Are You Talking To Me?

   

That is the question our customers are asking us.  Are we talking to them?  Are we relevant?  Too often we answer that question from yesterday’s perspective.  As we communicate with our customers we follow the traditional path.

    

But the path has changed.  Using yesterday’s marketing techniques is becoming less and less effective.  Certainly there are still a large number of customers who respond to this type of communication.  However, each new customer who enters the market place is a digital native.  They do not respond to the established marketing messages the same way.  They require a dialog.  Sometimes it is a dialog with us and other times it is a dialog with their peer group.  “They don’t care about your ad,” writes Sarah Perez, “they care about what their friends think.”

    

    

    

    

With the dramatic growth in social media, change is required to remain relevant.  Not only are the Generation Y customers utilizing blogs, message boards and RSS feeds, it is becoming more and more common for Boomers to join the online community.

    

So the question remains, are you shifting toward the new media in a meaningful way?  Or are you simply repackaging your message and running the risk of becoming obsolete?

    

Until next time,

    

Dan