I was reading this brilliant article today on rugby and it's "costliest mistake" in it's history. To sum it up it was not embracing the internet. "... the most important platform in the history of mankind so far."
By not embracing the internet, rugby and its administrators have not been able to continue to increase it's viewership and therefore it's reach especially to a new, younger generation. Other sports such as Basketball and eSports have done an amazing job of utilising the internet to give visibility and access and as such as stolen many eyes from rugby to their sport.
This got me thinking that this is very similar for businesses, especially Professional Services firms when you are often trying to market and sell the brand of the firm alongside the brand of the individual professionals within the firm. For those firms that have not taken advantage of the internet and driven their visibility then it means people simply can't find them when it comes to looking for a Professional to hire.
If you are not visible then who does the potential client go to? They go to your competitor that is visible and creating value online just like potential rugby fans are heading to Basketball and eSports.
This is extremely important for businesses, because as the article mentions:
"Money goes where the attention flows"
Money goes where the attention flows. It’s a simple equation for sports administrators – if you lose the attention, you lose the money. ... The failure to understand how the Internet could shape the sport and play a role in its future is one of the costliest mistakes in the history of Rugby by administrators. ... The Internet changed the rules, but offered opportunity like never before to those that saw the potential.
https://www.rugbypass.com/news/the-costliest-mistake-in-the-history-of-the-rugby