Prepare the Way: We will all be media companies

Sat in on a great panel yesterday with Amanda Watlington (Searching for Profit), Christina Howe (Avid) and Rebecca Lieb (eConsultancy) discussing what the world's leading brands are doing.

The discussion was all about content (loved it!).

One attendee asked this question to the panel. "Right now social media is hot, but what is the next big thing we should keep our eyes on?"

I was the first to answer, and this immediately came to mind, and it will happen (is happening).

Over the next few years (not sure exactly when), we won't be able to tell the difference between media companies (publishers) and companies that off non-informational products and services.

Look at it this way. Advertising and traditional marketing is becoming less and less effective. Engagement is fostered today by delivering consistent, relevant, compelling content to our customers (like P&G) - or - showing them a good time (like Blendtec) [for more on that, check out this custom content post about UPS]. That content creation is the fodder for getting involved in the online conversation and positioning your brand as a trusted solutions provider.

At the same time, media companies that have developed great brands and loyal audiences around delivering content are having trouble selling advertising. They all know that traditional advertising (even online display in some cases) is not going to bounce back. So, they are looking at developing products their readers can buy like data products, online software tools (i.e., Smartools from MarketingProfs), and actual manufactured products ala what Martha Stewart has done.

Whether you are a brand that offers products and services or a brand that offers information as the product, this completely changes your business model.

This is coming, and soon.  Actually, it may even be here but we haven't noticed yet.

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Comments

[Steve Seager]

Genius point. It IS here, we have just been distracted by the 'shiny-ness' of new/social media :) Am working on this issue with European clients as we speak been. Good to know the innovation fuss over social media is dying down and we are getting to the crunch. We follow your blog, and are working like rabid hamsters to kick our clients' little butts to get them one step ahead of the game. Keep spreading the gospel man!

[Dan Hutson]

Hi Joe. I think you've made a pretty compelling case in various posts for the idea that many companies (and perhaps other types of organizations) are on the road to becoming a new type of media company.

In some ways it seems to mirror what happened with magazine publishers: A publisher with a niche title adds complementary titles to broaden (or deepen) the niche, then adds non-magazine product like conferences, books, custom publishing, etc. to develop ancillary sources of revenue that capitalize on the original brand and capabilities. Eventually you might even forget that first humble magazine title that got it all started.

This seems to be similar but from another direction: Widget manufacturer builds a customer base that opens opportunities to add magazines, newsletters, books, conferences, etc. to the product mix, maybe achieving such success in these ancillary businesses that they get out of the original widget business that inspired it all. Who's to say that Starbucks will always sell coffee?

[Joe Pulizzi]

@ Steve...thanks for the kind words. Don't get me wrong, I love what social media can do, but without anything valuable to say, social media can't do much.

@ Dan...right on. Actually, I've been watching what Zappos is doing with their brand right now. It looks like they are positing their brand around a certain "culture" of products, which pretty much opens them up to serving a certain kind of culture with any type of product.

[John Cass]

Joe,

I think you make a great point about the removal of clear lines between media companies and brand companies when it comes to publishing. What's interesting to me is that companies may be further ahead in using some of the available tools for monitoring and triage. If you look at some of the listening platform vendors (listening platform was coined by Forrester) you begin to notice that some of them are integrating their monitoring services with CRM. Customer relationship management is a bigger issue for brand companies. While journalists have not traditionally engaged the community individually companies have, but with other resources. I think it will be interesting to see how brand companies influence media companies.

Those technologies are going to help both brand and media companies with content creation.

This is what's exciting about content marketing, the goal and strategy of valuable content is driving engagement.

[dominique]

Very good post !

I think the real big thing is when Workgroup within corporation will behave as Media companies.

So far we're already experiencing this at brand/ corporate level and at individual level (with all the discussion around personal branding).

Corporate groups used to do that for economy of scale and in a context of mass media. With the market transforming into communities the need for agility and customer focus offset the economy of scale one gain in centralized communication.
Branding will therefore transform into providing training/education to workgroup on consistency.

Individual behaving like media is OK for gurus (Scoble...) but won't scale.

[Tim Lloyd]

This is an interesting post. Do you think that the new media aspect to all businesses will be handled exclusively in-house, or will media services continue to be outsourced?

[Joe Pulizzi]

Tim...great question. Here is what I think. Right now, you'll continue to see a mix of in-house resources and usage of ad agencies, pr firms, direct marketing firms, seo firms, custom publishers, traditional publishers and freelance journalists help them execute the media.

Gradually, organizations will develop strong content proficiencies as part of their marketing department, which will lessen the need for large-scale outsourcing. Don't get me wrong, there will always be outsourcing, but it will be for different things since the marketing of tomorrow is all about engagement through content.

[Russell Sparkman]

Hi Joe,

re: Organizations developing in-house content capabilities and proficiencies ...

I understand the probability of this happening in large companies. But in "small businesses," which are a major backbone of the economy -- not to mention non-profits, government agencies, etc. -- I would imagine continued reliance upon outside agencies for content strategy and content development will prevail for the long term.

I can't imagine some of our small business clients, for example, hiring content professionals to be on staff.

But, maybe this is just the wishful thinking of a content provider!

[Joe Pulizzi]

Hi Russell...I agree with you, especially for small businesses. I think what I'm getting at is that the idea of content marketing just becomes plain old marketing.

People will start to get it and understand the value of a content strategy. They will then have expert resources in house, ramp up or outsource.

Don't worry, there will be plenty of opportunities. Large businesses, though, will need to act like media companies to really grow (IMO).

[Vince Giorgi]

I agree, Joe, that once bright lines are blurring all over when it comes to media, marketing and ontent.

A company that recognizes the power of great content to add value for a business-critical audience can essentially become a "media company" overnight. The same goes for individuals.

But given a potentially boundless proliferation of media sources and content streams, I keep picturing (and pitying?) the poor consumer or business person. Already challenged to process a tsunami of news, information and inspiration coming at them. More coming at them each day.

Maybe that's why I think the best media brands -- say, for example, the top trade magazines in their respective verticals -- are likely to survive and prosper long term.

After all, there are only so many hours in the day. More and more, consumers of content might look to their favorite media brands as designated monitors and packagers of what's most useful.

Certainly media companies will need to adapt. But they're in the catbird's seat to play that role of content aggregator and filter for an audience with which they have a relationship, and whose information needs they understand.

In fact, maybe traditional media companies will begin to evolve their business models to focus more on being content collectors and arbiters -- what's good, what's not, what's worth the audience's time -- rather than producers.

And, to your point, is this already happening?

[Joe Pulizzi]

I agree with you Vince, but here's a clarification - We will rely on both media companies AND enterprise-side companies to keep us informed and educated (as we do today in many cases). This will just grow stronger. Those that do it well will prosper.

Yes, media companies are in the catbird's seat, and they will evolve into helping their readers choose what's best - but that doesn't mean that advertising will be enough to support the business model. They'll need to develop products and services for either readers or advertisers that go beyond sponsorship. A number of btob players have been working on this model for a while (data products), but I believe we will see expansion into more areas.

What do you think?

[Kirk Cheyfitz]

Joe -- The interplay between content and conversation also was the hot topic at Digital Hollywood last week in Santa Monica. Here's a blog post that examines one intersection of brand content and social media: http://tinyurl.com/o3ku2y