Seat at the Table

Walk up to a group of strangers, say something completely irrelevant to their discussion and be ignored. Walk up to the same group and, diplomatically, make a valuable contribution to the discussion they are having, and be appreciated.

Joining a market’s dialogue is no different.

Most companies are not reputation heavyweights that can start a new conversation (or product category). Instead, they need to figure out how best they can fit into conversations that are already taking place. The best approach is a bit of art and science – figure out what relevant conversations are just starting to gain real momentum and then contribute (through media, blogs, conferences, etc). It’s not easy but it’s doable.

Take municipal WiFi (muni WiFi) as an example. If you are a company that develops WiFi technology (software applications), this is a topic that may provide you with an opportunity to become a stronger participant in the WiFi business market conversation. This is a topic that is gaining momentum and will likely become an even stronger topic of discussion in 2006 as more local governments consider the issues. The stats also back it up – a dozen print stories in the first half of the year and several dozen in the second half (according to Factiva), several blogs on the topic every few days to at least several every day (according to Blogdigger), conference sessions planned to discuss the topic and more analyst reports on the topic.

WiFi companies take note.