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Re: Caught in the Echo Chamber – Insights into the Marketability of Tech Companies

chris — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:49:23 -0000

I am often conflicted on this exact issue. I think the modern tech culture as a whole has lost some societal perspective. I read another blog post recently that stated that gen y'ers will not stand for jobs that aren't fun (among other statements...some valid, some not), where the author incorrectly assumes that most americans will have the luxury of quitting a job because it isn't fun enough. The absurdity of this statement reinforces the notion to me that the contemporary culture of tech is a closed world (ironically, the latest web incarnation is widely characterized as "open") that largely ignores the major issues that many people face.

Re: Caught in the Echo Chamber – Insights into the Marketability of Tech Companies

alisa leonard-hansen — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 23:54:14 -0000

PERFECT.

Re: Caught in the Echo Chamber – Insights into the Marketability of Tech Companies

Ethan Bauley — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:30:38 -0000

Ironically, I think the echo chamber is going to be increasingly in competition with real companies with real products and real customer bases, who are beginning to realize that social software is one of the best ways to scale "social media marketing."

Nike+ and Vocalpoint.com are the tip of a VERY large iceberg (Deb Schultz I'm sure has some perspective on that ;-)

Would love to see some concrete examples of tech companies that are marketing themselves the "right" way in your estimation.

Thanks for the post, also recommend Marshall Kirkpatrick's article on this subject from 8/12, "Does Good Tech Need PR?":

http://www.readwriteweb.com...

Ethan

Re: Caught in the Echo Chamber – Insights into the Marketability of Tech Companies

Phil Lelyveld — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:49:01 -0000

Jackie,
Excellent post. About a decade ago, in a discussion of the cable and satellite industry, one of the studio heads said 'consumers don't pay for distribution channels, they pay for content.' As you point out, mass markets rarely buy technologies to simply own the technology. They buy the tech if it helps satisfy some need or want in the best way for them. Talking to the digirati may help with the initial debug, but as Geoffrey Moore points out (re: Jason's post above) in his books (ex. Crossing the Chasm), there is complementary, follow-up work to be done to tune the product for the general consumer market.

Re: Caught in the Echo Chamber – Insights into the Marketability of Tech Companies

Scott Lockhart — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:46:07 -0000

Brilliant post. I would say that the early adopter crowd in the valley and elsewhere does has value as they can help you shake down your site really well in the beginning. But you have to be mindful that if you are looking for a larger more mainstream, or as we like to say, a "normal people" audience, you will not please all the geekorati all the time, they might not get why it is not employing 15 different APIs and you have to be okay with that. These users can also skew your site to a tech focus, if there is a lot of user interaction (like ours) and that can put off normal people from getting engaged when they do encounter the site. It's all about balance.

Re: Caught in the Echo Chamber – Insights into the Marketability of Tech Companies

tia — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:50:35 -0000

Excellent post Jackie! it's tweet-tweet time! This needs to be shared ;)

Re: Caught in the Echo Chamber – Insights into the Marketability of Tech Companies

Robert Richman — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:25:28 -0000

Agreed on all points. It's the hungover, morning after feel when the money is gone and the market is non-existent!

It's a classic situation... solutions in search of problems.

So..everyone...what examples do we know of people who have had the realization and then found the right market? Or does it always "find you"?

Re: Caught in the Echo Chamber – Insights into the Marketability of Tech Companies

idrawgirls — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:56:51 -0000

Amazing post! It's so true that most of the time brilliant ideas and products will only get stuck just in the inner circle (echo chamber). And that is too bad. Sometimes not just for them, but for all of us.

-But the internet will only get cluster and more crowded, how or what is the best way to deliver your message or products to people WITHOUT the HUGE marketing campaign and gigantic budget to back up?

-Will there be good enough filter that only let the Great to good stuff out instead of the Hype and the Buzz but inferior in value and content?

Re: Caught in the Echo Chamber – Insights into the Marketability of Tech Companies

Enrique Gutierrez — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:18:06 -0000

From a person in the echo chamber & dealing with clients that are in their own... Awesome post! It's an interesting, dynamic and needy world out there. Small businesses have the advantage of scaling to those needs & changes... it's amazing to see one that won't based on whatever it is they do to justify their "stayed course".

Re: Caught in the Echo Chamber – Insights into the Marketability of Tech Companies

Paisano® — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:56:19 -0000

Impressive piece. Right on the money too (literally!). It's great advise for tech bloggers as well.

Re: Caught in the Echo Chamber – Insights into the Marketability of Tech Companies

patricia — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:56:14 -0000

brilliant post.

this also means that the market is tightly focused on itself - and missing other really big things happening around it. i work in all areas of digital and also traditional television, media and brands and there is definitely a lot going on that people are missing because the viewpoint is so tightly fixated.

it's like plato allegory of the cave.

Re: Caught in the Echo Chamber – Insights into the Marketability of Tech Companies

Debs — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:29:42 -0000

Great post. I am increasingly shocked by companies who create features masquerading as companies without asking is this viable? who would use this outside my 10 friends? What are the benefits? How dies it fit into their daily lives?