The media meltdown has been a major theme for the Consumer Product Strategy team at Forrester. We have of course covered its impact on traditional media companies (see my last blog post about the BBC’s latest strategy review, which elicited a response from a senior BBC exec). But just as importantly, the media meltdown — where digitization leads to the collapse of traditional business models based on controlling the distribution of inherently scarce content — is creating challenges and opportunities for non-media companies, too.

 

As I wrote in a report last year, We Are All Media Companies Now. Every company, every brand, every organization now creates and controls content on its own Web site, for example , to address its own audience directly. But not all get it right. Engaging an audience with content requires skill sets which many non-media companies do not yet possess. The reality is that we are all content strategists now, too.

For non-media companies using content directly to engage consumers, the barriers to entry have never been lower, but with so many Web sites competing for eyeballs, the competition has never been fiercer. While "paid" media remains vital to marketers and strategists, "owned" media — content created to engage directly with their consumers — is an increasingly important tool and part of a wider content strategy.

But how can those tasked with creating, packaging, and distributing such owned content ensure it will be successful? By measuring and evaluating their offerings using Forrester's new tool, the Digital Content Review. Those without a content strategy heritage must quickly learn and adopt media product strategy expertise.

If you are a client, I’d love to talk to you further about how we can help you, and urge you to read my new report Evaluating Owned Media.