bwagy, the blog of Ben Young

What I’m seeing a lot of is tools like customer.io, simple little web apps which let marketers pull together a unique combination of technology to improve what they’re doing.

What’s driving this trend?

• More digital savvy marketers
• API marketplace, if I can plug it in, I will
• Startup infrastructure is good, billing, customer management, templates, allowing rapid development of your one key feature which makes you different
• Virtually zero cost to entry
• Ability to raise angel funds
• Exit market

It’s great, every day I’m discovering another tool which we can plug and play, make what we do work harder.

If you’re having difficulty getting to a place of understanding step back and look at your assumptions.

Sometimes you need to put more effort into explaining your conclusions & assumptions before you get to your idea.

They’re the platform that you’re idea stands on, if people don’t understand them (or are even aware of them) they won’t get it.  Or see the value.

It’s time for another experiment, not that I’ve ever stopped, but one which I’d love for you guys to take part in.

As most of you know, I’m a massive Kiva evangelist, the concept just works on every level. Simply read my past posts.

One of my goals this year is to get $10,000 usd into my Kiva account. And to invest that in micro finance loans around the world. It’s something I really really believe in and see it as a form of everyday achievable philanthropy.

I will hit that goal – but I’d like to offer you guys the opportunity to help me (and in turn those I loan to).

One idea was to sell words.

That’s right sell words.

Mind you, not just any words.

Words that have been formed from thousands of hours of work, research, reading & experience.

Words that are curated to have maximum impact.

Not words for everyday people. But words that will have impact for the right person.

Words that once understood will create change. I won’t explain. I’ll create the spark. You finish the journey and fill in the dots.

Tomorrow I’ll share the first curated collection.

This buzz phrase has stuck with me for about 10 days, since Dan (who works for us) mentioned it, his goal is to mention it as many times as possible.

It just keeps ringing around & coming back to the forefront of my mind.  It’s annoying.  Like a pop song.

But you see, it’s the power of an idea, it has resonance.

It keeps bouncing around, resonating with your customers.

The question is does your idea have resonance?

And then debating them.

That is constructive debate, what is the thinking behind them, why would they work? Why wouldn’t they work?

What would stop me executing them?

What would it cost?

How safe is this idea? How risky is it?

How disappointed would our customers be if we didn’t do this idea?

I’m talking about new unchartered ideas.  Ideas that are being executed for the first time.

They fit in at the head of the curve, where everything is new, the cost of change is low and change is rapid.  Indicative of new projects (can be within a large organisation), early stage and smaller companies.

Systems Ideas, ideas that have been executed many times & have a set of steps to build & demonstrate value fit in here.  The cost of change is higher, thus a systemised idea fits in & is more effective.  Indicative of maturing / larger companies.

Whether it’s your product, service, experience or even opinion.

It’s once others experience what you have uniquely created that you realise the potential value.

However it’s just before sharing that we stop.  We don’t release the product as we don’t think it’s good enough yet, we hide from voicing our opinions or sharing our experiences.

It’s not till you do, you take that final step, that you find the real value.

All the more reason to ship.

Google is excellent at distracting its competition with flares, Google Reader, Buzz, News.

Ultimately they still make all all of their revenue through advertising, yet these flares work, they seek to distract competitors from what they really do.

We also create our own flares, I can’t start that project till I have the right software, or I can’t do that without the right camera. Really it’s hogwash.

We just need to bite the bullet, what’s the goal? And why aren’t we there yet? Then destroy any barriers that are in the way.’

The same way that basketball players spin around their opponents we need to spin around the barriers, acknowledging them but turning them to the wayside and springboard off them towards the goal.

That’s how great ideas happen.

Stop moaning because it didn’t happen today. Nothing happens in a day. Everything is the conclusion of a prior set of events. That lunch you had, was cooked by the chef outback, who used the pre-prepared food, which came from the farmers markets, the butcher earlier that day, that came from farms, that were grown (or bred) over the past 12 months, that was cultivated land, that was cleared from scrub. Heck food has come a long way to get to you!

It’s exactly the same on any journey, focus on the bigger picture, have fun along the way (ie enjoy the journey, if you’re not, quit and try another journey), you’ll get there and it’ll get better. Just keep making the small iterative changes, be proactive, you can probably get there faster than you think (even if it’s not overnight).

That is, what doesn’t work today may work tomorrow.

I find this all the time, structurally this idea won’t work here today, then six months later it will work.

It’s a good ethos to have, keep it in the back of your mind and you’ll be surprised when the right idea pops up for the right scenario.

Don’t you think?

“You don’t refine ideas, you refine the borders for within they need to operate”

You know the kind, “can’t do that, it’s not my job”.

It’s very easy (for me or anyone to say) they shouldn’t exist.

Truth be told, the fact that they exist in an organisation often reflects the companies culture.

However if you can change their attitude in such an environment, it’ll help, make the swing.

Reward initiative, reward ideas, reward risk.  Most of all reward those that sidestep their job description to get the job done.

It seems changing the colour of a hospital gown to skin colour significantly helps doctors ability to detect health problems (based on the change of colour of their skin).  Interesting huh?

Read the original here.

And along the same lines.

The fake bus stop in Germany outside a rest home.  As Alzheimer’s patients wander off (from the home) they go to bus stop to catch the next bus.  Of course buses don’t turn up but it acts as a capture point, whereby the nurses can assist them once they come back to reality.  Immoral or moral? I suggest a best case answer to a difficult problem.

Read more over here.

The point is, modifying  contextual factors can completely change the outcome.  Controlling the context to reach favourable outcomes.  The first helps doctors do their jobs better and the second helps nurses (and patients) deal with Alzheimer’s.

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(Thanks to Springwise & Radiolab for passing that on).

Infinitely easier.

You know the road, the steps, the ability to repeat.

However once you’ve repeated it a few times the value diminishes.

The same goes for Marketing Campaigns.

Fitness (doing the same course repeatedly has diminishing returns).

Business ideas….

But what if doing the same thing did the opposite – kept increasing? Like networking? Writing a blog? A framework that allows for opportunity of new ideas… rather than the exploitation of a singular idea.