Just because a self-proclaimed marketing/branding/media guru-expert says so doesn’t make it fact. Sure these guys have big followings (and so do Instagram girls, just a different flavor of mindless stimulation), but that’s because they are followed by people who don’t know any better.
So because Amazon and Netflix got into the production game, and now apple and the rest will follow doesn’t mean you, a (fill-in-the-blank) company are a media company. That way of thinking is just silly.
Do you think Tesla thinks of themselves as a media company? How about Mercedes? Or McDonald’s? Coke-Cola? Nike? Nope, these companies are not media businesses. They are product and service businesses, just like the majority of companies in the world. What they do, who they are, the reason they exists IS NOT TO PRODUCE CONTENT (media).
The problem is trending terminology. So today people like the word, media. Simple example, shooting a tv commercial. That’s media, right? duh…. Every company who has ever believed in advertising and who had the funds to do so has done ‘media’. Whether it was the magazine, newspaper, direct mailer, tv commercial, billboard etc. etc. MEDIA. It’s all media. And it’s definitely not a new concept, for “today’s market demand”.
So where is the confusion? It lies in the technology. Every kid, every business owner, everybody can ‘do’ media, and everyone is (sort of)…
Stating the obvious some more here. It’s cheap (accessible) today. Have a cell phone, and you’re a production company. Have a cell phone, and you’re a publishing company. Have a cell phone, and the list goes on….
Well, this is the truth.
Big companies have big budgets and big staffs. So they can put resources into marketing and advertising. THIS DOES NOT MAKE THEM A MEDIA COMPANY. It just means they are doing what they always have done, producing media to market and advertise their products and services. That’s the key, “their products and services”, those are what put them in business and those are what will keep them in business.
A (fill-in-the-blank) company will not become a movie production or photography business or magazine, ever. Just because you shoot a commercial on your iPhone (that’s what you’re doing; even vlogging is a commercial, they just suck), doesn’t mean you are “in media”. Nor should you think you are.
And expanding this further.
Content marketers (the ‘new’ terminology), face the most obvious obstacle…. Their content sucks. It always does. Why? Because it is simply impossible to produce content daily, weekly or even monthly, forever. At some point it will suck. It’s not if, it’s when. This wasn’t a problem and isn’t a problem for companies that are not media companies or those who do not deploy content marketing tactics. It’s just built into the nature of the method.
So sure, if your business is to be a professional social media celebrity, go for it (yuck), but for those doing business in the real world…. Just do what always has worked, basic marketing and advertising (sure the platforms are different, that’s happened over and over again), and you probably should hire outside help.
Yea, I don’t have millions of subscribers. But maybe that is why what I’m saying is truth. Seems to me that main stream ideas are never true and become main stream because the sheeples make them so. So remember, meat is bad, cigarettes are good, and always, always ask people to like share and subscribe your crap!
*Formulaic is well, formulaic. And when’s the last time you saw a formulaic anything and thought, “now that was really cool”. So please, take your trendy ____ and throw it away. Thinking for yourself is good.