Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

We've all seen how profoundly the Internet has disrupted industries such as music, travel and even florists. But what's easy to miss is that it's not even close to finished yet. In fact, the Internet's impact is just getting started in most other industries. And it's also revolutionizing business practices across all industries.

One of these is marketing. Yet most companies have no idea of how big a change digital is bringing, and they certainly aren't prepared for what's coming.

As with any such change however, there are opportunities as well as threats. The companies that are aware of the transition and find ways to use it to their advantage will be the net beneficiaries. Those that do not are likely to slowly fade into obscurity....

When to trust a theory over hard data, why companies that try to do too much get picked apart by competitors, and why sometimes industries have to learn the same lessons over and over.

...Skok said news organizations often do study their history, but they don’t focus enough on what’s coming next. Looking at profit and loss statements every quarter emphasize a snapshot of the past; Clay’s work says no, don’t only trust that balance sheet — trust a theory to predict what will happen in the future. But the idea of running large companies based on theories over hard numbers is a tough sell, Skok said.

As disruption occurs, it commoditizes layers in the value stack — what used to be a high-value-added activity, one others couldn’t easily replicate, becomes cheap and easy. In journalism, the Internet, wireless technology, and other technologies have broadened the market for information. As a result, Christensen said, everyone has access to more information than they could possibly use. But that doesn’t mean that the whole indusry has become commoditzed and profitable: Commoditization opens up opportunities in adjacent layers in the value stack, he said. What you thought was a commodity becomes more profitable and proprietary — so even as one business dies, it opens up new opportunities. He cited the example of Forbes, whose previous core business — a print magazine — has been commoditized, but which has made interesting new moves online....