Action / Reaction:
In physics:
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
In business:
For every market there is an equal and opposite market.
Searching for new business ideas?
Chances are there’s a market waiting at the opposite end of the spectrum of an existing product or market.
How many people do you know who are prepared to die “literally” – in order to achieve their goals? Robbie Maddison is, would and just might.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOtpKQ-dAlg]
He was actually quoted as saying the following:
“There is no doubt in my mind if this next jump doesn’t work out it will be death.”
I’m not suggesting this level of sacrifice is required in your business, but extreme sportspeople do provide the best example of passion in action.
Also – kudos to Redbull for having the courage to sponsor an event in which the free PR could really have went either way.
Taking the lessons from neighborhoodies.com we’ve upgraded our response to a question on the contact page of rentoid.com
We think it shows we’re real, and says something about us and our values at rentoid.
While in the airport I was accosted by airport spruikers from Citibank. They were selling an offer to switch credit cards. I’m sure it’s a good deal, and that’s why they’re there.
I’ve seen them many times now, though they never have any success while I’m there – No one seems to stop. It must be a very difficult job. I’m certain their success rate’s lower than direct mail (1-3%) as 300 people will often disembark from a plane with zero stoppage rate. In fact, people purposely avoid them. Given they are still working the airport floor, it must have a ‘certain level’ of success.
Here’s the problem according to startup blog. Given it’s so ‘targeted’ Citibank ignored the fact it’s really ‘annoying’. People in airports are either; in a hurry, working or on holiday. All of which aren’t good times to consider changes in financial institutions.
Today marketing and entrepreneurship is much more than being targeted, it’s about being considerate.
I just saw a great documentary on New York called: 1977 – the coolest year in hell. It covers the music scene, politcal upheavels and social problems which spawned in that year. No – it’s about a the pop culture revolution which happened! Which ironically include a diversity as wide as Disco, Hip hop, Punk, and New wave.
The interesting thing about the documentary was how creative people made stuff happen with limited resources as a response the decline of a city. Like all revolutions the change evolves bottom up.
In one scene the hip hop crew talk about taking electricity from a street lamp to get the power needed for their DJ. Awesome.
It has the wicked bonus of an inspiring retro graphics overlay throughtout the doco. Not to mention cool music and generally stimulating visuals.
Like all revolutions there’s some ugliness in this one too. You can decide which bits fit this description. But it emphasizes the infallible truth that environment shapes behaviour.
It’s all about unleashing energy, feeding on the creativity and energy of others, bootrapping, creating change, viral marketing and theatre. Doing stuff because it’s cool stuff to do.
Here’s a link about it form the VH1 website. I couldn’t find it on youtube(?) So if anyone has a link to it or some grabs, please add to comments.
All entrepreneurs should check it out.
Would you know what this shop is selling?
I wouldn’t.
Sometimes our shop front, work car, uniform, office, church or website is where the decision is made on whether or not our service is for them.
The good news is, just like a shop window we can:
If our business is in the digital world we have the advantage of a low cost change over.
Start up lesson – make sure people know what you offer the instant they arrive.
The two most important things we need on our web interface are direct opposites.
We need to be sticky & slippery – simultaneously.
Sticky – we need to keep our audience interested engaged and curious. We’ve got about one second to convince them of this when they arrive.
Slippery – we only grow when our audience feels confident enough to ‘pass it on’ and it’s easy to do.
What makes something do both of the above is different for every on line proposition and the principals change everyday.
[We found this out quickly with our facebook app for Rentoid.com which was blogged about here. It kind of sucks – it’s too boring, so it’s not slippery. We got it wrong and we’ll fix it quick. If we don’t we’ll miss out on the holiday season web surfing period!]
For all web sites and apps our challenge is not to let the technology to lead us to do something, just because we can. We should lead the technology to do something only because it makes us more ‘sticky or slippery’.