ABC Needs More Money to Pay Their Fat Cats and Cablevision Is Robbing ABC
Here are two companies that just took a huge PR hit.
It’s very sad that businesses are learning smear tactics from our politicians. I’ve never seen as many non-politician smear ads as I have these past few months. First it was Scripps and Cablevision, and now ABC and Cablevision. And again, the viewers lose, as ABC is no longer available on Cablevision on the night of a major annual awards program.
Right now Cablevision is losing customers to it’s first real competitor, Verizon FIOS. Mind you, Cablevision first started competing with Verizon by moving into the telephone business, so fair is fair. But these publicly fought battles with networks are not helping their cause of preserving their customer base.
And ABC 7 is also in a rough spot. While television advertising is back up, it is still well down from previous highs, as marketers spend more and more money online and less in traditional media. This is actually the core of why they need more money from MSOs, or cable operators such as Cablevision. But they certainly can’t afford negative PR right now, which Cablevision is overloading the airwaves with.
They’ve both launched very negative campaigns against the other (a la Scripps/Cablevision battle), and it’s the consumers who are being abandoned. Nobody really cares about their battle and who’s stealing from who, and what fat cats need more money. All we want is our programming. And we’re being forced to listen to a playground name-calling war.
So here’s my advice to both of you. Stop the commercials. Put ABC 7 back on the air. Work out your problem or agree to use an arbitrator. And shut the hell up because we don’t want to hear about it. And oh yes, I ordered FIOS last week and am currently 40 minutes into holding for Cablevision’s disconnect department.
Google's New Math
Do you see a problem here? How does Google get away with this? I’m pretty sure that if I made this mistake at work I would catch all bloody heck. But then again, I’m not Google.
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Why Good Ideas Fail
I certainly have my own theories on why good software ideas fail when rolled out to the real world. As a product manager, I believe I know why good ideas fail. Here are some questions to answer if you think your good idea is failing:
- Does the idea solve a problem that causes a real frustration for users?
You may have a good idea, and it may solve a real problem. But do your users care enough about the problem to use your product? Perhaps solving the problem just isn’t worth any effort or change in behavior for your prospective user-base. If this is the case, you’re toast. - Does the solution require a larger investment from the user than the existing alternatives?
It may be difficult to see this in your own product, but perhaps it’s just too darned hard to use. Or perhaps it takes too darned long to accomplish a task. I’m getting frustrated just thinking about this one! It’s common to start with a simple solution that balloons by the time you get to completion, making it harder for users than what they were doing before. Perhaps it’s time to go back to square one, and look for an easier solution. - Was a prototype of the idea tested on real users before and throughout development?
Launching an entirely new product without prototyping and user testing throughout the process is like playing darts for the first time. Good luck! Do you really want to find out your execution was awful…after you’re done, or after a huge investment of time and money? Better late than never, try it now. - Did somebody else do it significantly better before you got to market?
Notice that I didn’t ask if someone else did it first. I asked if they did it better and first. It’s time to start thinking of versions 2 and 3, because you need to play leapfrog. Fast. - Were enough resources put on the project to make it succeed?
I’ll admit I’m not a big tennis fan, but I have heard of no man’s land. It’s that area in the middle of the court when you can’t get to the net, but you can’t back to the baseline. If you don’t stand in the right place, you don’t stand a chance to succeed. If you can’t commit to the right resources and the right amount of resources, you’re going to fail. You can either scale back on your goals, or pony up. Commit. Or quit. - Has the idea been given a true chance to flourish?
Don’t give up so fast. Some ideas just need time to catch on. Which leads to the next point… - Was the idea aggressively marketed to the right segment?
Some people believe the right solution will market itself. I believe that may be true, over time. But marketing is more than just consumer marketing. You need to make sure you target the right potential audience for your application. Demographics (age, gender, income range…), verticals, etc., who’s going to use it? How are you going to make sure they know you have a solution to their problem? Now you know who they are, just make sure you tell them. - Do all of the stakeholders buy in? Completely?
If not, change stakeholders or cut and run. - Did you define success and failure before you launched?
How can you succeed if you never defined success? Do it now, and lay out your goals for today, tomorrow, next month, next year, and the next three. Hurry! - Is it priced right, or is there a real revenue model?
“If you build it, they will come,” but can you afford for them to come? Are you asking too much from people? Or did you think at all about how you will make money? Some companies, like Twitter and Facebook, use the technique of building audience first, and getting a business model later. This could work. But then again, it could not. Get yourself a business model, or fail.
Disagree with any of these? Have some ideas of your own? Please share, I’ll keep this list updated. Perhaps you may even have some suggestions to get a bad idea to succceed!
Update 2/27/2009 – Check out a good related post by Seth Godin, Three things you need if you want more customers.
