We’re not going from a world of Business Model A to one of Business Model B, we’re going from Business Model A to Business Models A to Z (Clay Shirky)

The marketing eco system unfolds. Evidence that this transformation is already in full swing is clear.
When you consider how this unfolding marketing eco system might look, with, among other things, digitally augmented realities, contextual branding, and the growth of emotional profiling, it is time to determine a strategy to capitalise on these opportunities.

Or better, it WAS time to determine a strategy. Media firms need to act now if they are to survive and prosper as the marketing eco system unfolds. Falling advertising revenues and the widespread availability of free content are eroding the value of traditional value chain based business models.

Understanding of what the unfolding marketing eco system looks like may be uncertain, but a number of priorities can be identified in navigating the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

Priority 1. The importance of building and maintaining trust. Trust is seen as the key to gaining access to more profitable relationships with B2C individuals and competitive differentiation. B2C individuals have to feel comfortable enough to open up their privacy walls, needed to deepen their relationship for personal - contextualised - experiences;

Priority 2. Preparing for a more complex network of B2B partnerships. In the long run, digitization will be characterised by alliances between specialist providers;

Priority 3. Learn how to be able to - realtime - personalize your branded content to be personal relevant enough to activate the specific targeted B2C individual;

Priority 4. Learn how to be able to - realtime - calculate and apply the most - contextualised - optimal combination of business models for each specific generated consumer touch point, while continuously generating a stream of 1.000.000 consumer touchpoints per second.

Media firms have to do what they've always done (but in a completely different way, in a completely different mindset): build their B2C relationships based on trust, deliver engaging content and ensure they get paid for it.

These 4 priorities are steps that mediamarketleaders need to take today. It is a question of having in place the systems to support these new ways of working. Media firms need to ask themselves whether their current capabilities are suited for the work that is going to be needed.

Customer management strategies are the foundation for developing deeper relationships with B2C and B2B customers and building this - needed - trust. The supporting systems however need to go beyond the simple retention of customer data. In the unfolding marketing eco system, B2C customers will expect a seamless experience across all of their devices and media firms will have to support this expectation, able to track and manage B2C consumer activity irrespective of the channel. Systems need to provide intelligence on the B2C customer bases' habits, preferences and the different segments that exist within it. Only with this intelligence and analysis will the players in the marketing eco system be in a position to begin making the personalised recommendations and offers that build trust and foster deeper B2C customer relationships.

Extending communities of B2B partners brings a whole new level of complexity to operations. Ensuring that the media company and its B2B partners are quickly rewarded for their 'offerings' could mean supporting the transactions of millions of B2C customers and allocating money instantly to the right pots. Media companies will need the control and flexibility to be able to charge for any service or event according to payment type, network or geography.

As flat fee broadband capacity increases and high-end mobile devices become ever smarter and enter the mainstream, the trends identified are only likely to accelerate. Media firms need to decide today where they see their place (their SmartSweetSpot) in the digital future and what they have to do to get there.