Marketing companies in Bend and everywhere are hearing the recent buzz of Net Neutrality. How does Net Neutrality affect digital marketing as an industry and what does it mean for the end user?

What is Net Neutrality?

Net Neutrality surrounds the idea that ISPs, or internet service providers, should provide unrestricted, neutral access to content and applications. It allows for a freely functioning internet. This means ISPs enable user-focused access for all of traffic across their networks. Net Neutrality caps giant ISPs from charging more and from deciding which content they sent traffic to.

Why Net Neutrality Now?

Today the FCC overturned net neutrality rules and the laws that made the web “public”. If it stays, this means ISPs won’t have to allow equal user access. It also means unregulated high speed internet delivery. This sounds bad for accessibility. Especially given Google’s mission of organizing the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”.

Non-Neutrality Isn’t UX

Non Net Neutrality is not an open internet. It leaves the door open to sending more traffic to sites like Facebook and Amazon and less to smaller websites. While the nature of business is far from an even playing field, without Net Neutrality, smaller and newer brands would have a higher barrier to entry than the big brands with less opportunity to grab a foothold.

Currently, new businesses can purchase a domain, design a logo and a brand, build a website, and compete with their products and services alongside big businesses with unfiltered access. If the barriers to entry are higher and access is restricted, the field is even less level. This unleveling of the supply chain would create less competition, more demand and, potentially, higher prices.

The Value of Digital Marketing

The digital marketing industry is currently worth approximately $80 billion. The dismantling of brands and their agencies’ abilities to compete would affect not only the industry but the contribution of small business to their markets and customers. A non-neutral internet could make it so that the online space is dominated by the biggest and un-level the field for the rest as well as the internet marketing industry as a whole.

The Digital Marketing Industry Without Net Neutrality

Because Net Neutrality supports an open market, it sustains demand for inbound marketing services such as digital marketing and search engine optimization. Today, new brands and startups compete with brands like Amazon by offering unique products and services and outstanding service backed by positive reviews. Digital marketing companies in Bend, and everywhere, can help new brands compete and create difference in their spaces. By using social media, pay per click, video advertising and more to by build stronger and more creative ad campaigns, Google Partners and digital marketing companies in Bend such as Savy, are able to position clients above larger brands. However, without Net Neutrality, bigger pockets with bigger interests could outperform. With a web that’s ultimately regulated by ISPs, the customer reach becomes at the mercy of who’s willing to spend more to reach them, instead of who will serve them better.

Marketing companies in Bend, Santa Barbara and around the globe, let’s keep the web competitive, profitable, accessible and unrestricted. What do you think and where do you stand?