Why communities like Third Tribe Marketing are worth the cost

Recently, a partner and I were trying to decide which screen casting product to purchase for a community we are building. We both knew of ScreenFlow and Camtasia, but needed to decide which to review and ultimately purchase. I remembered a conversation thread in Third Tribe Marketing (affiliate link) about this subject. So, Google or Third Tribe was the question in my mind.

Third Tribe Marketing is worth the cost.

I logged in to Third Tribe Marketing, entered “screen casting” in the search box and bam! – a list of threads to research. In less than 10 minutes, I had the answers I needed. Best of all, I didn’t feel the need to research the credibility of the folks making the comments and recommendations. I already had a high degree of trust of the views and opinions expressed in the community.

What about using Google to do the research? Well, I tried that. There are plenty of results to search through, but many are just sites trying to sell or cash in on the affiliate relationship with the two companies. The irony of that statement based upon the topic of this post is not lost on me. The reality is that I achieved the same result but it took an hour to really trust the results. The value of 50 minutes of my time far exceeds the cost of my monthly Third Tribe subscription.

Beyond research communities are idea factories

Communities like Third Tribe Marketing and Kitchen Table Companies (not an affiliate link – I just love these guys) are great places to do research because the forums are loaded with great ideas, thoughts and commentary from bunches of smart folks. That, however, is just part of the equation. Some of my best ideas (like the one to build communities around our color verification solution) have come from community forums.

Need a new tag line for you business? I did and, with the help of my fellow Third Tribe members, developed “Verified Color. Everytime, Everywhere.” In a way, I guess I crowd-sourced that tag line because at least a dozen different folks commented on the thread over the couple weeks I took to get it right. That tag line is worth more than my total Third Tribe investment over the last year.

After a year as a member, I am even more inclined to recommend you take a look at communities like Third Tribe Marketing. I truly doubt you will be disappointed if you put the time and effort into participating in the forums.