For the first time in history, the most valuable commodity is not something we can see, touch, smell.
It’s largely invisible as it moves through the world.
It’s our data.
And it’s a billion dollar industry.
When you’re building your small business, you’re constantly told to know you customers, find out exactly what they want, develop products and services that meet their needs.
And as a small business, we mostly do that in small chunks, getting on the phone, asking people in person, setting up surveys, polls, stalking people on social media and logging it down somewhere so you can build a picture of the people that are most likely to buy what you’re selling.
And where they are.
So you can put your offer in front of them.
Imagine, instead of sending out polls, getting on calls, asking questions individually, logging those answers, you had access to powerful systems that would tell you exactly what people do, what they like, what they don’t like, the type of person that lives in a geographic location and what makes them laugh, frown, cry.
What would you do with that information?
Because if you know what moves people, if you know what buttons to push to get them to react, positively or negatively, then the next step is figuring out how to get them to react the way you want them to.
To manipulate them.
And that’s the crux of the matter for me.
Whether it’s for good or bad reasons, every day I feel more manipulated.
Every advert, post, letter, email I receive, contributes to the feeling that someone else is pushing my buttons.
Don’t get me wrong. I love data.
I’ve used it a lot.
And I love how easy it is to get information, to connect with people online, to see what’s happening in almost every part of the world.
But what concerns me is how unscrupulous people can, are and will use our data to sell us things that are not in our best interests!
Two things brought this home to me this week.
Watching a documentary on Cambridge Analytica.
And seeing my personality laid out with how to “handle” me on my linked in page through the app Crytal Knows.
It makes you wonder who you can trust.
I have no answers. The cat is out of the bag now and just like the atomic bomb or genetic engineering, once the discovery is made, it can’t be unmade.
But as individuals, as business owners, we can all make a choice in what we do, in how we use the information we gather about our customers.
To give value, to actually develop products and services that people want and need to make their lives better.
As small business owners, we can be more personal, we can get to know our customers, we can empathise with them, we can help them.
And that’s my belief and hope.
That the more individuals starting and growing businesses, ethically, where they have the best interests of their customers at heart and provide value, then the better this world will be.
Whether it’s building sound and structurally safe homes, providing access to sustainable building materials, improving people’s health, wealth and happiness, we can all be of value.
And we can refuse to use the shady manipulation techniques that are promoted all over the internet right now.
We don’t have to prey on people’s fears, hopes and dreams to sell to them.
We can choose another way.
What way will you choose?
Further reading on this topic
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/321611
https://knowledge.insead.edu/customers/manipulating-consumers-is-not-marketing-4662
