Did you hear that TIME Magazine just named YOU its Person of the Year? Yessiree, after much consideration, TIME decided that YOU were "more influential this year, for good or ill," than anyone else in the whole world, including such auspicious nominees as George W. Bush, Kim Jong II, and Hugo Chavez. Are you surprised to learn that YOU contributed as much to the outcome of 2006 as did past recipients Charles Lindbergh, Pope John Paul II or Rudy Giuliani in 1927, 1994 and 2001, respectively?
How did YOU become so powerful? Through the information you publish on the Web. There are a lot of interesting aspects to this story, but as a marketer I find it fascinating that one of the oldest of the old media is granting so much recognition to "a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter." When a business that depends on print readership for its survival gives so much credence to web content, how can the rest of us defend an online presence that is little more than an html version of the collateral closet?
So are you among the individuals TIME is acknowledging? Have you considered that nearly every potential buyer for your solutions is out there looking for YOU, an online voice that is truly influential and speaks his language? Or are you living in the past, with a single corporate website that delivers messaging for everyone and no one?
