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Are you using a location based service?
What about the iPad?
Or how about Posterous?
All of these things have at one time been labeled overrated. For example, I think foursquare is a complete waste of time. Why the heck would I want to tell the world where I am! I mean that’s really nobody’s business! It’s not like Twitter where I actually have meaningful dialogue. I find value in Twitter for numerous reasons. I can’t imagine finding that same value with foursquare.
But, that’s just me.
Everything I mentioned above could make me miss out on new opportunities. My own subjectivity is getting in the way of learning new networks and how to exploit them for my clients and myself. This dangerous attitude isn’t unique to just myself. Many folks in the tech space, that don’t find value in new things, are quick to label them “pointless”. The truth is they are right. At least for themselves that is.
You see every user uses a device or service in a different way, for different things. Many times what we find useless and unproductive, actually can provide good value to some. So then the question becomes when should we put stock in ideas and products that we aren’t personally invested in? I mean there’s no way I have time to test out every new thing on the market!
Most successful projects have two characteristics that are worth a look at. Successful projects provide real value to its core user base, and they make money.
Providing real value to your core user base is important. Without real value then, yes, your project might be a waste of time. How do you know you are providing real value? Well, first make sure you are asking and talking to the right people. For example you wouldn’t ask me if I find value in FriendFeed because the day after I first signed up for it, I left and never came back. I am not a FriendFeed core user. Just because some users haven’t found value in a project doesn’t mean that value isn’t there.
This sounds incredibility obvious to most in the real world, but if you were to say this around a group of venture capital addicts they might not let you have anymore free granola. But, the truth is, a project isn’t successful if it isn’t making a profit. This is an important point to understand as a marketer because there is absolutely no point in investing research and your client’s money into services that eventually fail. If a service or product isn’t providing real value to its core users or making any money, then you won’t either by using it.
So the next time that new social media toy hits the scene, take off the cynic hat and give it a try. Otherwise you might miss out on something that your audience would love.
With cable nearly obliterating all signs of local programming on TV, one news outlet is taking it online with an interesting marketing plan to boot. In an interview with HyperlocalBlogger, James Macpherson details his plans to air 16-hours a week of original programming on his local news site Pasadena Now. The programming will include a daily morning show with news and interviews and live streaming of community events.
In order to pay for the programming, Macpherson is looking for sponsors who are willing to fiance the shows, not with cash, but with promotion.
“Our objective is to create specialty audiences. For example, to work with the Pasadena Humane Society to produce a weekly ‘Pasadena Pet Channel.’ We won’t charge the PHSSPCA, but we will require that they must promote each show with an email blast to their 5,000 members. We will then sell commercials to local pet stores and vets who can be guaranteed that the show’s audience will perfectly match their target audience.”
This looks like a win-win all around. The sponsor does the advertising leg work and the businesses get their names put in front of a tightly targeted audience. The key here is finding local entities with a mailing list that makes the production cost worthwhile. I could see a local mommy group sponsoring a parenting show with ads from local baby stores, beauty pageants and daycare centers. How about a high school sports show that includes all of the parents in the district in a mailing?
With phone books languishing on the front stoop and local newspapers going the way of the 8-Track, it’s tougher than ever for a mom and pop business to find advertising space at a reasonable cost. Says Macpherson:
“I am extremely optimistic. Our prices will be reasonable, our costs low, and let’s face it, most people love the idea of being on TV.”
Even if the “TV” is actually a computer monitor or iPhone.
What do you think of the idea of trading production for promotion?