Your Podcast, Blog, Big Factory, eCommerce Biz, New Invention, Is It Any Good Though?
We live in very noisy times. It seems we are being offered ‘stuff’ everywhere we go. Experts and specialists compete for our attention and we make our choices based on what we know, and what we wish to achieve.
The big players are no longer the only game in town. The gourmet Food Truck in the side street might offer us something a little more to our taste than the ‘Big Mac’ being garishly pushed in our face on every corner.
We have arrived at a time where highly specific offerings can be presented at scale, the media of communication have multiplied and the T.V has lost its crown for being the principal means by which we are made aware.
This is not simply a phenomenon which the younger generations are responding to either; digital media now represents the mass media for older and young alike.
Quality, this elusive concept was explored by the very brilliant American writer and philosopher Robert Pirsig, quality is something that is gaining in relevance to us all.
In a time where the average consumer can access a broad range of media offerings, goods and services from all around the world, it is now crucial that the unique qualities of what you have to offer are clearly communicated to the right people.
No longer are we discussing these matters in comfortable, general terms-this now represents the very existence and success of what you do.
Quality, and the true effectiveness of your service/product is now the bargaining point. I can buy whatever it is you produce from Europe, America, China, The U.K and it can be shipped to my door within a week. It is proven that consumers don’t mind waiting a while if they believe they are getting great quality, and value.
Amazon & Anxious Retailers
The emergence of Amazon over the past 15 years has been a story of immense growth. Customer service is the creed by which Amazon has lived by. The leverage of incredibly efficient warehousing, logistic movement and a global empire of private retailers all marketing their wares under the banner of Amazon now has the giants of consumer retail nauseous with anxiety.
We can view this in negative terms, but it is the Market which decides, not the delicate sensibilities of high street retailers. If you are not trading and marketing like it is 2017/18, if you are romantically dedicated to the retail world of 1997 you will lose.
Likewise, using this very strong example of Amazon to represent the pragmatic realities of today’s world, the level of quality for this customer-centric model of operating should be informing your approaches, your decisions; the focus of attention is not on T.V, Radio, Magazines any longer, if your approaches still romantically include these media as your primary focus, you will lose.
Quality as described by Robert Pirsig in his two major novels: Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance, & Leila is becoming a commercial reality; we have reached the time in human society where we can demand precise measures of quality, if you can’t offer this, you will lose.