Three things we learnt this week
Each and every week the Square Holes team are deep in the bowels of a number of projects, working to mine all of the insights that we can to help grow businesses and support thriving cities.
These insights are used by businesses and organisations to innovate their offerings, move into new markets, track their impact and hone their products and output. Each week we will be sharing a broad insight that we have learnt for you to use in your own work.
Let us know what you find valuable!
Dylan: Ritual vs Habit
As part of our month-long focus on rituals, I’ve been pondering the difference between a habit and a ritual. Every morning you might order coffee from the same spot. Every Friday night you order takeaway. Before watching your favourite team play (Go Crows!), you sit in the same spot, wear the same top and perhaps even have the same drink. Are these simply habits or have they become rituals? Habits and rituals are often thought of interchangeably – they both involve repetition, but they are not quite the same.
Rituals are repeated behaviours, but they carry something more than repetition alone. They tend to be more deliberate, emotional and connected to identity, relationships or culture. It’s not just about what we do, but what the moment comes to represent.
That’s perhaps the key difference. Habits help us get through the day, while rituals help give parts of it meaning.
Mahalia: Ritual feeling
Last year I started buying myself regular flowers for my house. It started after a trip to the market and the realisation that I could get two bunches for around $20 – $25. Due to another favourite ritual of mine (op shopping), I have many small and large vases and vessels around the place begging to be filled with some life. In my younger years, I would’ve seen fortnightly flowers for my home as extravagant and pointless, but as I’ve gotten older, I’m starting to become more attuned to how different things make me feel. Going to the market, picking out my bunches, bringing them home and arranging them, and finally making sure to recut and change the water 4 days in to extend their life – all these little rituals add joy, calmness and beauty to my week. For $20 – I’d say that was priceless.
Jason: Know your audience
Our revenue grew 33% last financial year.
Yesterday, in a meeting, someone went to our website and said: “I don’t know what you do.” While not intending to be rude, what I essentially said was: we are not for you. If you don’t understand what we do, perhaps we are not targeting you.
Being everything to everyone may seem like an obvious way to grow. Make a wine for everyone. Be available to provide advice to anyone. Opening your net wide to capture more customers and more revenue is often a fool’s strategy. Like a restaurant with a hundred-page menu or a consultancy claiming expertise in everything, trying to appeal to everyone can make it harder to be meaningful to anyone.
I did listen to Mr “I don’t know” and most certainly didn’t ignore him, but it was a little irritating and distracting.
Is it poor communication, or a different language? The simpler answer is: “we are not for you”.
Even a bottle of wine has nuance and complexity. Not every bottle is for everyone.
If you know who you are for, you can innovate with this in mind.
When you focus on who you serve, you can speak their language—and use your own language—with greater meaning and clarity for them. Growth doesn’t come from educating those who who don’t understand, it comes from finding and engaging those who do.
Often businessc comes from speaking a distinctive language.
And, this is likely to be right.
Square Holes is a cultural insight studio.
We design mixed method explorations of people and culture beyond the category, uncovering the patterns, tensions and shifts shaping behaviour to inform strategy, inspire innovation and enable confident decisions. Our studio model brings together the right mix of thinkers, researchers and specialists for each exploration. If you’re navigating change, entering a new market, or seeking deeper understanding of people and culture, let’s start a conversation >
