Trends Report: Relationships vs.
Automation
by Sam Harrelson
Generally speaking, businesses have always
run on the assumption that bigger is better. Growth in
personnel and overall size have long been signs of a healthy
company and business model. Businesses within our industry
have frequently followed this mode of thought. Successful
companies in online direct response are often seen as those
which continually expand, either in personnel or
acquisitions. In order to fulfill the large work load that
this space requires, such growth can be easily understood.
However,
is there a paradigm shift happening within the online direct
response industry that is morphing the general nature of the
space closer to automation? One of the defining
characteristics of online marketing and advertising is the
relationship factor. Since the genesis of the industry, the
players with the best contact lists and rolodexes have
continually risen to the top. “It’s not what you know, it’s
who you know” could very well be a slogan for the online
direct response industry. A major trend in recent years,
and especially 2004, is the ability of small shops to thrive
because of contacts and brand name.
In that
respect, 2004 is shaping up to define a successful model
that is a hybrid of past models. Large shops will always
exist in the space, and there is a need for them in terms of
market share and stability. However, the ability of
well-branded smaller shops to utilize automation in their
business models has given rise to a new “middle class” or
“nouveau riche” within the online marketing and advertising
societal structure that is able to prosper on streamlined
automation of services.
In many
ways, the Google and search sectors have pushed the drive
towards automation. The enthusiasm that many publishers and
advertisers have for the streamlined Google or other search
models that relies on stats, data and technology rather than
relationship-driven human interactions has increasingly
begun to spill over into the larger online industry. As a
result, shops that are smaller in human personnel, but savvy
in back-end technology solutions are able to compete with
the larger agencies or companies. When proper branding is
combined with this new ability of small shops to compete
based on automated services, small but efficient companies
can easily become powerhouses in the industry and command a
market share and reputation once reserved only for the
larger players.
What does
this mean for persons within the industry who perform the
jobs that Google and others have been able to automate? At
this point, not much. For the last half century, the media
and science fiction writers have been warning us about the
impending robot revolution that will make all of our
employment possibilities obsolete. At its best, human
endeavors towards making profits in a capitalistic market
are sloppy and inefficient. It makes perfect sense to move
towards complete automation for optimization. However, the
human element of relationship does have certain
unquantifiable intangibles that makes it essential for doing
business in a marketplace like online direct response.
Nevertheless, with continued industry consolidation this
year and throughout the next, there will certainly be more
companies seeking to find the golden ratio that does exist
between an automated driven business and one based on the
quirky and clunky human relationship factor.
Sam Harrelson is the Co-Editor of the Digital
Moses Confidential. He can be reached at
sam@digitalmoses.com
