A Good Digital Strategy Creates a Gravitational Pull

Thanks to social media, the most important influences on your business often happen when you aren’t in the room. When people connect peer-to-peer, there is a shift in the locus of control. In effect, you need to have influence from a distance. Our mental models are ill-suited for this challenge. Influence from a distance requires a different way of thinking and talking about these ideas and a different kind of force: not mechanical or biological, but gravitational.

There are four attributes of gravity that are appealing as a way of thinking about strategy in a digital age: gravity is a force of attraction, exerts influence at a distance, is ubiquitous, and has an exponential effect. To compete with gravity, your strategy needs to generate a force of attraction, pull people into its orbit, and help them pull others in too. There are some critical questions you can ask of your strategy to determine if you are competing with gravity such as: Is your narrative more about your products or your purpose? Is there a reason for people to want you to succeed in your mission even if they never buy anything from you? If you can imagine your industry as a galaxy and that your job is to create enough gravity to pull them into your orbit, you’ll gain a new understanding of the modern, social business landscape.