I’ve heard a lot of people talk about change lately. I’m talking business and specifically marketing change of course. This isn’t a political blog…
I’ve heard a lot of people reflecting on the fact that the internet is changing everything. “Peoples behaviours are changing and so our businesses need to change to keep pace with that change” they say.
‘If we don’t change, we’ll get left behind’ is another refrain I’m hearing a lot. “Look at how people shop now, or how they consume media”
“Look at what people do for entertainment these days.”
In fairness to big business, Its hard to believe someone sits in their front room of an evening, maybe watching catch up TV on a tablet while studying an app that provides them with additional content for the show they are watching on their phone, while their nearest and dearest plays a game on a console with people from all over the world in a virtual real time sandbox where there are no walls or rules.
The kids meanwhile are probably creating something, maybe music, or video, or blogging even. If not they are face-timing or snap chatting or whats app’ing. I don’t even know if any of those things are actually words, but I you see what I mean.
“And all this is at risk..” so CEO’s all over the world are saying, while pointing to their declining but still vast profits and balance sheets and old fashioned bricks and mortar assets and market capitalisation and city valuations… “If we don’t change.”
Too late.
The world changed, while you talked about doing it.
Its not happening, it’s happened.
It’s not to come, it’s here.
This isn’t something to be afraid of, it’s something you are already a victim of. whether you realise it or not.
You’re over – all that remains is to work out how long it will take to die.
The internet changed everything – it was a few years back now. Everything else is just arguing over the final allocation of whats left.
Today, a kid with no formal education to speak of, with a great idea and a laptop computer, can build a media business that can scale at a pace never before seen on this planet. Zero to hero in a few short months. And he needn’t have any capital either.
A guy with an (un)natural(!) interests in tractor parts for pre 1973 John Deere machinery can be a world wide ‘celebrity’. Within his little niche at least. Given that the niche maybe only 0.001% of the typical population he can scale that against the world wide population of 8 billion and suddenly find out that he’s a brand.
A mum with some ideas as to how to best teach children at school, maybe how to reach them or how to set them up for life as future citizens of the planet we all inhabit can start by sending some emails or by starting a petition and can end up with a nation wide, if not world wide movement that unites thousands if not millions of people with the same ideas.
But not you big business. You are still talking about changing.
You are still broadcasting while everyone else has conversations.
You are still interrupting while everyone else is asking permission.
You are still selling while everyone else has moved into entertainment.
You are still trying to maximse your declining revenues, while everyone else has realised you need to solve peoples problems to win in today’s world.
You can’t change, and stay the same. You can’t shape for a new world, and hold on to the old. You need a plan to do that, and it had better involve gearing up for some pain along the way. Its not about catching up any more, its about doing it right, right now. Less talking about it, more doing it.
You can’t change – it’s too late.
