This decade has one similarity to every decade prior: whether you are Bill Gates or destitute, everyone has 24 hours in a day. Time is the great equalizer and every decade delivers huge technology changes on how to spend ones 24 hour period.
This analysis does not recap how technology has changed the last decade. It predicts how the current technology and social environments will alter how we prioritize our time and our spending over the next decade.
Overused Interconnectivity Will Lose its Appeal
The beeping will not stop, but we will develop configuration options to tier who, when and how we will be alerted. Not every message or messenger is created equal; and our time will no longer be accessible by all.
Constant blackberry beeping intercompany email and texts in restaurants, movies and autos will wane. We will stop annoying ourselves (our families and everyone in our vicinity) reading content whose author forwards yet another 'Incredible grasp of the obvious'.
At Tandem Computers Inc. 3rd class email was available in 1989.
Developing products to combat over use is not a new concept: home telephones were so overused by telemarketers that caller ID and do-not-call registries were developed to stop annoying households. Advertising is so out of control that DVR, pop-up blockers and junk mail were developed.
Consumers eagerly pay to stop the advertisements that detain them from their quest.
Skimming Generates Widespread Knowledge but Little Expertise
I skim, you skim, we skim LinkedIn group topics, tweets, texts, Facebook IMs....Oh My! Yet the devil remains in the details as complex topics take a wee bit more than 140 character tweets or 1% of a boss's diverted attention span (while he skims email). Too much information, a conservative trillion points of light is generated and, not all those bulbs are bright...!
Look for consolidation of social media venues and readers to cut back on virtual discretionary time limiting who may vibrate them and when. Our time will transition to establishing and improving relationships with people close enough to physically touch: friends, families and neighbors. This next decade is the 'Decade of the City' and the social aspects of prides, pods, schools, and community will reach a tipping point.
Not all relationships are created equal.
Business Gets Personal: Personal Gets Business.
The foundation of social media - to interactively communicate real-time and share various types of information in different ways with different people is a fundamental shift in how we communicate.
A person's attention is his gift; time is our most precious commodity. Social media will support how much time we choose to spend on who and what (think configurable pickiness) depending on the depth and nature of the relationship.
Referrals and networking are as old as the second and third caveman, "Who did you get to move your rock?" Since WWII, leading sales reps have been relationship managers. CMOs heed the results from Stanford and Harvard research, "Advertising extends brand awareness but does not address perceived quality."
Relationships matter.
The 'Advertise everywhere' approach declines. Quality and trust become hip.
Just the Facts, Ma'am.
Google, YouTube, television and newspapers are information delivery vehicles to strangers by strangers.
In real-time, search engines serve up the explosion of data and advertisements coined the great 'mystery meat of information' we call the Internet.
Like virus detection, fact checking becomes a viable business model responding to Mark Twain's tongue-in-cheek humor: "Get your facts straight and then you can distort them as much as you please". Fraudulent behavior and rip-off artists are increasingly subject to 'Is that True?' scrutiny.
Journalists Smell Coffee! Cow Comes Home, Fat Lady Hits Final Note!
Knowledge is the power to make better choices. Fact checking unifies journalists as a community's hub.
Validation becomes cool.
Consumers Demand CarFax for Contractors.
Social media addresses the quality and trust gaps in traditional medias broken infrastructure and delivers transparency for small businesses serving local markets.
Like dinosaurs, consumer protection services (e.g., state licensing boards, the better business bureau) become extinct. Consumers cannot protect themselves as sites designed to protect are out-of-sync and out-of-date: and therefore significantly misleading.
Referrals explode but content is king.
Consumers demand transparency of local businesses referred by their social media friends, via third party validation of licenses, insurances, reputations and more. Judy may have great intentions, but may not know details. Sally will not question Judy whether Judy checked Bob the roofers state license status, insurance coverage and references before Judy recommended Bob, etc. as this certification check is available in Sally and Judy's hometown by clicking on the Certified insignia (that magically appears as a Facebook Connect application).
Reputable businesses are thrilled to be vetted as this ongoing certification differentiates Bob's business from the disreputable roofer who cannot pass the scrutiny. Bob's experience and knowledge is presented in articles, videos, 'ask the expert' and howto's.
