Inclusive vs. Exclusive
Yesterday I got an exclusive invitation to be part of an online tribe at www.triiibes.com. It’s tied in with something Seth Godin is heading up linked with his forthcoming book entitled ‘Tribes: We need you to lead us‘.
This got me thinking about organisations that are inclusive and others that are more exclusive. I guess, to be fair, I’ve veered towards being anti anything exclusive.
This stems from my frustration with churches in particular which seem to take pleasure in keeping people out rather than welcoming them in. Not all churches, but more more than it should be.
Tied in with this, as Mosaic here in Sheffield, we have often talked about the need to be an inclusive community. We don’t want to exclude people. We want to be welcoming, no matter who the person is.
But then yesterday, a big part of the draw to accept this invitation to www.triiibes.com was the very fact that is was exclusive. That was a big part of its appeal. In fact, if it was just an open group, I’m not sure that I’d of been that bothered about it.
What does this tell us though? Does the very nature of the role and function of a church or charitable organisation make this a totally different issue than for businesses? Or is the same?
Is exclusive always bad? Could charities and faith based organisations leverage exclusivity to attract proactive, highly involved people to work them?
I’m still trying to get my head around this. What do you think?
August 1st, 2008 at 6:04 pm
my first reaction…go over to the site and see if i can trick them into including me. maybe they’ll have a glitch where my email sign in would work…or it was attached to another sign in for something else.
it didn’t work.
and it makes me not want to look into it any more. honestly…it’s like walking up to a storefront…going to open a door and it’s locked with people inside…you knock and everyone ignores you…so you go next door and make your purchases there.
What is it anyway? Is it a church thing? Is it a business thing?
August 1st, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Ha! I understand.
It’s a business thing. Described as: “For people who want to lead a tribe and make something happen. It’s by invitation only until October, and we’re lucky to have you.”
Lot’s or marketers and leaders. Some great conversations happening.
I think your reaction highlights the fact that people’s reaction to something that is exclusive will always be different.
August 2nd, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Its only exclusive until October 2008. Then anyone who wants in can get in.
August 5th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Don’t wish to sound cynical but seems like a clever marketing trick to me. After all, we’re all talking about it aren’t we?!
Nothing like flattering people with exclusive invitations to make them consider something they wouldn’t otherwise. Or is that just me…?
I want in.
August 5th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
I agree Chris. I don’t think you’re being cynical, I think that’s pretty obvious. Bar the fact that I don’t think it’s a trick. Sure, Seth wants to sell his book. And in order to be in this new network you have to pre-order his book. So whatever else happens, he’s guaranteed a few thousand sales. Nice marketing!
But, and this I think is key, there’s a different between duping people into something that is actually duff and inviting people into something that is win-win. People know that Seth will be generating sales of his book. There’s no trick there. But he’s also inviting people into a network.
And this is actually a risk for him. If all these early adopters think it sucks and that we’ve been duped into join this site then the people who are most likely to be raving fans about his book will have been alienated. He would kill a key segment of people for generating word or mouth marketing.
What I’m seeing so far is that people love the fact that they’ve been connected to people they would never have had a chance to connect to before. It’s triggering creativity, support, new projects, joint ventures…all good stuff. Essentially, people want to be there.
A good marketing strategy seems to me to be to under promise and over deliver. If Seth was to do the opposite here, it’d back fire big style.
And, to be honest, I’m not bothered about there being something in it for someone else (Seth in this case) if there’s also something very good in it for me.
Just a few thoughts…thanks for stopping by!
August 5th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
I’m kinda turned off by the fact that there is already a venerable social network called Tribes. Its been around for ages in internet years. Countercultures use it to keep in touch with their respective communities.
Maybe Seth didn’t realize this when he spelled tribes with an ‘iii,’ but it seems a tad disrespectful to me. Tribes is run by artists instead of businessfolk & lawyers so it’s okay to rip-off their positioning?
I was going to buy the book, then thought better of it.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Thanks for the tip, Sam. I hope to be in the included, not excluded. But that’s the thing with Seth Godin, because he is looking for the remarkable - the stuff we remark on to others - it’s about passing it on. I’m looking forward to the experience … and having six other books by Godin on my bookshelf means I’m full of anticipation.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Look forward to seeing you in there!