My déjà vu senses are tingling again. There’s an intriguing confluence of events going on that reminds me of an earlier and painful dot.com era. While the need for greater sophistication in search marketing is accelerating, and consumer demand for non-essentials has become more fickle, search-related technology and the number of companies supplying it, is rapidly increasing. The skills of the players in the channel, including those with in-house capabilities, are becoming commoditized by this same technology.
Pacing the halls of the IRCE show and seeing the hundreds of emerging technology companies, it would seem on the surface that there is greater demand for more technology. While there might be, what is more important and rarely discussed is the need for more human input to discern the trends and create the opportunities. Bundled up, inside the numbers and the data, is where there is leverage. It’s like some twisted version of Moore’s law is getting applied to the search marketing business. We don’t necessarily need more technology, we need fresh thinking about technology. We need deeper thought and experience mixed with good ‘ole-fashioned instincts and conviction (chutzpah). The power of collective reasoning isn’t a commodity, and it’s precisely the wrong time to wash out its edges. Which tech companies will survive? For every tech breakthrough, we know there will be hundreds that won’t make it. Maybe without a valuation bubble like dot.com 1, more will survive. The right ones should. Commoditization be damned.
Chris Paradysz is CEO of PM Digital.
