Is market disruption good or evil?
Disruptive forces are threats to those people who don’t like change and can’t embrace the future. Hopefully you find that disruptive forces cause wonderful opportunities to provide new products and services.
Five trends that are now mainstream are:
1) Two Way Web
2) Destruction of Mainstream Media
3) Micropreneurship
4) Virtual Communities
5) Gargoyle Culture
The first trend is a complete 180 degree reversal from just a few years ago, where the audience is the content (eg. Blogs, discussion boards, Wikipedias). The second trend is rewriting the advertising industry:
-if traditional media is chosen, it is watched on own time and usually without commercials
-articles from magazines and articles are read increasingly on-line rather than in print
-information is coming from non traditional sources like Blogs and Wikipedias and other media. In the last US Presidential Election, many Gen Xers and Ys got their election commentary from the Jon Stewart Show, a mock news show.
Micropreneurs have emerged and have changed the rules of business. They are winning business with the new tools of the trade: a laptop, an Ebay account, a PayPal account, a strong network of contacts and a Google ad. They don’t have overhead costs like warehouses, inventory or employees. They transact almost entirely on-line as the needs arise. They have no need for employers or a traditional workplace. Virtual communities are becoming larger than physical communities. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg correctly turned down a $1 Billion offer to sell to Yahoo. X-box Live, Wii and virtual reality gaming and software thrive with on-line communities. As a business person, do you have a Linked In profile? The rise of a gargoyle culture was made vivid when Sadaam Hussein’s assassination video was caught and posted on websites. It was not CNN, it was someone’s cell phone that caught the vivid images.
Putting It Into Action:
Your personal brand or employers brand must embrace and act on these important opportunities. You should register your personal name as a domain name, build your personal website and begin blogging. You should surround yourself with teenagers and twenty somethings who thrive on this new on-line virtual culture. Rethink your advertising and recruitment strategies to use these alternative communication channels and consider viral marketing, event marketing, lifestyle marketing and funky interactive, content rich ways to drive traffic to you and your company’s websites.
With you along the path towards success,
Joseph