Mini Thought Piece - What's In It For Me?

Disclaimer #1: These opinions are solely my own, based on my own lived experience.  I fully respect anybody who may have different thoughts or ideas.  No one perspective is correct for all people or experiences.

Disclaimer #2: I generate my money by providing experiences that make people happy.

Now that that’s out of the way…

Over the weekend, a podcast extolling analog as the best way to listen to music blew into my orbit.  As my last music purchase was a vinyl album, I was hoping for some hard data around analog formats making more of a physiological impression like digital text vs. actual books.   In the end, the podcast was really nostalgia piece thinly veiled under some unrelated stats.  I didn’t necessarily agree with the host’s point; however, I respect that this was his truth.  Emotions are powerful motivators.

After thinking about the podcast, my mind started to spin on one of my favorite topics: Fostering emotional connections under the guise of fast paced innovation.  

For better or for worse, our country is more capitalist than democratic.  On a personal level, that means you get to keep more of your money. It also means that you have use that money to pay for things that other countries offer like higher education, health care, comprehensive transportation systems, robust art councils, etc..  In general, people embrace, and often permanently adopt, things that are cheap & easy.  When people need to be picky about how they spend their hard earned dollars, time, and energy, technology can really help.  Whether it’s depositing a check without having to drive to the bank or listening to all the new music releases on a Friday to see what you should buy for the weekend.  It can all be done with a small device in almost no time at all.

In the end, the questions aren’t really around the format, the device, or the delivery means – everyone will have their preferences.  

The 2 big questions are:

1. From my consumers’ perspective, “What’s in it for me?”

2. From my perspective as the content generator, “Am I providing an emotionally captivating experience for people that they feel is worth an investment of time, money, & energy?”

If I can’t answer those, nobody’s going to care if it’s analog or digital.