Every Company is Now a Media Company, Too
The other day I was in a conversation with a friend and we were discussing how EVs were changing the automobile industry for the better. During that conversation, it came to me that the following statement wasn’t true in the past, and is true now: Every automobile company is now a software company, too, whether they like it or not.
The software experience in a car makes or breaks the experience. And this doesn’t just go for EVs, it goes for all cars. The infotainment screen being well-designed and responsive, the gauges, the adaptive cruise control, the steering wheel buttons being quick to reply to feedback - it’s all software.
The same is true for Every Company - Every company, regardless of category, is now a Media Company, whether they like it or not.
‘The Loyalty Loop’ is a terrific visual representation of the basic journey of a company’s audience moving from ‘Bonding’ with a Brand, all the way to ‘Buying’, and eventually ....’Bonding’ again. The reason I like this model so much is the fact that ‘Bonding’ with a Brand is the actual true beginning of the journey. Audiences, for the most part, do not immediately buy from a Brand. In fact, they can’t buy from a Brand until they are first aware the Brand even exists. And deeper than that, they want to know what the Brand does, how they do it, why they do it.
When we say ‘Every Company is now a Media Company’, this is why. Media is predominantly how our audience are initiating and strengthening their bond with Brands because our audiences are consuming so much information, on so many different platforms, all before they make their decision to consider, evaluate, and eventually buy. Below is a brief, but incomplete list of all the ways…
Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X/Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Pinterest…
Company Blogs/News…
YouTube channels, branded video series, documentaries, original programming…
Branded podcasts, interviews, audio stories…
Webinars, product launch videos live shopping, behind-the-scenes streams…
Influencer content and co-created products…
Branded forums, Facebook Groups, Discord servers, proprietary community platforms…
Google reviews, social media posts, hashtag campaigns, content contests…
Traditional TV, radio, print, and out-of-home advertising enhanced with digital calls-to-action, QR codes…
This doesn’t even begin to touch AR/VR, Mobile Apps, SMS-based campaigns…
The point is…it should be expected that any given Brand’s audiences’ attention is all over the place, and media plays a central role during the ‘Bonding’ phase. No matter the category, whether a company operates in Commercial Construction, Accounting, SaaS, Insurance, etc…they are going to have to accept that they’re also a media company as well.
