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Why Marketing Flywheels Work

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Re: Why Marketing Flywheels Work

#61

Post by true_religion »

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #59
hyko wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. All these examples seem to stem from a fundamental misunderstanding about what a flywheel is and what it can do. They are primarily for storing and releasing energy; they don’t generate their own momentum. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flywheel

Who cares? Seriously, it’s a metaphor that no one has issues understanding, so why the pedantic nitpicking?

I hadn’t heard of the metaphor before and understood it based on the words used.

Flywheels aren’t some kind of academics only term. If you’ve ever touched a mechanical fishing rod, you have used a fly wheel.

Re: Why Marketing Flywheels Work

#62

Post by magicalhippo »

hyko wrote: post #44
rsweeney21 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Marketing flywheels power money printing machines, not electric turbines. This article isn't meant to require an understanding of physics. It's meant to help people not familiar with marketing understand the principal of building momentum in a channel.

That’s not my argument. What I’m saying is that a flywheel is a poor analogy for what is being described. If you understand what a flywheel is, and I tell you that there is such a thing as a “marketing flywheel”, you’re no closer to understanding what I’m talking about. A much better physical analogy would be a chain reaction, or something like compounding if you wanted a mathematical one: i.e. anything where the ini…

> If you understand what a flywheel is, and I tell you that there is such a thing as a “marketing flywheel”, you’re no closer to understanding what I’m talking about.

Clearly a "marketing flywheel" is something which keeps the marketing momentum going between marketing campaigns, reducing the spiking to something more steady... well at least to me :)

Re: Why Marketing Flywheels Work

#63

Post by karmakaze »

hyko wrote: post #4

The term “Marketing Flywheel” doesn’t really enlighten anyone, because that’s not how flywheels work. Flywheels are a store of energy, not an energy multiplier. In a true marketing flywheel, you’d only ever get out slightly less than you put in. By that definition, I have been involved in many marketing flywheels to date.

Yes the math does not support the metaphor. This is the kind of thing that would irk me but I'm fine with this one. I imagine a massive flywheel where each input imperceptibly changes angular velocity and in early stages is moving in slow motion like a joke. Keep at it and it becomes an unstoppable beast (neglecting friction of course). This is content marketing. Nothing until it's something.

Re: Why Marketing Flywheels Work

#64

Post by Jommi »

csallen wrote: post #52
Jommi wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not a fly wheel, this is economies of scale. There are established words for these things. Why do we invent new ones that don't make sense? Flywheel output less than the input is. Why would we use that word?

Economies of scale is a distinct concept that's different than a flywheel. Yes, EoS plays an intimate role in powering a lot of flywheels. For example, the section of Amazon's flywheel that allows them to offer lower prices as a result of having more sellers works via EoS. However, it wouldn't make any sense to try to describe the entire flywheel concept using the term EoS, because lots of information would be lost,…

That's still not a flywheel, that's a network effect. Like I said these are set terms from academia for these specific meanings.

Like I'd aid flywheels have always meant energy storage mechanisms that don't reach 100% efficiency.

Re: Why Marketing Flywheels Work

#65

Post by perl4ever »

gk1 wrote: post #48
waheoo wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or just say what it is, compounding growth. You guys always gotta make stuff more complicated than it is.

The English language is full of idioms and metaphors; marketers are hardly the only ones using them. Actually "snowball" probably makes more intuitive sense to people than "compounding growth."

A snowball rolling down hill is a metaphor for compounding growth.

Re: Why Marketing Flywheels Work

#66

Post by csallen »

Jommi wrote: post #64
csallen wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Economies of scale is a distinct concept that's different than a flywheel. Yes, EoS plays an intimate role in powering a lot of flywheels. For example, the section of Amazon's flywheel that allows them to offer lower prices as a result of having more sellers works via EoS. However, it wouldn't make any sense to try to describe the entire flywheel concept using the term EoS, because lots of information would be lost,…

That's still not a flywheel, that's a network effect. Like I said these are set terms from academia for these specific meanings. Like I'd aid flywheels have always meant energy storage mechanisms that don't reach 100% efficiency.

Same as EoS, network effects can be a component of a flywheel, but aren't necessarily equivalent to the entire flywheel itself. Network effects simply mean that the value of the service increases the more people who use it, whereas a flywheel represents the entire positive feedback loop that may be driven by individual components like network effects, EoS, etc.

Marketers know very well what network effects and economies of scale are, and the concept of a flywheel is distinct from either. You can have a flywheel without EoS or network effects, and you can have EoS or network effects without having a flywheel.

Also, it's somewhat pointless to debate what the "original" meaning of flywheel is. Language evolves and changes, and people from one field borrow terminology from others when creating helpful analogies. Terms like "funnel" and "flywheel" are hardly the first to receive such treatment, and they won't be the last.

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