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Alienating Your Audience?
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I’ve been listening to Peter Cincotti’s “East of Angel Town” cd a lot lately. I’m really loving the cd. But he’s gotten a bit of criticism from some of the fans of his previous work for deviating further from his jazz roots and into more ‘pop’ music.
Personally, I haven’t listened to his older albums, but I think he deserves credit for trying his own material, and just expressing himself. And even as he might alienate some of his previous audience, he’s going to gain even more new listeners because he’s exploring new territory.
It’s always risky when you try to move forward - you risk leaving some people behind. But you are also more likely to find new people - a new audience, new friends, etc. And these people would suit you better in the direction that you’re pursuing.
Do you worry about alienating your existing audience?
[?]The Person Behind the Performances
Sep 3, 2008 Companies, Sports Comments
Image via Wikipedia There are a lot of people questioning Robinho’s move to Manchester City, saying he chose the club for the money. One of the ESPNStar analysts was even saying that Chelsea should be happy that they didn’t get the player, because that isn’t the type of person they would want.
It is undeniable that on the pitch, Robinho is a great player, but the analyst’s point was basically that there is more to the player than that. The club isn’t just getting the player, they are getting the person.
The lessons and thoughts behind this go beyond soccer, though. The same holds true in any company or organization. When you’re hiring somebody, when you’re working with someone, it’s not just about performance. Who the person is is just as important.
It’s not just what a person does (or can do). It’s who he is.
Some Great People to Check Out
Over the past summer, I had the honor of being involved in an internship with Seth Godin and Squidoo. I was one of the virtual interns, part of a Basecamp group which got to try out different stuff. It was interesting and I got to interact with a lot of great people - really creative, intelligent students from around the world. It was a huge pleasure and honor to get to interact with Seth himself as well.
Anyway, as part of the internship, Seth has posted a PDF of handmade bios of some of the interns. Yes, I have a page in there, but that’s not why I’m sharing it. I’m sharing it because there are 15 other really intelligent, creative, awesome people mentioned there, who I highly recommend you check out. You might find someone who you’d want to work with or connect with (given the quality of the people there, you probably will).
So yeah, here’s the PDF.
[?]The EPL - The Best League in the World?
Image via Wikipedia Whether it’s the best is debatable, but the English Premier League is undoubtedly the biggest league in the world. It has the most fans, the most money involved, etc.
But why? Especially when the English League can be said to lack the flair and individual skill of the Spanish Primera Liga, as well as the tactical discipline of the Serie A.
What the Englihs League has, however, is passion. It’s known to be faster and more intense than any other league. The players are known for always giving their best, and there is (arguably) more passion surrounding the game than in any other country.
Perhaps people don’t truly care about tactics and technique that much? While they do matter, could it be that passion and intensity sells (to the masses) more?
Sui Generis is Back - And (Hopefully) Improved
Aug 26, 2008 Announcements Comments
My blog was hacked on Saturday or so, and I’ve spent the weekend trying to recover the posts and get the blog up again (and calm down from the frustration of getting hacked).
And well, I decided that since the blog was down, I might as well take the opportunity to make some changes to the blog.
So, now, I’ve got a new theme. For those of you reading by RSS or email, I hope you come to the site itself and check out the new theme.
Also, I’ve decided to make the switch to Disqus. After almost losing all my comments, I think it might not be too bad an idea to have the comments kept on another server (ie the Disqus server).
So yeah, just thought I’d announce those changes.
Tell me what you think, yeah?
[?]How Recognizable Are You?
Aug 11, 2008 People, personal branding Comments
I wrote about Ary a few days ago. While there was a general lesson/point in that, it was still very much a more personal post. There’s more that I want to say about here, so here it is.
One of the things I like about Ary is that she has a very distinctive personality, and a very distinctive style that goes along with it. And it’s very recognizable.
I remember one morning, I was having breakfast and I noticed someone walk into the cafeteria. I was eating my food, so I was kind of looking downwards, and just saw the person enter my field of vision slightly. The only thing I saw was the person’s socks. And straight away, I knew it was Ary.
Even more significantly, as much as I can remember, I don’t think I had seen her wear that pair of socks before. It just seemed to suit her so much, that even though I had not seen it before, I knew it was her. That’s how recognizable and distinctive her style was.
It goes beyond just clothes, though. It’s her whole personality. And it’s something that I think we can all learn from.
I think there’s huge value in being that distinctive and recognizable. Take ,a href=”http://www.hellomynameisscott.com/landing.aspx”>Scott Ginsberg, for example. He’s known as “the name tag guy”, and everything that goes along with that - approachability, etc.
Corporate brands always aim to be simple, distinct, recognizable - connoting strong and clear emotions all the time - so that you know what the brand stands for.
Your personal brand should be the same way, I think.
How recognizable is your brand?
[?]When Common Advice Isn’t Useful
Aug 8, 2008 Companies, Events Comments
I just attended The Start Conference today. It was a really good experience, meeting intelligent people, and hearing about new websites and services I didn’t know about. It was also really cool being able to hear the likes of Evan Williams and Matt Mullenweg share their stories, and talk to the likes of Merlin Mann.
I was thinking about what went on during the conference, and something stuck to me. If you ask any start-up consultant or anything, most of the time you’ll get similar advice. 2 parts of this advice you’ll probably get is, 1) how important an elevator pitch is (or the ‘escalator pitch’), and 2) that it’s not just about how cool your idea is, it’s about the need for it (this second one was something that Marc Hedlund from Wesabe.com mentioned today).
And in most cases, these are really good suggestions. Elevator pitches are important. And having a market for your idea is really what’s important, of course.
But there are some cases when it’s hard to think about things like this - when you are doing something truly revolutionary. When you are opening up a new market, doing something that has really never been done before.
Take Twitter, for example. Anyone who uses Twitter has probably tried (and failed) to explain it to others. It just can’t be done as an elevator pitch. And if you ask around, most people who haven’t used Twitter won’t see why such a tool would be useful.
Twitter would have failed in coming up with a good elevator pitch. I still haven’t seen a good elevator pitch for Twitter. And if you think about it, there wasn’t really a market or need for a service like Twitter. Nobody knew or thought they needed something like Twitter. No market research or anything would have revealed a need for Twitter. It was only through trying it out that they found out that there indeed was a market for it.
That’s just one example, but it demonstrates my point quite well, I think. Yes, there are standard tips and suggestions that we should all think about. Not only in starting a company, but whatever you’re doing, there’s always going to be standard suggestions and tips and advice from others. And that advice works 95% of the time.
But when you’re doing something revolutionary, standard advice and procedure just doesn’t cut it.
More often than not, you can’t do something revolutionary by following common advice.
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