Giving & The Intangibles

We give away ideas and that makes some people nervous. But we do so because we're in an era when the willingness to share is evidence of progress toward a more social form of business. A way of doing things that says, "we know that our success truly is tied to yours. So, we're going to share some ideas. We're going to hear some from you. And then we're going to do something that matters, together."

I get that this is an intangible notion. But, we’re involved in four marketplaces that revolve around intangibles. We serve membership organizations, health care providers, educators and philanthropies. Intangibles. But let’s be careful. Intangible doesn’t mean it can’t be built. It doesn’t mean it can’t be measured. It doesn’t mean it can’t be segmented. And, it doesn’t mean it can’t be monetized. But it does mean you’ll have to live it.

You’ll have to live it because often times the only evidence of a brand’s intangibles is how they manifest in the lives of those who represent or who have a relationship with the brand.

I think it’s pretty clear to the community when you’re living your brand’s intangibles and when you’re not. And if you’re brand is about helping others connect in ways that might lead to their personal development, enable their well-being, drive toward achievement of their aspirations or empowerment them – then you better be practicing what you believe even when it doesn't translate into business.

One of our intangibles revolves around people, their ideas, and what we give away. This past week I was challenged regarding the logic of that. One expert told me, “Your ideas, like mine, are inventory. You need to make people pay for them.” I said, “You don’t know me very well. Most of my ideas serve only to demonstrate to others that like them we have ideas. And then through conversation they learn that unlike many of them, we have the know-how to do get ideas done (our ideas and theirs). 

Still with me? Well, I have an idea for you. We’ll call it “giving to be social”. It's risk free and it might be good practice. By social I mean to benefit others. By giving I mean sharing intangibles. And by “we’ll” I mean all of us.

Consider this list of things that my friends at Bigfish suggest could be given freely, without spending any money:

Give love

Give a hand

Give a pat on the back

Give a word of encouragement

Give Hope

Give yourself

Give someone a chance

Give all you have

Give your best

Give your heart

Give a hug

Give a smile

We can all do that. Right? Each of the items on the list requires putting ourselves out there a bit. Sort of like sharing an idea but without having to actually have an idea. You're just sharing something that might prove of value to them.

At Bigfish, we have ideas. We share them to start a dialogue. We give in part as a response to the shared interests found in conversation. And we're learning that no matter have much of it we do, we never run out of it.