We live in the age of Google, Facebook, Twitter,Gizmodo et al. Its being touted as the information age. How understated is that !!!! Think for a while, we always lived in the information age. As human beings we always wanted to find out more and know more about stuff that caught our eye. Be it the apple falling from the the tree or the leaf floating on water. Something caught our eyes and we wanted to know more. Information we needed.
Today information flows to us without us even seeking it. We have so much information at our finger tips that we are too overloaded to give a decent go at things we are curious about. Our inboxes are spammed with all sorts of content, the social networking sites "push" all personal details and choices of our friends and families on our page, our mobiles are on 24/7 and fed with all sorts of ads and info....in fact we even have Google readers of the world to sort out the "Info spam" we receive into neat little folders - 99.9% of which we never read.
Clearly we live in Information Overload Age. How does this affect us as marketeers? We have all jumped/are jumping on the Web 2.0 bandwagon and utilizing all available communication channels to reach to our customer. Tweets,social networks, blogs, podcasts and RSS etc all are being used indiscriminately. Don't get me wrong, i'm all for social network marketing but not just yet willing to give a blank cheque to internet marketeers to go about disturbing the customer at every opportunity they get.
We have to clearly understand what we sell, why the customer buys it and where and in what would he like to connect with us to know more. Yes, it is the customers choice where and when he wants to connect and not the other way around.But are we doing it effectively. All studies seem to point in other direction Isn't this a waste too? People will start blocking all this extra information soon if not happening already. Its already happened with email. We spammed so much "important information" to the customers inbox that he has started ignoring/deleting emails EVEN if they really were important.
Its should not be that difficult to build a strategy for Internet/Social networking marketing if we thinking about it for a while. Put yourself in the shoes of the customer (you already are for all other products you buy in life) - Answer these simple questions - When, where, how and how much?
- When am i need of the solution provided by XXX company ?(Yes we still are selling quarter inch holes )
- Where all do i look for it (Peer group, Sales person, Company website, Product forums etc)
- Which(how) are the best ways to reach me (Inbox, mobile, snail mail, TV, Radio, Print etc)
- How much info do i need to keep you Top of Mind for utility rather than Annoyance (Daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly/yearly updates)
Our job as marketeers is making it to inform him about the better solution we might bring and make his choice is easier,simpler and faster. Help and not annoy - Connect and not Confuse!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment