I stumbled through the archives of jason kottke this morning. Here are two posts that I enjoyed:
A list of statements
posted May 28, 1998 at 03:40 pm
Not everyone wearing a Tommy Hilfiger tshirt is selling out.
Men and women are not equal.
Ethnic group A and ethnic group b are not equal.
Big business is not always a bad thing.
There are good television shows.
Not everyone with long, nappy hair smokes pot.
Stereotypes work.
Stereotypes suck.
Two ways to go about your business
posted May 26, 1998 at 10:48 am
The way I see it, there's two ways to go about your business. Well, there's significant mixing between these two ways, but one or the other is usually dominant.
The first way is to offer a product/service (usually shitty) that people buy and they don't ever come back for seconds. How do you make money this way? You nickel and dime the customer to death until they leave screaming. Makes you lots of money fast, but no customer loyalty.
The other way is to offer a product/service that everyone likes. Your customers are happy because you're not continually jerking them around and they come back for more. And your reputation grows and you get more customers. They're getting what they want and you're having lots of fun giving it to them. And you're proud of what you're doing. Everyone is happy.
I'm currently in the midst of the first scenario, trying to get to the second. The problem with that is the first scenario is easy to achieve while the second is not.
Any significance that the "statements" post follows "two ways to go about your business?" So many of kottke's post are not diary-like accounts of thoughts or emotions but snap-shots of his day. These are different. He wrestles with giving his audience a product that "everyone likes" in hopes of building a reputation. Then we get a post that can be read one way or another. "A list of statements" is a better product than most of what jason posts. At the same time, this is not a product that "everyone" is going to like. The opinions expressed in the post are offensive, though not to all. My thoughts - it IS an move toward a product that will keep us checking in, if only to see what offensive statement or idea will surface next.
A list of statements
posted May 28, 1998 at 03:40 pm
Not everyone wearing a Tommy Hilfiger tshirt is selling out.
Men and women are not equal.
Ethnic group A and ethnic group b are not equal.
Big business is not always a bad thing.
There are good television shows.
Not everyone with long, nappy hair smokes pot.
Stereotypes work.
Stereotypes suck.
Two ways to go about your business
posted May 26, 1998 at 10:48 am
The way I see it, there's two ways to go about your business. Well, there's significant mixing between these two ways, but one or the other is usually dominant.
The first way is to offer a product/service (usually shitty) that people buy and they don't ever come back for seconds. How do you make money this way? You nickel and dime the customer to death until they leave screaming. Makes you lots of money fast, but no customer loyalty.
The other way is to offer a product/service that everyone likes. Your customers are happy because you're not continually jerking them around and they come back for more. And your reputation grows and you get more customers. They're getting what they want and you're having lots of fun giving it to them. And you're proud of what you're doing. Everyone is happy.
I'm currently in the midst of the first scenario, trying to get to the second. The problem with that is the first scenario is easy to achieve while the second is not.
Any significance that the "statements" post follows "two ways to go about your business?" So many of kottke's post are not diary-like accounts of thoughts or emotions but snap-shots of his day. These are different. He wrestles with giving his audience a product that "everyone likes" in hopes of building a reputation. Then we get a post that can be read one way or another. "A list of statements" is a better product than most of what jason posts. At the same time, this is not a product that "everyone" is going to like. The opinions expressed in the post are offensive, though not to all. My thoughts - it IS an move toward a product that will keep us checking in, if only to see what offensive statement or idea will surface next.
posted by Dave Norris at 6:57 AM
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