weekend plans part 2
photograph by David Delahunty :: via behance.net
over it
Many organizations still operate by Porter’s Value Chain model, where Z follows Y, which follows X. These linear models optimized efficient delivery of a known thing. But this doesn’t help us when faster, fluid responses are what we need. Fifteen years ago, The Cluetrain Manifesto taught us that markets are conversations and that was a great starting point. But “conversations” can actually go deeper if you allow them to become central to how you work, rather than leave them on the perimeter of the work. How many companies have figured out how to shift from supply chain management to integrating customer feedback directly into their product design, distribution, and delivery? Because that’s the point.
Recognize a pattern? Step 1: a new social media site breaks through to common consciousness. Step 2: people speculate about how to make money from integrating the new social media site into marketing plans.
Instead of spending your marketing budget on shiny objects, hope that your competition does so first. If they’re successful, at least you have a blueprint for success with relatively little investment. If they’re unsuccessful, then your patience provides a relative return on its own. Either way, the only possible loss on your part is perceived originality, and if that’s your goal, then maybe your real calling is in a creative department (where originality can be used as a justification for decreased ROI).
