My son is in the market for a pocket watch. This morning, before school, he was bemoaning that he can't find exactly what he's looking for. Without really thinking about it—it was 6:30 a.m., and I was slathering peanut butter on toast—I suggested we try a few local stores sometime during the week.
Evan's response: "I don't want to go to a store, Mom."
He emphasized the word "store," but he would have been more accurate if he'd emphasized "go." His idea of shopping is to surf online, not to drive from mall to mall. Either way, his words fell on me like a big pile of DUH. Which brings me to the 4As...
Last week, the American Association of Advertising Agencies held its annual convention in Orlando. A recurring theme was how the ad industry and media must increasingly cater to consumers empowered by technology and proliferating content choices, according to The New York Times via MarketingVOX. The hundreds of media and ad execs who had gathered in Florida spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to most effectively deliver their messages at a time of momentous shifts in media and those who consume it.
It's an interesting question. Tomorrow's consumer mainstream—today's teenagers and young adults—have a seriously cozy comfort level with technology and an expectation of how it can be manipulated to meet their needs. For example, colleges are responding by moving all sorts of student services online—from snack delivery to faculty advising—according to Campus Technology, again via VOX.
(Here's an example: Columbia University students can monitor campus washers and dryers via the internet, pay for the wash via their campus debit cards, and have an email sent to their computer when their laundry is done or when a machine becomes available. Seriously. How cool is that?)
The bottom line is this: Marketing and advertising are changing—because of not only how their messages can be delivered but also how the individuals those messages are intended to reach are themselves changing. It's more critical than ever to really know and understand your audience—and get their input whenever possible.
Speaking of which, this week MarketingProfs rolls out a new product line that you, dear readers, requested: our new Marketing Templates. Our first one, introduced today, is the Competitive Analysis Template, but it should be called Competitive Intelligence, as it offers a road map to many marketing plans and processes, like pricing, positioning, and product definition.
As always, you can also access all of our premium content, including podcasts, marketing guides, templates, benchmark surveys and premium articles in the Premium Library.
And, as always, your feedback is welcome and encouraged.
Until next week,
Ann Handley
ann@marketingprofs.com
Chief Content Officer
MarketingProfs
Send our newsletter to a friend or colleague.
Reach 185,000 marketing decision makers
Dynamically email different content to different people in 1 broadcast
