Fall+2009+Week+12

· Changing times causing level of participation to change: o Web 1.0 “Read Only” o Web 2.0 “Read/Write Web” º We are in the Market Orientation stage right now; however, we are moving towards the Participation Orientage Stage º New forms of cooperation enabled by new technologies create new forms of wealth and power º Companies like Threadless T-shirts and Zazzle are asking the customers to help design products º Below is an interesting article about how firms are encouraging participation and how it is building brand loyalty. []
 * Week 12 – December 4, 2009**
 * involve the customer in the and design and manufacturer of the product
 * businesses that don't adapt will fall behind and may go under
 * thinking and listening power has shifted

I was introduced to the 'Rich Niche Group', an LLC comprised of 'Start-up and Small Business Growth Experts'. What I found especially interesting, or possibly amusing, is the opening statement from Dharmesh Shah, HubSpot founder, entrepreneur & author: //**“One of the common mistakes that marketers make is to believe that their customers are different than they are. They’re not. Just like us, our prospects hate cold calls, throw away junk mail, and ignore most advertising. **//**//“ //** I agree w/Dharmesh. And I have to believe most people do as well. What I find amusing is even though a majority of us may know and/or agree the above is true, the truth in no way, shape or form seems to prevent or slow down the use of cold calls, junk mail and other advertising. And I have to believe 'Marketeers' create surveys w/questions that lead to where these "Marketeers" want the answers to go, such that the Marketeers can then easily justify their campaign tactics. If these tactics didn't work, marketers wouldn't use them. People still answer cold calls and somebody opens the junk mail - there are people who only get bills and junk mail and they are happy to open it. People may think they ignore advertising, but subliminally they will remember it. The idea is to target the correct offensive marketing tactic to the demographic that responds to that tactic. Microtargeting is the method de jour.

· Technographics Ladder: Roles of those using web __Spectators__- 33% read blogs and watch user generated video such as YouTube. __Joiners__- 19% use social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter. __Collectors__- 15% use RSS and tag webpages. __Critics__- 19% respond to blogs and post ratings and reviews. We noticed in class that we tend to look at negative product reviews more often than positive reviews. We tend to have a positive bias toward a product that we are researching deep enough to look at reviews. __Creators__- 13% publish webpages and blogs. This segment is the YouTube posting segment as well. We discussed buying URLs with our names in them. Even a simple blog can lead to your name being highly ranked in the Google charts.

· Blogging With the incredible growth from the facebook application, more consumers are moving up the ladder and are evolving from watching to publishering on the web. **I find it interesting that bloggers have as much power as they do. Essentially, a question I had was attempting to determine the validity of a blogger when they denounce other companies, products, people, etc. It's difficult to tell if the blogger has genuine interest in letting people know the potential flaws in things, or if they are out to self-promote. Often when I see denouncing of one thing, shortly thereafter I see a push for promoting something else (e.g., I used this product x and it was horrible, yet the functionality of product z is amazing... click here to see more).
 * Information Entropy: measure of information content

· Who controls where we get our information? "Conversations are happening with or without you." · Talking Power and Influencers · Collective Cognition · Influence Metrics: o Betweenness centrality o Eigenvector centrality "Give people tools -> Keep in touch with them ->Turn them loose." · Word Networks · Customer-generated content: o Share o Discuss o Vote o See (others’ ideas) Zazzle is a company that uses mass customization where customers can design their own products. · Participation in politics and other important issues

These companies will have to adjust their strategies for broader influence. We have been trained to demand compensation for originality and innovation. I would not give away an original idea to a company, even for efficiency of a service I use (Starbuck's), without financial compensation. However, if these companies solicit ideas or inventions I would take the time to offer my advice in the chance of making a buck or two. There are people out there who do not need the compensation to participate - witness the number of people who want to be on reality TV even if it makes them look stupid. Also, participation in contests and surveys results in the same idea generation (group think). I don't think the companies need to broaden their influence, they need to refine their influence to remove wasted effort. An increasing population means an increasing market base - it is possible to increase revenue without increasing market share - the goals just need to be defined. - The above statement is precisely why I liked the Cambrian House article. Providing people with long-term financial benefit for critically thinking about product development is genius. I have to say that the Cambrian House article has completely changed by outlook on product development.