Dinosaurs, Comets and Internet Business Opportunities

Originally appeared in the 1999 Cornwall Business Magazine.

Do you ever get the feeling that time has speeded up? From work to play, the pace of change is breathtaking - everything from milk to movies is being re-invented. Take telephones for instance. For over 100 years the phone was a comfortable, stable and understandable part of our lives. Now look at us… in the past decade alone we have cellular phones, videoconferencing, e-mail and of course, the World Wide Web. The phone and the copper lines that connect them have merged with cable, fibre optics and microwaves in a bandwidth hungry brave new world. One has to wonder …if the dinosaurs faded due to an inability to adapt, will technology become our proverbial comet?

Fortunately, no one need turn out the lights just yet. In fact, the numbers show that not only are we handling the new technology, it is our very ability to adapt to change that is driving the phenomena itself. Like the stone and bronze ages of our past, it would appear that we are all participating in a fundamental shift in the way our society operates. If so, future historians may come to regard our times as the Silicon Age, or perhaps more accurately, the Internet Age.

Recent surveys have reported that over half of Canadians now have access to the Internet. That is an astonishing number - considering the net was little more than a chiphead playground five years ago. Furthermore, 26% of Canadians access the web at least once a week, leading many experts to proclaim that the Internet has already established itself as the world's next primary communications medium. Change is occurring faster than ever before and make no mistake - it will fundamentally change how we as consumers make our purchase decisions, and how companies will market to us.

Just a short while ago, companies developed web sites for three basic reasons: they wanted to tap into global markets inexpensively, they were involved in hi-tech, or they were simply curious and wanted to ride "the cutting edge". Now, a company's web site is no longer simply part of their marketing plan - it most often is the core of their marketing plan, the cornerstone to which media ads, direct marketing and sales efforts feed off.

With the Internet penetrating upwards of 70% of Canadian households of combined incomes over $60K, and access split equally amongst males and females, marketers are able to secure the raw numbers to justify developing significant web content. The Washington Post, New York Times and USA Today are just three newspapers that have a larger on-line audience than daily circulation. In Cornwall, the municipal government has launched a "City Hall" site to complement its wildly successful economic development web site. Local realtors are putting their listings on-line and retailers are starting to promote internet specials. Why? The number of citizens on-line has reached critical mass.

But the access to a large on-line population of consumers is only part of the reason in the exponential growth of web-based marketing. Companies are developing new ways of doing business, challenging traditional distribution channels and established business models. Amazon.com is perhaps the best example of the potential of e-commerce, a revolution that gives the consumer unheralded choice and buying power. Certainly the financial world has been quick to establish an on-line presence and it is now a simple matter to trade stocks and keep track of your personal finances over the web. Products and services such as software, music and video will soon be primarily distributed over the net, with media giants such as Microsoft, Warner Brothers and Sony leading the way.

The innovative ways companies are using the web to market themselves are seemingly endless. The net has proven itself an excellent tool to use to extend and enhance a company's or product's brand. It has helped breathe new life into firms such as Apple and IBM, and marketing savvy firms such as Procter and Gamble are using the research rich environment to more effectively reach their target market. But perhaps the biggest benefit of this on-line explosion has been the ability of small companies to close the marketing gap between themselves and large multi-nationals. Cornwall companies could never afford the mass exposure of national TV campaigns, but with a modest investment in a web site and commitment to support it, they can now promote their products and services to the same on-line community as Coca-Cola, McDonalds and Nike.

Where does this leave our unfortunate business owner who delays developing a web presence? Well like the dinosaurs and the comet, it is not likely that he will survive. Rather it is the wily hairy mammal of a business, one that can adapt to the new environment, which will live to rule the world.