How Atari’s and iPhones Affect Your Small Business Marketing Plan

Why the technology we grow up with shapes the future of our communication.

Just Glue That Phone To Your Ear

I was out with some friends the other day, and one of them was playing a game on his cell phone another was texting while we were eating, and yet another checked in on facebook and twitter. It got me thinking about the different technologies that we have grow up around and how it has influenced culture and communications both personal and business alike. I wondered what the next technology would be and how our kids or maybe theirs will look back on us soon enough and wonder how we ever made it through a day without checking our iPhone!

You see it more and more these days, everyone has their smart phone on them. The average person checks their phone 150 times a day. Say what? Think about it like this, assuming you had your phone on you 12 hours out of the day, that would be once every 5 minutes. That doesnt even take in to consideration the time you spend online, twitterbooking and instaspamming all the while pretending to work on that big project at work. Just saying, It wont be soon before they are installing them at birth and if you think people will be outraged, just ask your 14 year old daughter who LOL’s and OMG’s more than saying thank you or please!

Don’t Get Me Wrong!

I love technology and I happen to love my iPhone. That is not the moral to this story. I mention this only to draw comparisons between it and my first video game system as well as being the inspiration for this article. Everyone my age remembers playing their Atari or maybe they had to go to a friends house to get their pong on but they remember none the less. They remember how cool it was; We remember how cool it was because there was nothing like it out there.  Then I tried to imagine myself, growing up today deciding between a Playstation or X-Box, an iPad or Kindle, or maybe my own iPhone, heck every 11 year old needs an iphone right?

All I am saying is that look back, one generation. Look at what we grew up with and what we played with and what the kids now are growing up with and playing with. Whether its good or bad is a debate for another day but we are without a doubt communicating from behind a screen more and more. It is becoming more socially acceptable to live on, in and around your phone at all times, and texting has all but eliminated the need for phone calls for most higschoolers. Compare this to the number of businesses who are using those channels for business communication and you will see that there has to be a shift in business communication and marketing strategies all together as people scramble to keep their message in front of a viable audience.

The Shift Is Going to Hit The Fan

The question you have to ask yourself now as a business owner trying to reinvent yourself in this new economy is how do I get my message in front of people when it seem everyone is ignoring advertising and looking for a deal. The mobile revolution is upon us and by the end of 2013 more people will be searching the web on a mobile device than behind a computer screen. The consumer is taking back the power in the buying process and all buyers are getting more and more educated.

Back when the Atari was rocking our world it was ok for you to just think about putting an ad in the yellow pages, maybe the weekend paper and your local chamber and your advertising was done. Then you had to be on radio and television in order to stand out because everyone was in the phone book right? And now the internet. Except for one thing! The internet is free. It is the final free market on earth and with access anyone can become someone ovenight. The shift is already upon us and growing. If you are not developing your online presence and getting ahead of some of these technologies you will get left behind. Fast!

So Call Me Maybe!

Think about this, radio, television and telephones are all being brought together by the internet. Communication from one device will not be differentiated by channels such as email or text, phone call or Skype, it will all be interchangeable. I can Skype you from my computer to your phone, or get texts from my favorite restaurant with a mobile coupon that I can redeem from my phone! Those who are able to play on every channel are going to have a unique advantage.

We are getting more and more interconnected with social media and mobile devices. We know more about each other and our interests than ever before. We are living our lives in a mobile world, businesses must adapt to stay mobile as well.