Understanding of people is very different from asking people to fill in a survey

Technology is breeding a new generation of people that are becoming increasingly difficult to attract into the traditional business funnel. Media companies have the last few years learned the hard way what they have to do business in a different way; they have learned that they need to adapt their (combinations of) business models and to deliver real time business processes to enable people to get what they want, on the devices they prefer, in the format thay want to consume it and a price point they'll accept. But the question is how? How should media companies do business tomorrow? Mass social relationships are a relatively new phenomenon and nobody is really sure how to monetise them. Understanding of people is very different from asking people to fill in a survey, or making assumptions about them from their behaviour. This marketing eco system, that's in permanent flux, requires every media company to find the right balance to exploit the present (make money today), but also explore (do things never done before) in order to grab hold of opportunities and have a healthy business tomorrow. * What business are media companies in? * What's the media company's sustainable point-of-differentiation? * Who is the media company competing with? * Who should the media company work with, cooperate with, trust...and who should the media company walk away from? * And finally, where is the money going to come from? Successfull companies have one thing in common, they're clear about three things: 1. Who they are 2. What they are 3. What they do 4. Why it matters It is this total clarity that makes running these successfull companies a breeze (strategy by simple rules) making every day decisions, settling internal arguments, identifying relevant partnerships, allocating resources, deciding on where and how to invest and who to hire. How well media companies in the marketing eco system adapt the learnings about agile thinking and open content to their own business models will be the deciding factor in how the next digital decade plays out for them too.