.
But anyway, back to this post. There’s a piano in the lounge here, at the dorm. And there a few people who play.
When the piano is being played, it’s very easy for the people around to just ignore it, and go on with their own activities and conversations. In fact, more often than not, that’s exactly what happens. People don’t notice the music from the piano.
When do people take notice? When it’s a song they know and like. It’s not how good the pianist is. No matter how good the song is, or how well the pianist is playing, people won’t take notice (not for long anyway), unless they can relate to it.
It’s a pretty obvious lesson. People will only bother about what they know and like - something that is personal to them and they can relate to. Everything else just fades into the background, as background music.
And the thing about background music is that, even if it’s good, most people just ignore it.
How do you prevent yourself and your message from fading into the background?
[?]Why I like Identi.ca
Jul 10, 2008 Technology, blogging
There’s a lot of Twitter ‘clones’ and competitors coming to the fore lately. A few weeks ago, it was Plurk (which as you might know, I’m not really a fan of). Now, the biggest buzz is Identi.ca. And this time, I am a huge fan of it. It’s been around for a week or so, but I just haven’t had the time to write about it until now.
Why do I like Identi.ca? It’s not about the featueres, though that’s rapidly improving. I like the ideas and principles behind it. It’s a push for openness. We all know that free markets are better than closed ones. That holds true for the online world as well.
And that’s why I’m really in support of Identi.ca. I think the push for openness is really important, and the possibilities of openness - imagine a world where Twitter, Plurk, Pownce and Jaiku can work with each other - is something I look forward to.
So, you can find me on Identi.ca. As always, my username is derrickkwa. Feel free to connect with me over there.
[?]Tags: identi.ca, microblogging, openness, twitter
What Happens After They’ve Come?
Jul 6, 2008 Marketing, blogging
Stowe Boyd has a really good post on what new social applications have to do.
So, my New Social App, open the door, invite me in, and tell me up front what you can do for me. But don’t forget to serve drinks and give me a friendly tour. If all you want is registered guests at your party, I’ll be there like every other edgling that gets an invite. But if you want more than zombies standing in the corner dribbling ice cream, make sure I know why your ice cream’s the best, show me the ropes, and make sure I’ve got a personal reason to stay and love you.
 |
It’s a very important point that we often miss. And again, it’s a lesson that stretches beyond just social applications.
It’s not just about getting new people in - new customers for your product, new readers for your blog, etc. What you do after they’ve entered the door is just as - if not more - important.
[?]Tags: blog, customer relations, Marketing, social media
Do You Believe in Your Own Product?
I remember when I bought my hard guitar case. It was a relatively new/unique design, that’s less common. Even now, I rarely see people use it. But it’s lighter than normal hard cases, with just as much protection.
When I first bought the case, the store owner demonstrated the case to me. How? He used one of his own store guitars, put it in the case and tossed it on the floor. Literally. Practically like how the airline people tend to toss luggages. And the guitar was perfectly fine.
That one demonstration went really far in my decision to buy that case. The fact that the store owner was willing to risk one of his own guitars to demonstrate the case (which was cheaper than the guitar, definitely) showed how much he believed in it. And it made me believe too.
Would you be willing to take that kind of risk for your product? How much do you believe in your product? How much would you risk for it? (For those thinking about your personal brands, substitute “product” with “beliefs”.)
Because if you don’t believe in it enough to take the risk, and believe in your product, your customers are much less likely to either.
[?]Tags: belief, credibility, Marketing, product, risk
