Meet the new consumers of the new media age. They want things to be better,
faster, cheaper and, even more important, free.“This new consumer is very, very different from [the ones] we dealt with before,” said Ted Leonsis, vice chairman emeritus of AOL, who is considered an Internet pioneer and whose business portfolio over the years includes an impressive array of online companies.
It doesn’t matter what business you’re in — restaurant, real estate or financial services, he added. “We’re living in a world where consumers have taken control of everything.”Leonsis’ foray into entrepreneurship began while he was a student at Georgetown University. It was 1976, the Bicentennial summer, and he started a business selling red-white-and-blue snow cones. It was hardly the stuff of which millionaires are made, but Leonsis said the experience gave him a taste of what it’s like to start and grow a business. “I think that entrepreneurial spirit is really what drives this country and what drives the world economy,” he said.
For him at least, business is all about being in the “happiness business.” He said online businesses can cultivate people’s desire to volunteer and give back. “It’s all about getting out of the I, I and I, and really seeing where you want to fit into the bigger world.” The Internet has led to a whole new type of charitable giving — online philanthropy, where “micro-donations” by many donors can add up to a sizeable contribution. Being successful with an online business is all about being smart with math and algorithms, Leonsis noted. “Marketing isn’t just to people anymore.
You have to market to algorithms.” Also, “the basic unit of life in this world is the pixel and every pixel matters on a page.”
The ability to cross promote is a powerful benefit of the Internet, he added, citing Amazon.com’s algorithm-driven marketing effort that alerts customers who bought certain book titles to other titles they might also like.
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