Image sourced from: http://mashable.com/2010/05/26/creative-crowdsourcing/
Crowdsourcing has been described as distributed problem-solving. It is a marketing technique in which companies involve the public in their product choices and sales as much as possible. A recent example of this is Coca Cola’s latest ‘name on a bottle’ idea. This has not only boosted their sales (as everyone wants their name on a bottle) but has also drawn massive attention and revitalised recognition of the company. Coca Cola has been around for years and has done well in keeping their name and their business so possitively renowned. Their use of crowdsourcing has contributed towards this. They have also previously re-sold limited edition Coca Cola flavours, chosen by the public, which had been taken off sale some years before.
Walkers are another good example for crowdsourcing results as they hold regular competitions, the latest regarding the flavouring of their crisps. The aim was for the public to send in their ideas for new flavours and if the company liked the idea they would then produce a bag of crisps with that specific chosen flavouring. They then held a competition with the public again to decide which of these flavours would become a permanent part of the walkers range.
Wikipedia has built their brand on the basis of crowd sourcing. Instead of hiring their own writers and editors they gave the public the chance to create their own information and descriptions for their site. This has resulted in Wikipedia becoming the most successful encyclopaedia known worldwide.
Crowdsourcing is an excellent way of creating loyal customers and keeping your company products relevant to your consumers.
There are many types of useful crowdsourcing;
– Crowdsourcing Design – This is where you have the ability to put forward your ideal design specifications where a group of designers will then work to produce that for you. Hundreds could be produced and if one meets you requirements you have the chance to purchase it. This can initially reduce the cost and improve the quantity and originality of your company designs.
– Crowdfunding – Crowdfunding is a way for start-ups or anyone needing to raise money for a project to ask for donations. A target is set and if the money is not raised to the full amount than all donations are to be refunded.
– Microtasks – Microtasking is when you split a large job into a number of sections and then send each section to an individual for them to work on. This improves the speed of the process, keeps the work load down and also keeps the cost down.
– Open Innovation– An Open Innovation is when an idea or problem is put out to individuals from all over the world and from all different levels of expertise. They then all work on the subject together. This gives a number of perspectives to the situation and also introduces you to contacts you possibly wouldn’t have met another way.
Crowdsourcing is ideal to gain higher quality results, ideas, techniques and support from sources in all areas of the world and expertise. It keeps costs down for companies and allows you to keep up to date with what’s happening with business ideas across the globe. This is a good way of sourcing hidden talent.
A further example of how crowdsourcing can be beneficial to your business is by using this kind of public interaction to repair any complaints on your product or company. A simple question can be asked, for instance ’what improvements can we make to our products/promotions?’ These kinds of questions not only show consumers that your company cares about what you are selling but also that you are willing to change products to provide consumers with what they want. This will keep your customers loyal to you and allow you to keep up to date with your consumer’s needs.
Crowdsourcing from external sources means you will not need to provide training, there will be no need to pay a salary after the deadline is met, you could get free marketing through social media sites and also instant possible hiring potential without the hassle of sourcing and interviewing etc.
Crowdsourcing does have a number of disadvantages too. These disadvantages include what can be referred to as ‘debatable ownership’. Although online contracts need to be agreed to before anyone can submit any work, there isn’t a lot that can be done to ensure the same work isn’t also posted anywhere else. If the same work is found elsewhere than both have to be taken off of the market. Another disadvantage is the inconsistency of design work that will appear in your advertising. If your designs are constantly produced by a number of different individuals then there will be a number of obvious differences in them. This can be damaging in the sense that your company will not have a trade mark as such or a distinctive pattern in your work, possibly making your products unrecognisable to some extent.
Overall, putting these disadvantages aside, Crowdsourcing appears to be an effective way of cutting your companies costs, gaining a variety of information and ideas throughout the world and also staying up to date with your consumers.
So, SLA would like to ask all our clients for their thoughts and feedback on “What improvements can we make to our services?” J