By Rex Hammock, CEO

“All businesses are media businesses.”

I’ve heard versions of that claim for decades. But what does it mean in 2020?

In an Idea Email from 2013, I noted the philosophy of legendary business consultant Peter Drucker. He spent his remarkable career explaining how successful organizations exist for something more than making widgets, billing hours or growing shareholder value.

Drucker taught that successful companies exist to serve their customers. Serve them, he said, and shareholder value will grow naturally.

More and more, savvy marketers and corporate leaders are recognizing that a company’s value is found in the length and depth of its relationships with customers—not in the number of transactions it can generate.

These savvy marketers are embracing tools, channels and strategies that used to be called “media,” “content” or dozens of other terms. While corporate marketers have been quick to embrace these tools and tactics, smart marketers aren’t limiting these tools to the marketing or PR departments. They are using them to teach, explain and grow relationships with customers, not just to promote and publicize products—and they’re doing it throughout the enterprise.

In 2001, shortly before his death at age 95, Drucker wrote a paper for The Economist titled, “Will the Corporation Survive?” (Spoiler alert: It will.) In it, Drucker predicted a shift from top-down communications in corporations to horizontal conversations.

Instead of telling people what to do, leaders will inspire people across organizational boundaries to work together on common goals.

Or, like you may have heard: All businesses are (or will be) media businesses.

Image: Getty Images

About Hammock Healthcare Idea Email | This post is part of Hammock’s award-winning Idea Email series. Idea Emails are sent every other week and share one insightful marketing idea. Idea Email comes in two flavors: Original and Healthcare. To subscribe to the original Idea Email (general marketing ideas), click here . To subscribe to the Healthcare Idea Email (healthcare marketing ideas), click here.