When I write my content piece or blog of the week, I am either at home, on a train or in the office. Once in a while I will get to write in a noisy distracting Starbucks but most of the time I am at home. This weekend I witnessed one of the strangest storms ever in my lifetime. The non-hurricane crazy rain and wind that hit the New York Tri-state area this weekend is definitely one for the storybooks. As you can see from the attached photo, 100-foot tall trees fell as a result of the rain and wind. Sometimes on houses, sometimes across a street causing traffic to be re-routed and sometimes sadly and terribly tragically, on people. This morning the spokesperson or the CEO for Con Edison sort of confirmed my theory that all of the snow that we got this winter, together with the warm weather right afterward melting the snow, caused there to be an extraordinary amount of water in the ground, causing the soil underneath to be very moist and soft, allowed the decades old (if not centuries) trees to fall over. Some of you will say, “global warming!” Others will say something else (Not really sure but there should be an opposite to the ubiquitous “global warming” cry nowadays – shouldn’t there be?) So as I write this, some people are still without power. Their choices as I see it are to: A) get outta town, B) buy or rent a generator, C) Move in with friends, family or neighbors or D) return to the old world of pre-Edison no electricity “roughing it.” But whatever the answer, ultimately we have to act and change in order to survive.

When I think about “trees moving in force,” I think of the Lord Of The Rings. When I think about the trees and nature being the source of life, of course I think of “Mother Earth” or as was portrayed in the latest Oscar winning movie Avatar, “Aiwa.” I won’t spoil the movie for you so I will say SPOILER ALERT. DO NOT READ THE NEXT PARAGRAPH: The way I understood the movie was that us humans were destroying the earth so the earth reacted and showed its TRUE nature and strength. Even though we sow what we reap and you also get what you pay for. That of rebellion against chemicals and acid rain and pollution and whatever else we are doing to destroy what was given to us.

So when I think about huge 100-year-old trees falling on houses, wreaking havoc on traffic and neighborhoods, I personally don’t think about how terrible the weather is. I also don’t think about collateral damage, being inconvenienced or insurance. (Of course its easy for me to speak though since I didn’t have my car smashed, my house roof collapse nor did I or anyone I know get hurt.)

What I do think about are big corporations and companies that can afford to pay for top sponsorships in the search engines. These are the companies who have been around for decades. The 100-pound elephants. The mountains. The IBMs that were taken down by the Microsofts. The Microsofts that were taken down by the Googles. And then of course to the future… who will take down Google? Who will be like nature? Who will be like the melting snow? Who will be like the water that is able to seep into the earth and get into the small cracks, nooks and crannies where the larger entities are not able. Who are the small and nimble, flexible start-up companies that will have the young and youthful energy and spirit to take down the mighty. Who will adapt to the new Internet age, writing content, developing links and optimizing the social media?

The answer is simple. It is the visionaries who see the Internet as the final frontier for marketing. We have already been through print, radio and television. We are now living in the age of the online, digital and interactive. And if your company doesn’t adapt, it will fall the same way that the trees have fallen.

Of course I have more to say about evolution and the fact that way back when I learned in school about forests that turned into swamps, that turned into lakes, that nourished the surrounding soil, to create vegetation that sustained life in the surrounding area. What this all means is that life goes on. If your company is up to the challenge, it will sustain itself. You will hire an Internet consultant or marketing company (like mine) and we will guide you into the future. Because if you are not a visionary, you better hire someone that is. And maybe they come in the form of a consultant or a college grad. But however they arrive, always know that I and SalemGlobal are here to stay and help you if you need us. Want to know more about Internet marketing or just talk about Avatar and/or LOTR? Call me at 212-993-5828 or email me at raphis@salemglobal.com. I guarantee you an hour with me might bring you a decade into the future.