01 Week

Hi All,

Though I am regular reader of several blogs, this is the first time I am creating one. I had considered starting a blog a year ago but life got busy and I didn't get around to doing it. I am thankful that my Digital Marketing class at Kelley has required me to start this blog.

When I registered for this class I didn't know what to expect from it. But reading some of the week 1 and 2's assignments has  rekindled an interest I had in the subject of alternative business models. A few years ago I had read a few interesting books, "The Wisdom of Crowds" by James Surowiecki and "Tipping Point" by Malcolm Galdwell. I noticed some of the concepts we discuss in the first couple of weeks in this course are very closely related to these books. The concept of influencing your target customers by engaging them into your product/service design can make your products go viral was indirectly mention in the The Tipping point. The model of crowd sourcing was mentioned in The Wisdom of Crowds.

Crowd sourcing has been gaining traction at an accelerated pace in the last few years.  In addition to the examples mentioned in the reading for week 2, I have noticed that sites like "TaskRabbit.com" have provided market place for multiple people to request and fulfill tasks. I have noticed over the last few years, that business models that encourage a social gathering of like minded people to exchange information or request help have done exceedingly well. An other great example is a Project Management, Coding and QA platform business model developed by "www.topcoder.com" This company charges a client a yearly membership fee. It provides a platform where a client can upload specs and then freelance project managers and coders will bid on the specs with their proposed design and charge. Once again, this is a good example of a company that has built a platform that creates a market place. The clients get a view of different design solutions to their proposed problem and the client gets to chose the best solution at the best price. These market places have demolished the national borders and have created a virtual society based on meritocracy.

I have not been familiar with the marketing domain in general and I have to admit I have been slow to embrace social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, google+ etc. I have been very concerned about privacy and how much information I would like to put out on the web where I don't have any control of who is seeing me and what companies are doing with  that information.  But, with the popularity of these networks, I am well aware that I am in a significant minority. With the world moving in the direction where people want to share their every thought with the world, clearly it is a gold mine for Marketers. People profiles can be fine tuned to an individual. Marketing can now be targeted specifically to a person based on his online habits and posts. I believe we have just scratched the surface up to now. Newer devices coupled with the treasure trove of information help companies not only target individuals based on what they want but also when they would want it. Technology is enabling a pace of innovation in this field like never before. From where we stand today, companies that want to succeed in this new technologically enabled world, will not only have to keep a pulse on business models that would threaten their existing business model, but also on how they plan to reach their customers to keep growing more by selling more effectively to people who are interested in buying.

Ladies and gentlemen we have front row seats in witnessing a rate of change in lifestyle, never seen in the history of human kind before.