discovery

Where is the beginning?

I love being exposed to new ideas, new approaches and new ways of looking at things. It was brought to my attention this week that what I regarded as the beginning is not necessarily a universal construct.

Although I come across as being driven by process and form, my natural instincts are towards the beautiful and at times chaotic creative. I love brainstorming and free form thinking. I get pleasure from trusting my instincts, especially in situations where I have the experience and confidence that flows from that.

Seeking out creative solutions and thinking on my feet are my natural states.

I have had to discipline myself through applying process and form. I have had to develop processes and methodologies in order to provide a framework for the creative. This is especially true in situations where I am not a subject expert or I do not have first hand experience.

In order to allow the creative to flow I need to feel confident, informed and have the self belief that I will find the right answer. In order to do that I need context.

For me the beginning is gaining an understanding of the audiences. I mean really understanding them, not from a quantitative survey, or closed product focus group, but in terms of who they are, what their learning styles are, their aspirations, influencers, values and desires. I need to talk to them, to explore and seek clarity. I need to understand the industry. Not only from the perspective of the organisation I am working with, but in relation to their competitors, industry experts and real time conversations. I also need to learn about the organisation. Just as the customer knows best what the customer wants, so too the people of an organisation are best placed to pass on its personality, culture, objectives and unique business rules.

Armed with the right information from the best sources, the creativity can begin and the often surprising findings lead the strategic direction for the rest of the project.

Start at the Beginning

It is great to have opinions. It is also a good idea to seek out and learn from other peoples perspectives. What is important is to apply what you have learned in a manner that ensures relevance and context. I used to be an Apple evangelist. I still love Apple and it is my weapon of choice, but I stopped a while ago trying to convert those that use PC. I can see that I was trying to prescribe a technology based upon my own criteria. My own needs, likes, values and learning styles. Really the choice should be based upon:

Who you are
Your objectives
Your needs
Your learning styles
Your resources
Your history etc.

That is not to say Apple evangelists cannot put a case forward for why they like to use Apple products, but it does mean that they need to listen to and accept other peoples decisions and reasons for using a PC. Based on this, if I am asked to recommend a laptop for someone, I need to base my recommendations on their needs verses my own.

I made this mistake in my last blog post “The politics of Followers”. The blog talked about my personal take on the collection of followers on a social network like Twitter. I feel it broke my own rules around discovery, context and relevance.

A personal or organisational social media strategy cannot be pre-determined. It really does need to be built according to the organisations or person’s unique objectives. It needs to understand its audiences and it needs to work within the boundaries of its resources. It is conceivable that an element of an organisations marketing strategy might include manipulating a large twitter following. Perhaps there are instances where they might not gain much from their actual followers, but more from the perception from those outside Twitter that they have a large buy in? Whatever the reason, it is reasonable to assume this is a considered strategy.

It is great to get people’s perceptions on various social networks and to understand how they are using them. Valuable insights and best practices can be learned. The problem arises when people take a prescriptive view of them. Following someone’s strategy to the letter can lead to copycat strategies that go horribly wrong. Context and relevance are key. Start at the beginning, be patient and go through your discovery process.

Photo by Craig Rodway

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