Do You Know About Crowdsourcing?
When New York City needed help improving their transportation network, they knew they were in trouble. There wasn’t much money in the transportation budget to make improvements, the improvements had to be done, and it all had to be done rather quickly. The city decided to turn toward ChallengePost to see if there was an innovative way of improving their network that they just weren’t seeing. The result? The city estimates that it received over $10 million worth of innovation for the small investment of $20,000! Great ideas can come from anywhere. Crowdsourcing helps to bring those ideas to you.
How Does Crowdsourcing Work?
Whether it is through a contest structure, through job postings, or it’s just through affordable stock photography, crowdsourcing works by offering value to people who may need a little extra work. For example, with oDesk, over 130,000 jobs have been posted, over 2 million hours have been worked, and over $25 million has been earned by people who normally wouldn’t have had access to those funds. In return, corporations receive fresh ideas, a new perspective, and a level of innovation that they can’t always get internally. You don’t have to rely on just one supplier any more.
There Is Wisdom Within the Crowd
With over 800 guesses of the weight of a prize winning bull, guests at a county fair in the early 1900’s weren’t able to guess the actual weight of the bull. What happened, however, is that when all of the weights were averaged together, the combined guesses of the crowd were just 1 pound off of the exact weight of the bull. Leveraging the wisdom of a crowd is essential because that crowd is your consumer base. Instead of having to market a product or test something out, you can solicit their ideas before the creation process begins and know that you’ll have a winning concept. Iceland has banked on crowdsourcing to the point that their next constitution will be crowdsourced!
How Can This Work For You?
It doesn’t take a lot of money to start crowdsourcing. A writer, for example, can take five $4 contracts each hour for a variety of informational posts and turn those contracts around to earn $160 for an eight hour day of working at home. In a down economy, $20 per hour is a pretty good wage to do something you love! In return, a business only has to invest $4 in the writer to potentially get $40,000 worth of value from what has been written. If it doesn’t pan out, as a business you’ve lost the equivalent to a cup of coffee. Crowdsourcing works on both sides of the equation because there is value for both parites.
Are You Ready To Try Crowdsourcing?
There are a number of sites that offer crowdsourcing opportunities based on your specific needs. Even the White House is using crowdsourcing sites to find innovative solutions for some of today’s biggest problems! If you are looking for an affordable solution to a problem you might be facing, take a look at how crowdsourcing could help you solve them. Chances are you’ll find the right solution at a great price!
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