I’ve been thinking about media for a long time now, and if asked to give advice to folks who are *not* in the media business, I often offer this chestnut: You’re in the media business too, whether you like it or not. As part of a long term sponsorship, American Express asked me to opine over on their site, you can find my first post here. An excerpt:
Today, I’ll assert, no matter what business you think you’re in – be it making widgets or providing a service, you’re now in the media business, plain and simple. Those that recognize this shift will succeed, those that ignore it will atrophy and eventually become irrelevant.
Now, what do I mean by the media business? Well, let’s start where all good businesses start: with the customer. Your customer’s media habits have changed dramatically in the past ten years. More likely than not, your customers spend nearly 15 hours a week online – it’s where they play, communicate, interact with services, and shop and research major purchases. In short, your customer has developed a major new media habit. The question is: Has your business?