The Wisdom of the Crowd

Research has found that combined conclusions of multiple independent judges are more accurate than any given sole judge. In simple terms: using the summary of many people is better than the judgement of one.

A few days ago I finished my planbook for The Arts Marketplace and presented it a day later. Being a Public Relations class meant we had many unique methods of how to best improve business-community relations. One of my peers suggested that our client(Arts Marketplace) start giving thank you cards to all their buyers. Despite being impressed by her non-mainstream idea, I'm going to focus on what basically everyone agreed on.

Little background. This campaign project was for my Fundamentals of Public Relations class at GVSU. We were given a real client by our professor. Our client is the ‘Arts Marketplace’ in Grand Rapids. They're a non-profit who provides retail space for women and minority business owners. Think of a boutique center made to help the sellers start a business.

Some people, me included, didn't feel the need to say this because it was so obvious... They need to make donating online available on their website. I heard they remade/created their website a couple years ago and I think they haven't touched it since. If you go to the donate section of their website, you'll find a promise of an online donation option coming December 2021. I didn't pay attention in pre-school, so I'm not great with months but I know that's TWO years ago! My survey found that over 50% of people prefer donating with card. I'm one of those people, but I'd probably never donate in-person. Everyone was thinking it; Arts Marketplace needs to make good on their promise.

On a broader topic, nearly everyone from my class decided to create an awareness campaign. The reasoning is straightforward. Everyone from our class lives in the GR area, but only a couple of people had even heard of the Arts Marketplace. The bottom-line is this: retail stores are getting their collective butts kicked by online shopping. Amazon has become synonymous with convenient shopping, not simply online shopping. One of the few things still going for brick & mortar stores is the experience. One thing holds constant between online and in-person shopping. People shop where they are familiar. Everyone in class understood this and most of us made it our main priority.

I worked really hard on my campaign planbook for the Arts Marketplace. But even if they don’t take my advice, I hope they see what my class agreed on and use the wisdom of the crowd. Brainpower in numbers!

Wisdom of the Crowd article-

https://hbr.org/2018/12/the-right-way-to-use-the-wisdom-of-crowds