October 1, 2009

Peter Nicholson, President of the Council of Canadian Academies was quoted recently on the subject of the decline in cost of computation, data transmission and storage.

“It is as if a house that cost half a million dollars in 1964 could be bought today for a nickel, or if life expectancy had been reduced from 75 years to four minutes.” he said in the Globe and Mail.

Not a new idea, of course; we’ve been talking about the relative value of hardware for years, and making the same kinds of comparisons.

What I find interesting is the corollary:  as information increases, our attention declines. So much to see, so little time! We focus on speed at the expense of depth.

As we become collectors of data rather than thinkers and reflectors about content and implications, we are correspondingly investing less and less in creating information in the first place. The sheer pressure to get a daily post on line precludes in-depth research and analysis, or at best reduces us to recycling the same set of ideas in another package.

This is called “reusing content” or “repurposing”. I’m reminded of an open furnace that hungrily burns words and sends us out searching for well-seasoned old ideas to keep the fires burning.

Anyway, as a marketer I pay attention to this sort of thing, and wonder about the implications for our clients who have pretty specific goals for the money they invest with us. We’re suggesting that we have gone way past “media clutter” and into something that is profoundly new.

We’ve always known that scarce marketing dollars make it imperative to focus on a particular Ideal Client with a Core Message that demonstrates how a product or service solves a problem. Procter & Gamble have made problem-solution advertising an art form.

Now we need to create marketing communication that not only passes on information like features and benefits, but that lassos the target audience and forces them to their knees so we can have a conversation while they’re still out of breath and not moving.

Seriously, it’s not about “getting the message out” any more. It’s about generously sharing our knowledge, insights and solutions so that prospects are drawn to engage with us over time.

Yes, the cost of sales is higher, but the long-term value of the customer will pay back handsomely. And with fewer, more profitable clients maybe we’ll have a bit more time to pay attention.

Elizabeth Walker is a partner in Marketing Masters and a Duct Tape Marketing Coach located near Toronto Ontario. Find more information online.

Image Credit:  clickykbd