Think DIGITAL or die
What would happen if what you’d been charging for for many years suddenly was offered for free (or next to free) by someone else or by some other means (new technology)?
It’s happening all over. As soon as something can reasonably be made or reproduced in a digital format, it will happen. The post office doesn’t send as much paper mail as it used to. Record companies don’t ship CDs any longer nor are there stores to sell them in.
Bookstores are about to go the same was as CD stores once the digital book hits big-time by being enabled by someone like Apple (and don’t believe people who say “paper books will always be around.” That’s just being nostalgic). The big Chapters bookstore in downtown Vancouver where I live will not be there in 2015 (unless it sells just kitschy things which it’s already doing).
Anything physical that can be made digital will be replaced by its digital version. Don’t like that? Too bad.
But what about less-obvious things like face-to-face events? Think they are safe? I’d say “think again.”
What if the price to travel goes up (oil is going to go up and up and that means travel cost will, too) and what if new tools come into play that mean things online lessen the value of meeting in one physical space? People will start to stay at home and find other ways of connecting than face-to-face. Maybe this is already happening? I think so.
An example near and dear to my heart is arts marketing conferences. With stretched arts funding dollars and the costs of physically attending not showing any signs of lessening soon, it seems inevitable that finding other ways of doing things is needed before it’s too late for the entire business. If you are the organization making this happen online it will put you in front (and save your ass).
It’s an earthquake followed by a Tsunami.
The earthquake has just happened (the arrival of the Internet) and the big wave is about to hit the shores of many businesses (more gets delivered digitally using new and richer Internet tools). Right now, everything seems calm, but it won’t be for very long. The giant wave is almost here.
My advice is to start figuring out how to use the digital tools that are out there. Not all will work, but some will and if you become conversant in them, you will be ready for the coming wave.
Facebook, Twitter, blogs, YouTube and others should become your best friends because that’s where future real (and virtual) friends will be found. Those friends may be your current members or customers who want to move ahead and many new ones who may not even know about the “olden days” when people spent thousands of dollars travelling to be in one place together (how “quaint” they will say).
Ready or not… DIGITAL is here. Make it a big part of your marketing strategy.
If you are a musician who is already too busy with the business, how do you find more time to deal with the new Digital world?
Is there new kind of professional to do those kind of work for artists?
We would like to know.
thanks!
Qiu Xia
A bold statement!
Qiu Xia: A good question. I think you are not alone. It seems to be happening to any business. it’s a really difficult thing to do but I think it comes down to deciding where you will spend your “business” time and making cuts in one area to focus on another. I know one artist who has decided to abandon marketing conferences and put more focus and time on online marketing. It does mean cutting some things.
Personally, I battle with this. I have a lot of balls in the air and juggling it all is tough.
Harriet: “Bold statement”? Hardly… I think it’s “obvious” – that’s just me. Well, I guess the “die” part is pretty bold, but I believe it’s true. We’re all sitting around in denial, fiddling while Rome burns, arranging deck chairs… well you get the idea.