Battle Of The Formats

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When most people watch a football game on TV, what are they looking at? The ball, right?

It’s like that old saying, “Keep your eye on the ball.”

The next time you watch a football game (and considering the staggering ratings numbers the NFL is putting up these days, most of you do), I want you to try something new — spend at least an entire quarter watching anything BUT the ball.

You’ll be surprised at how much more you’ll actually learn about the teams… about the match-ups, the coaching, and the play calling.

At Digital Marketer, we have a saying (ironically, one that we stole from a superstar of an entirely different sport); “Go where the puck is going to be.”

Sometimes the ball (or puck) is just a distraction. It represents the past… What really matters is everything else.

Not that the current play is irrelevant. BUT isn’t the current play really designed to set up the next?

I mean you wouldn’t be much of a football coach if you couldn’t think a couple of downs ahead of the current play.

I’ve said all of that to say this: Most people are watching the ball. You want to be watching THE GAME.

For example, while most people are wondering how successfully Google+ can compete with Facebook — HubSpot understands that’s not what Google+ is about. Instead, Google+ is really about generating social media ratings and recommendations to enhance Google’s search capabilities.

Ebay, Microsoft, Best Buy, Yahoo… these guys are losing their spot on the starting roster. They may make a big play on special teams now and then, but their missing out on the bigger picture.

Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google are the 4 bigs, and they created even more separation from the rest of the pack at the end of 2011.

For example, as of right now Apple’s iOS owns 52% of the mobile web market share. That’s more than just a competitive edge.

To take our sports metaphor a step further, we should all be watching film on these guys. These guys are where 2012 is going. Why?

Because the “Big 4″ were the first to realize a truly “big picture” strategy. You won’t find these guys on the field. Or on the sidelines with a clipboard in hand. They’re in the skybox. They own the teams AND the stadiums.

In other words, they own the platforms — iOS, Android, Facebook, Amazon.com, etc. As an entrepreneur, or a marketer, you can either compete against these owners — or you can bet on their teams.

Clearly, the easiest way to profit in this type of game is to place educated bets. That means it’s time to get well-educated. Right?

With Amazon’s killer holiday sales and its Kindle Fire competing fiercely the tablet war, Amazon is a fine place to start studying up. We’ve got an excellent $7 report at Digital Marketer, “Partnering With Amazon,” that help you do just that.

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