Make quality your entry point in business

then posted it on YouTube.
“Mbichana Mvura” music video had over 10 000 hits in its first week online (if you have not seen it yet, then head over to YouTube and look it up).
Regardless of what you think of the song, it has had a reach far beyond the number of people that the composers could have managed to reach had they tried a one on one approach in the same time frame.
The electronic version of “word-of-mouth” has seen it spreading through Facebook, emails, Skype and Whatsapp.
I found one of the Mbichana boys through their YouTube page and managed to sit down with him this week.
He said that the song was intended to paint a beautiful picture of the fun-loving nature of the people in the country.
It just happened that people started getting into the song. He also said that they were also using the song as a market research to see what people grasp a hold of on the internet and what people pay attention to.
What these local boys have done with the song is the same thing that is being internationally by “ThePianoGuys”.
They have over a million hits on every video that they release on YouTube. Each week they give away online a well crafted, classical interpretation of a piece of music. Their audience is huge.
At the bottom of the video is a link to their website where you can buy one of their albums.
You do not have to necessarily buy it, you can just hit the replay button, yet there is something about their presentation and music that makes you want to buy the music anyway.
Their music is so popular that even if only 1 percent of people who view their music spend money on their albums that will still give them some pretty good turnover (one of their videos has over nine million views over a two- year period).
A song, a business or a concept are basically the same because there is always a message behind them that you want people to know.
An artist is like a business and the way he markets himself is through trendy, catchy lyrics (slogans) that people adopt into their culture.
Now before you rush to take out your camcoder to try and film your own little flick here are a few things to consider.
Ask yourself why people will like your product and why they will send it to their friends and why it will catch on virally.
Here are a handful of things to consider. People want quality. High definition videos, clear sound and a good mix make a good video. Quality has become easier to achieve due to technological advancement.
Smartphone applications can be used to create high-calibre invoices, slick photos and high definition recordings.
Quality is your entry point — you have to improve from there (unless, of course, your differential is really bad quality but I’m not sure if people will want to listen to you).
Know your market and use sadza when necessary. “Mbichana Mvura” would not have taken off if the people it was first sent to online had no affiliation to Zimbabwe or if they had a poor sense of humour.
Using relevant humour and irony are ways to steal people’s time. About 90 percent of people spend their days doing serious things, listening to serious ideas and being told to buy a serious product that is serious about itself and it’s labelling.
No one in the world laughs too much, and in a global economy where people are a little more stressed than usual this is a very important thing.
A concept that involves a little humour will go a longer way than a “we are a serious company” splurge.
Be exceptional. Your product has to differentiate among the millions of other videos uploaded every day around the world.
“ThePianoGuys” are different to other bands and other classical music players.
Their sound and compositions are different, their videos are different. They stand out.
In a world that has so much information online and with so much on offer, the remarkable will stand out, the ordinaries merely blend in with the mundane.
Hoisting a piano to the top of a mountain takes effort (and a helicopter) but it is remarkable and will do wonders for your product because it is unique.
Love it! You have to love what you do. A passion for what you do has to exude from you in relation to your product.
People are cynical enough to spot if you are faking it, there is so much junk in the world that people have become very good at discerning if someone is not authentic.
Yes, the accents in “Mbichana Mvura” are not real but then the video is not a serious one either.
Be a giver. Be willing to give more in value than you receive. “Mbichana Mvura” was posted free online and has brightened the day of over 10 000 people.
“ThePianoGuys” give away their art, but I bet that the more they give away the more they end up making in sales, in recording deals, in performance opportunities.
This week I was at one of the prominent banks in the country for a meeting with the senior executives.
In our meeting we discussed how the brand could tap into the viral market. I told them to go look at “Mbichana Mvura”. The bank now wants to go that route.
It may not be the first idea that goes viral, it may be the second or third. Tweak your experience, refine your product, find what works and go for it.
Sometimes half the success is merely in showing up. Get 10 000 people to stop, take three minutes out of their day and do nothing but watch what you have to say.