They say timing is everything in life. Woody Allen is quoted as saying, “80% of success is showing up.”
Well, those that are interested in Internet marketing are lucky because in this period of time, the timing is good and if you show up there is a great likelihood of having success.
Some background:
I had the good fortune to get bit by the technology bug when I was coming out of school in the mid-1990’s—smack dab mid-90’s; 1995 to be exact. At that point, the Internet was the much discussed, but somewhat mystifying “Information Superhighway.” Remember that?
In a Journalism media research class we actually had a class project that was Internet-based—as in, research this subject using –gasp!— the Internet.
Ah, the good old days. It seems so quaint now. Do college students still take class notes in longhand and go to the library to use the Dewey Decimal System?
Taken with the Internet and technology a little over a decade ago, I pretty much chucked my Journalism degree to pursue technology sales and marketing. I guess I was kind of an early adopter, as far as Internet technology goes.
During the go-go period of the dot-com run-up, there was a magazine that was THE BIBLE for those in and around the Internet—The Industry Standard.
The Industry Standard had a nice run for a couple of years, but eventually died an untimely death when their advertising revenue dried up with the contraction of the go-go Internet companies in 2001.
Well, I caught wind of its re-start as a Web-only magazine with the tagline, “Predict the Future of the Internet.”
It makes sense, since most people see Web 2.0 and social media as not another bubble, but an enduring change in our business landscape as the cost of entry using technology has gone down immeasurably and the ability to measure your marketing dollars using web-based technology has gone up immeasurably.
Predicting the future of the Internet via the wisdom of The Industry Standard audience seems like a pretty safe bet, too.
Let me give you my own prediction: every business in the country will be (or will wish they were) blogging over the coming five years. Customers will begin to see organizations that don’t blog as somehow less transparent and not as trustworthy. Those that don’t communicate in a human voice will not have as great of an opportunity to acquire research and due diligence-oriented customers as those that do.
Here at Compendium, we are leaders nationally by providing a blogging platform geared towards businesses and marketers that want to translate the “conversation” that blogging offers to actual customers. We do this with some secret sauce, but also consultatively supporting our clients to generate relevant, value-added content that drives to search engine optimization that leads to traffic to their blog that leads to a conversion of a lead (and potentially a customer) and a subsequent ROI. Brilliant, right?
We know it and live it, but those that share our vision will likewise be early adopters in a change that is not-so-subtly occurring around us.
Will your company be the new Industry Standard for your niche? If you’re not sure, check out this site and help predict the future of the Internet, but I'm confident you'll see the opportunity to be an early adopter and, like Woody Allen, be a part of the 80% that "shows up."
