Do you read a newspaper everyday? Did you know that in the 50’s and 60’s someone in most households spent on average 70 minutes of time with the local paper? I see newspaper as litter now. How dare they put litter on my lawn when I didn’t ask for it, just so they can count me in their circulation numbers. Directly to the recycle bin, I say. What I want to read, I read online. I “opt in” to the information online.
What about the radio? How much time do you spend listening now? Many of us grew up with our favorite stations going with us everywhere we went, listening to Casey Kasem, making cassette tapes of our favorite music. I remember listening to the radio all the time. All baseball games were not televised, niether were football–we listened because our team might not be the one or two featured games of the week. We had less money and as a result we had less music of our own.
Television used to be four stations: ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS. We sat through the commercials. We knew when our favorite shows were on. Heck, we even believed the advertising! “Wide World of Sports” was the first reality tv show and gameshows included “Truth or Consequences” and “The Joker’s Wild.” The Disney movie on Sunday night was special enough that we came in from playing to watch it including the intro that featured the Disney fireworks.
So, do we consume any of these forms of entertainment and information the same? I think not.
Other advertising mediums have changed too. Do you use the Yellow Pages anymore or simply type in Google? Can you tell me what the billboards on your way to work feature? Or have they been the same so long that they are simply part of the landscape, like a tree? Do you open your mail everyday? How much of it do you throw away without even opening–again, the recycle bin.
Okay. I’m in the 40+ demographic. Where are you? I ask because, the 40+ demographic is the fastest growing consumers of online information and entertainment. Keep in mind that people younger than we are won’t even share the memories of media mentioned above. They’ve never lived without a VCR, cell phone, internet, Major League Baseball Network, HBO or Google. They use media differently than we do. They think differently than we do. When you say mouse, they think of a computer device…not a rodent.
Strange to think of the changes in our lifetime. Even thinking back 10 years ago (1999), I was teaching my counterparts (media executives) how to write PowerPoint presentations and set up email accounts. As a sales person, I remember getting emails back when I wouldn’t get a phone call back, just because people were just starting to embrace the technology. I had dial-up back then and only one computer to share in the household….Just 10 years ago. And, for a long time main-stream media kept us worried that most websites were run by porn companies and pediphiles. Not true.
Now, 73% of people use internet as their primary source of business information (source: Pew Internet and American Life Project 2008.)
Amazon.com was the only major national consumer business that saw a substantial year to year increase in December 2008.
The consumer has changed. Has your marketing? Using online advertising gives businesses the opportunity to interact with consumers in ways they never could before. In the past, advertising has always been a one-way conversation: Company Message—-to—Consumer. Tradional media interupts your life and forces you to listen to the message, often with force, comedy, yelling, shock. As a result, the consumer no longer trusts advertising the same way they did in the past. Do you?
Today’s “participatory media”–media that consumers opt-into online gives your business the opportunity to interact with your customers, find niche buyers, create targeted messages, build loyalty and much more. Is it easy? No, it can be very time consuming. Any business owner could, with enough research and skill create online advertising for minimal costs. Having a controlled presence on the web is very important also. How’s your website performing? Do you know? Is it driving traffic to your business? Do you know? Could it be improved?
At To the Hilt Online Solutions, we are not a creative advertising house foremost. What I mean is, we aren’t interested in selling you a website. We are marketing professionals. We have technical people on staff, but we are more likely to look at your website (for free) and tell you what you or your webmaster should do to improve its performance. I don’t write a lick of code and neither does my partner Richard. What we do is help businesses grow using the very best “participatory media” tools. And we keep it simple and affordable for you.
And, by the way, we still have major contacts with all the traditional media too if you need radio, television or newspaper. We out-source that from a veteran media person who has as much experience as either of us. We are creative, but chose to have the creative done by our Creative Services Director who is a professional designer. We stay focused on growing your business. I’m likely to scribble a flow chart or a graphic idea in front of you–hopefully I do, because that’s how great ideas and partnerships begin.
Contact us if you like this info. We’ll be happy to meet and talk about online marketing–from concept to actual campaigns. It’s an easy email: info@tothehiltonline.com
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