Reach

Taking a look at Google Analytics this morning helped really underscore something about Web2.0 technologies - Reach.

I write blog entries as if I'm talking to a neighbor over coffee. I envision the audience as local and familiar. I never really saw the communication in any other way. I'm grounded in the physical world with my local network of friends and business associates here in Wisconsin.

This morning I looked at who was visiting my blogs and was shocked to see that people in seventeen different countries/territories were reading my work!

Seventeen countries!

I suppose for some bloggers this discovery seems pretty trivial, but I've been working in technology for more than two decades and while I understand that people in virtually every country on Earth have browsers and internet access, I never expected any of them to actually visit my blogs and read my work!

After 18 months of blogging, I've discovered "reach".

And it makes me wonder how many companies have yet to learn about "reach" - the chance to craft a unified coherent message (marketing, communication, or whatever) around the world.
Or how many companies understand how that message can be crafted FOR you - by unsatisfied customers, or by competitors in other countries, you may not even be aware of.

Understanding reach and putting strategies in place to leverage (or respond to) the reach of the Web, needs to be a vital component of corporate strategy. Now, you need to manage your message - everywhere.

You never know who's listening - or where they're listening from.