A big discussion has erupted in the blogosphere on a topic that is central to the theme of this blog. Seth Godin got it started with the post Small is the new big. The entire post is well worth the read, but here's the money quote for us:
A small law firm or accounting firm or ad agency is succeeding because they’re good, not because they’re big. So smart small companies are happy to hire them.
Seth followed it up with more on small, but it was his initial post that touched off a giant discussion on the blogosphere with everyone we read weighing in. Jeff Jarvis picked it up, saying:
Small won't replace big, of course, but small will add up to considerable new competition. And that is because small can now succeed. The economies of scale must compete with the economies of small.
As examples, Jarvis references two articles about virtual companies that I recently commented on here. At Micro Persuasion, Steve Rubel said it was one of the best blog posts I've ever read.
I think this is especially true of the world of advertising/marketing/public relations. Ultimately, when a company is looking for an ad agency, they're looking for fresh ideas. If an agency's ideas are bad, bigness can't make up the difference. If they're good, smallness is not an obstacle. But, as Seth closes his post: Small is the new big only when the person running the small thinks big. Are you thinking big and staying small?
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