Social media will connect people to verified reputable local businesses so consumers get jobs done on
their homes, boats and cars right the first time. Although recall notices will find product owners, social media consumers will demand third-party validation of personal and professional local services enjoying peace of mind and cost savings.
Business Planning Fundamentals Resurge; Include Sustainability
Dwight D. Eisenhower said, "Plans are nothing. Planning is everything."
Disruptive technologies and innovative marketing can shock an industry and demand reactions over time: Starbucks revolutionized coffee and Google revolutionized news and advertising.
Three components of a marketing strategy are central to unsettling an existing market or settling disruption in a market:
- Collaboration.
- Leverage.
- Creating standards.
Used in conjunction with brand builders (reach, frequency and relevance) marketing strategies implement lasting value propositions via cash management, sales, customer service, operating efficiencies, and talented people.
When asked about his inactive twitter account, GE's Chairman and CEO, Jeffrey R. Immelt stated, "My customers buy jet engines and gas turbines."
Fundamentals of communication have evolved but the fundamentals of business, expanded to include corporate social responsibility, are timeless. Like Chanel's little black dress, qualified leads and shortened sales cycles never go out of style.
Social media is a communication and relationship management tool in a marketing strategist's tool chest.
Green Marketing
Green Marketing has certainly disrupted this past year; ask the large cap public CFO answering ROI questions regarding carbon metrics in the supply chain. Fraught with innuendo, green washing, and conflicts, confused consumers tuned out.
Collaboration establishes the green culture epidemic.
The first consumer-accepted, loyalty-based marketing initiative of carbon management will be launched by a consortium of sustainable global companies. The adoption of sustainable practices by businesses and citizens is accelerated via a licensing infrastructure: best practices become standards. Existing initiatives (e.g., best-in-class k-5 green education programs, top green internal corporate programs) are leveraged and packaged.
Presented with clarity and humor by the growing consortium, consumers value green.
"I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn't just one aspect of the game - it is the game. In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value." - Lou Gerstner Who Said Elephants Can't Dance.
"Counting Carbs" has a Whole New Meaning
The companies who understand that people breathe where they live are the most successful green marketers.
A GPS device manufacturer will announce the ability to track carbon emissions while you drive. Time, distance and speed will 'Count Your Carbs' giving penalties for time spent idling in traffic and drive-throughs and give credit for high MPG and electric vehicles. Toll collecting devices will offer carbon offsets to purchase along with your prepaid turnpike and bridge tolls.
Jan. 2010 - Dec. 2019
This decade will rediscover quality time (uninterrupted!) and quality relationships: personal and professional.
It will be a decade that embraces transparency and creates authentic infrastructure for exceptional businesses to grow. Citizens, their City, and the businesses that serve them will rule the roost.
"The 19th century was a century of empires; the 20th century was a century of nation states. The 21st century will be a century of cities." - Wellington E. Webb, former Mayor of Denver, Colorado
Credits.
Many thanks for the YouTube interviews from the Web 2.0 conference in October 2009, Socialnomics video the Social Media Revolution, The Newsosaur blog by Alan Mutter, Waiting for Your Cat to Bark authors Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg, Chris Brogan, David Meerman Scott and extensive thanks to the Tipping Point Author, Malcolm Gladwell.
Janet has led http://www.5dmarketing.com for 7 years "packaging" complex business scenarios and technical products and services for B-to-B and B-to-C sales to increase revenue, secure competitive advantages, develop pipelines, and deliver critical sales channels. Marketing is about generating repeat business with advantageous partnerships and effective communications. With 20+ years experience, our clients value the business plans and marketing strategies that enable them to break away from the pack.
Janet's other business RHS Certified® has achieved federal registration becoming the recognized national standard to validate a businesses' reputation. Like VeriSign and Energy Star, RHS Certified ® is an at-a-glance insignia that establishes comfort and trust in consumers who just want to get a job done right the first time. Members display the insignia on their websites, trucks and advertising. The RHS Certified® process covers, home improvement, maintenance and repair, and marine, auto, personal and professional services. For more information, contact the author. or visit her blog at http://www.janetsmith5d.com
