Daniel Burrus' Strategic Insights Blog

Announcing the NEW Burrus.com

Hello,

Today I’m very proud to announce my brand new website. If you have a moment, I invite you to visit it at www.Burrus.com. We’ve strived to build this website on the most current and innovative of technologies. You will be happy to find that this website is adaptive, meaning it can automatically adjust to any screen size. It’s a new and powerful design for websites given the explosive growth in mobile.

Take a look and while you’re there, you can:

Lastly, I invite you to connect with me on any of my social media profiles. I look forward to connecting with you soon!

All the best,
Daniel Burrus
      

Is Big Media Dying…or Is It Reinventing?

It seems that almost daily we hear another report that big media is dying thanks to the internet. Radio stations, newspapers, magazines, and even local television stations are struggling, and many are predicting their demise. If you were to look at the balance sheets of these companies, you might even agree.

But before we order the tombstone, let’s answer this: In this world of smart phones and tablets becoming our primary computer, are mainframe computers dead? The answer is no. We’re still using mainframes. Of course, we’re not using them the same way that we did in the 1980s or even in early 2000. The mainframes of today are more like super-servers. But they certainly didn’t go away.

The point is that when new technology emerges, we tend to think that the old technology is completely dead, but that usually isn’t the case. Rather, the old technology gets repurposed and integrated to add value to the future.

Don’t Just Reach Your Customers

Marketing used to be about consumer reach—about how many people you could get to see or hear your ad. As such, many companies would do national ads so they could reach more people, knowing that a certain percent will be interested in the product or service.

Today, I don’t just want consumer reach. What I want, and what is even more important, is consumer engagement. In other words, it’s about getting people to take immediate action. How can I get them to take part in the ad? How can I get them to become the ad? We saw this done with Super Bowl ads, where companies got customers to create the ad they aired during the Super Bowl. That’s just one way to get engagement. Engagement can happen in many different ways, over and over again.

Additionally, companies used to have unknown customers. Advertisers would place multiple ads with the hopes of increasing sales. But today we can actually know who is clicking on our ads, buying our products, and even talking about us online.

The Real Way to Avoid a Student Loan Debt Crisis

The recent recession forced many people out of jobs and back to the classroom to learn new skills. As a result, we now have an impending student loan debt crisis. Current reports show that U.S. student loan debt is surging above one trillion dollars, surpassing credit card and auto loan debt. Additionally, the majority (80 percent) of student loans are government-guaranteed, with 30 percent of these government-backed loans past due 30 days or more. That means the taxpayers are on the hook should the loans default.

But the real problem is not the student loan debt itself. Rather, the real problem is that even with their shiny new degrees, graduates (both young and old) are not finding jobs. What’s the solution?

First, we have to retrain the high school and college counselors who give students advice about which major and career to pursue. Students aren’t getting jobs when they graduate; yet, there is a great need in the U.S. right now in the areas of science, math, and engineering, as well as in areas that don’t require a bachelor’s degree, such as fiber installers, electricians, and mechanics.

How to Make Your Company More Like Apple

How to Make Your Company More Like AppleThe most recent CNBC All-America Economic Survey revealed that at least half of all U.S. households own at least one Apple product. In other words, there are more than 55 million American homes with at least one iPhone, iPad, iPod, or Mac computer.

The actual breakdown is interesting: Just as many Americans between ages 18 and 34 count themselves among Apple users as those ages 35 to 49 (63 percent). The number drops to 50 percent when you get into the 50 to 64 age group, and down to just 26 percent among those 65 and older.

How has Apple managed to make their product so appealing to a broad demographic… and how can you do the same? The answer is simple: Apple has a long-term strategy. 

Stop the Presses: The Future of Newspapers

Stop the Presses: The Future of NewspapersAccording to the Newspaper Association of America, 2011 was not a good year for newspaper advertising, with total revenue down 7.3%—almost $2 billion, and a percentage point more than the previous year’s loss.

To be blunt, that’s not surprising. In fact, what is surprising is that it was only down that much. Let’s face it, the newspaper publishers still haven’t quite understood how to maximize and leverage the digital world, and thus increase their advertising revenue.

The newspaper business is, unfortunately, focused on the second word, “paper,” instead of the first word, “news.” As a result, they are still making their online news static rather than dynamic, meaning that it is still one-dimensional. The online versions of most newspapers are nothing more than a piece of paper online.

Where’s the Web Heading? A Prediction

Internet dependence on electricityWhen the Worldwide Web first started—what we call Web 1.0—it was all about search and having access to information. It’s when we used the web as an Information Age tool, for our Information Age world.

Today, it’s all about Web 2.0, where the key activities are sharing and communicating, rather than just informing. I wrote about this in my 1993 book Technotrends, where I talked about how the information age would shift to the communication age. I said that when our devices become true communication age devices—when we could use them for informing and communicating—then we’d have another revolution.

Well, look where we are today. Apple helped to spur this revolution, when they came out with the iPhone and gave us a true communication/information age device. In other words, it combined the information age and communication age.

A Lesson from Google: Why Innovation is the Key to Your Company’s Future

A Lesson from Google: Why Innovation is the Key to Your Company's Future I’ve always said that innovation is a key driver of business success. We saw this in action with Google. Back when Google was a startup, they focused heavily on innovation in search. As a result, they created a major source of income and a name for themselves as the dominant search engine.

Google was able to accomplish this in a relatively short amount of time because they kept the pipeline of innovation going and encouraged their engineers to spend 20% of their time coming up with new ideas. As a result, they gave us Gmail, Google Maps, Chrome, and a host of other advances.

Could an Amazon Store Be Coming to Your Town?

Could an Amazon Store Be Coming to Your Town? I recently heard that Amazon is looking at opening their first brick-and-mortar store in the Seattle area later this year. In it, they’ll offer their higher-end products and Amazon exclusives, such as the Kindle Fire tablet.

While this will be the first Amazon-branded store, there’s no doubt that other stores will quickly follow—possibly even one in your town. What’s driving Amazon to do this? The answer is simple: Apple and the success of the Apple stores. It will be interesting to see if Amazon simply does a copy of Apple, or if Amazon tries to innovate, do something unique, and, once again, raise the bar on retailing.

We’re Watching More TV Shows…Just Not on the Television

Watch Tv On Your ComputerI recently read an article in the New York Times titled “Youths Are Watching, but Less Often on TV.” In it, the author wrote, “Television is still America’s number one pastime, with an average of 4 hours and 39 minutes consumed by every person a day.”

But if you look at the demographics of who is watching and how they’re doing so, you start to see an interesting picture. While people over age 35 are watching more television, those in the 25-34 age bracket are watching less, and the viewing habits of those in the 12-17 age bracket dip even more.

But this is not to say that these demographics aren’t watching TV shows; they’re just not watching them on television. Rather, they’re streaming their favorite shows and movies directly to their laptops, tablets, and smart phones.