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It's just that wom is the best marketing. It's free. It's credible. If you can make it work, do it. "Crossing the Chasm" claims wom works better in smaller, sp

by 10ren 17y ago

It's just that wom is the best marketing. It's free. It's credible. If you can make it work, do it. "Crossing the Chasm" claims wom works better in smaller, specialized niche markets, because everyone in it has similar needs. Though it takes your point that they do need to actually be talking to each other for wom to work. There are trade-shows and trade-magazones for every industry you can imagine (not saying you should necessarily use them, but it indicates communicativeness), and I believe (without proof) that when people of related industries bump into each other, they'll talk shop, sharing their news and common concerns. hey, what do you think of this new thing? Isn't it terrible what's happening with that new issue? In practice, I've seen wom for my developer software product on mailing lists, websites and blogs. Someone even targetted it as an AdWords keyword (cool). My product doesn't target a tightly communicative market - it's not specific to an industry, but cuts across them; and it's not a whole solution to a problem, but a tool that's part of a solution. So I think its wom is fairly diluted. And yet... there is wom. EDIT hmmm, perhaps I'm really targeting the "IT" industry (even though its members work in other industries.) And, I guess, it is by far the most "tech-enabled". I still like "Crossing the Chasms" idea of crafting your product in a way that fits in with those shop-talk conversation: the shared concern +cool solution, in a short, memorable, interesting soundbite (like a joke that goes viral.)

swombat 17y ago
It's just that wom is the best marketing. It's free. It's credible. If you can make it work, do it. No disagreement there. But the article claims that if you can't make it work, you should go back to the drawing board... I was disagreeing with that.
- 10ren 17y ago
  I see now: you're interpreting the article as saying wom is a litmus test of how good your product is: if wom isn't working, your product is rubbish, and you're better improve it. You're saying that the ease of wom varies with industry, so that as a metric, it's not a universal indicator of the quality of your product. I think you mean "discouraging", in that one thinks one's product isn't good enough. But maybe you mean "discouraging" in that one thinks one's marketing isn't working. I interpret it a strategy: make your product so extraordinary that wom comes into play. Wom is so great, that it's worth the effort, even in an industry where wom is harder. But I see your point: maybe the wom-bar is so high, that you're better off just marketing in traditional ways. I still think wom is great, and worth trying for, but I acknowledge it's a tradeoff, not a simple "if no wom, do nothing but improve your product".
zackattack 17y ago
Are you a startup founder, and would you recommend crossing the chasm? I saw it referenced in an excerpt of steve blank's four steps to the epiphany.
- 10ren 17y ago
  Yes and yes. It's not to be taken as a general bible, but contains some insightful truths drawn from hugely successful startups. Very well written (guy has a PhD in literature.) See also "The Innovator's Dilemma" for an insightful academic treatment (compellingly researched, but also less practical) of the same idea of disruption, though mainly for large corporations.

by 10ren 17y ago

swombat 17y ago

It's just that wom is the best marketing. It's free. It's credible. If you can make it work, do it. No disagreement there. But the article claims that if you can't make it work, you should go back to the drawing board... I was disagreeing with that.

10ren 17y ago
I see now: you're interpreting the article as saying wom is a litmus test of how good your product is: if wom isn't working, your product is rubbish, and you're better improve it. You're saying that the ease of wom varies with industry, so that as a metric, it's not a universal indicator of the quality of your product. I think you mean "discouraging", in that one thinks one's product isn't good enough. But maybe you mean "discouraging" in that one thinks one's marketing isn't working. I interpret it a strategy: make your product so extraordinary that wom comes into play. Wom is so great, that it's worth the effort, even in an industry where wom is harder. But I see your point: maybe the wom-bar is so high, that you're better off just marketing in traditional ways. I still think wom is great, and worth trying for, but I acknowledge it's a tradeoff, not a simple "if no wom, do nothing but improve your product".

zackattack 17y ago

Are you a startup founder, and would you recommend crossing the chasm? I saw it referenced in an excerpt of steve blank's four steps to the epiphany.

10ren 17y ago
Yes and yes. It's not to be taken as a general bible, but contains some insightful truths drawn from hugely successful startups. Very well written (guy has a PhD in literature.) See also "The Innovator's Dilemma" for an insightful academic treatment (compellingly researched, but also less practical) of the same idea of disruption, though mainly for large corporations.