Digital Globalization & Democratization: Good?

There are two major market impacts of the internet:

• Markets Converge – Where before you had many winners in the same market (usually due to geographic contraints), today a company anywhere can compete everywhere.  The result is a single global market, yet there can still be only one #1.
• Media Fracture – Once upon a time, if you wanted to reach a local market, you advertised to everyone in that geographic area by placing an ad in the newspaper.  It cost a lot because many people saw the ad, even if only a small fraction were remotely interested.  The good news: you advertised to everyone in your market in one place.  Today, due to the democratization of media (low barriers to entry = more media channels), no one medium has everyone’s attention.  ”Going where the audience is” to advertise to them is harder than ever.

Is this good news?

All of this sounds very doom & gloom, so I’m going to take a few moments to concentrate on the up-side.  For consumers, the benefits are numerous: increased competition nearly always yields lower prices, higher convenience and greater selection.  For producers facing all of this competition, the benefits are harder to innumerate.

Niche Market Growth – If your business caters to a niche crowd, growing access to a market where you’re already a leader means more sales.

Reduced Advertisement Cost - Since the audience of each medium is smaller and more targeted, it is cheaper and more efficient to reach your audience.

Increased Marketing Opportunity Outside of Advertising -  Social media facilitate the most-valuable word-of-mouth marketing, and nearly all such media are available for free.

Content Marketing - A successful strategy is to become viewed as an expert.  There are fewer barriers to creating this perception in the blog age.

Image: Gary Huston