How to become a Media Mogul…

At a recent meetup I had with a sales guy I respect a lot, he said something that I absolutely agreed with. “The Internet makes all businesses equal.” If you haven’t realised it yet, the rules have changed. Marketing has changed. Customers are no longer waiting at home for you to call, send a brochure or SMS.  They are active on the net looking, Google-ing, commenting, and buying.

One rule though hasn’t changed all that much… Exposure. The more people are exposed to you, your company or brand the more they are likely to do business (or at least think about doing business) with you. Its the celebrity effect… Barack Obama, Oprah, Michael Jackson, Beyonce, JZ (Zuma!)… If you wanna hang out with the big boys, you’re gonna have to get yourself some Exposure with a capital E!

This is where my respected colleague’s statement began to rattle me. Traditionally, to make a big noise, get capital E, required a lot of $$$! However, the Internet being the great leveler it is, has changed that.  The price of good Exposure online is time, creativity and well, some Web skills.

One of the biggest names in online celeb-mania is the ever- ranting and raving Perez Hilton. Vitually unknown ten years ago, he has risen to Oprah-like status online. Just Google-ing the two reveals a major diff in results (over 5 mil more for Perez) and online activity (e.g. compare their Twitter stats). He has become the self proclaimed “Queen of the Media” (www.perezhilton.com), a mini-Media Mogul, with almost similar offline status.

My point is… Well, that the Internet makes all businesses equal. It is a cost-effective medium that has allowed many businesses in many industries to capture the attention of old markets and create new ones. Together with traditional marketing channels such as telemarketing and direct mail, having a well-organised online strategy can catapult your lead generation, sales, and customer relationship systems to new heights.

We all wanna play with the big boys… so get ready, its time to juice up your website and your e-mail, connect where people are congregating and automate your marketing. Let’s show the moguls who’s boss!