CHECKING OUT THE FLYOVER: CONQUERING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

Conventional wisdom —a very fallible and flexible thing these days— maintains that culture comes out of places like Los Angeles and New York City. Since the tech boom of the 90s, those epicenters of influence have shifted to include the likes of Austin, Seattle, and San Francisco. A current strain of conventional wisdom adds the footnote that the shrinking price and rapid growth of technology could conceivably allow online business to spring pretty much anywhere. Yet at the same time, the old “flyover” mentality makes some Midwestern states—and to an extent, Southern states—an oversight. Can those areas be of interest to the competitive online marketer?

Marketers might want to first consider the who, what, and where of being wired.  Consider that markets that formerly existed outside the hip sphere now show a sizable online presence. According to a Inc.com article from 2000 (Appleton), budding infrastructures have been popping up. They support small businesses in remote areas of Oklahoma as well as large cities once considered second-tier, such as Tacoma. In the case of Oklahoma, Appleton’s article simply presented a businessman creating an online presence out of sheer need. In Tacoma’s situation, the municipally-owned electric utility installed a fiber-optic cable through the city for the benefit of its citizens. With these achievements, businesses are eager to cut costs while having access to a large but skilled labor force, such as Amazon.com (or anyone, really), moved some of their operations to Tacoma. Another article (from Site Selection Magazine, 2001) cites the number of cities and regions who’ve labored to narrow the gap between themselves and the wide, wired world—hoisting themselves up by the bootstraps with help from either the public or private sector. Could those places be hotspots for online clientele?

It’ll take more than tracking ISPs hailing from these frontier towns of web-dom, however. Just because an infrastructure has been in place, can we assume people are actually spending money? An article entitled “America’s 50 Most Wired Cities” from Yahoo in May 2002, shows that the highest amounts of money spent online per Internet user tend to gravitate toward places that have already acquired some kind of wired status: San Francisco, Austin, and Boston, rank in the top 5. One might do well to be reminded that there is still a “digital divide” that splits the U.S. into those who have and utilize their online access, and those who do not. Digitaldivide.net, an organization dedicated to digital inclusion, states that the divide isn’t necessarily divided by income, though it admits that there’s much to be done in the way of providing access for many. “A Nation Online 2004”, a study presented by The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, states ”that broadband technologies are expanding the range and frequency of Internet use. Yet, not all geographic locations in the United States are using high-speed services to the same degree.” However, given the fact that municipalities aren’t looking to get left behind by the rest of the world, they’ll be sinking money into technology pretty quickly.

So how does this affect your business? It might behoove you to keep an eye on what’s developing out there beyond the tried-and-true. Those towns you might have once thought of as “Podunk”—and you might live in one—are stepping up to the world wide web. You should be there when it happens. Do your research and see how and where users are popping up from city to city. What kind of budget do you have? If it’s small, think of who’s available for one-on-one networking. Are there Wi-Fi associations or user groups who might be favorable to your cause? If your budget’s more substantial, consider opening dialogue with chambers of commerce, civic entities, and even private investors (you’ll know who they are—they love to have their names on everything). Being there at the very start of a region’s economic journey into the online world could mean that they remember you down the road, when once-green pastures come to fruition.