“But I Don’t Want to Be a Media Company!”

I recently read an article from Shel Israel that reiterates an idea that’s been floating around the business community for a while now: Every Company Is a Media Company.

Essentially, the point that these articles make is that the increased prevalence of social media and the decreased relevance of traditional media companies has created a situation where:

“... companies can talk directly to and with [customers]. The costs are lower, the accuracy higher and the relationships with people who matter are much, much stronger.”

So instead of having to pitch your new store opening or your upcoming event to a traditional media outlet (and hope it’s a slow news day); or pay for coverage via a traditional media buy, you increasingly have the ability to communicate directly with interested consumers on social media platforms you own or control.

I’ve found, though, that a lot of SMBs are very resistant to this idea that every company is a media company. After all, most didn’t get into business with the idea of becoming a media company. They wanted to sell industrial machine parts, or coffee, or imported home goods, or whatever passion drove them into entrepreneurship.

But my response would be, “table stakes.”

Very few people (except accountants and bookkeepers) go into business so they can get to do accounts receivable--but someone will have to do it for their business to succeed. Bookkeeping is part of the table stakes for being in business. Not many restauranteurs go into business because they wanted to sweep floors, or wash dishes--but those are implied parts of their business that someone is going to have to take care of. Again, those are the table stakes of the restaurant business.

In today’s business environment, producing smart, informational, useful content that will help your business make money is another business activity that you will either learn to do well, hire someone who does it well, or outsource to an affordable agency that serves SMBs.

If you aren’t willing to ante up, you can’t complain that the pot never ends up in your corner of the table.