Chet Bruce describes the 21st Century transformation as the change in the way a consumer shops for and chooses a Professional or Merchant. His conclusions are based on his many years as an entrepreneur, business owner, and internet advertising consultant, as well as his involvement in the Internet since its early days.
There seems to be no disputing the fact that the Internet has become a major part of any kind of marketing and appears to be the reason for the consumers’ transformation. According to Mr. Bruce, the great majority of Professionals and Merchants are not taking advantage of the changes in the mind and actions of their prospects.
Mr. Bruce explained “The major problem in marketing today is that your prospect doesn’t read. They scan headlines, glance at bullet points, watch video and ignore paragraphs of text.”
He reminds us that in the days before the Internet an ad, even a full page ad in the Yellow Pages, had no more than 50 words. When the Internet came along the dominate thinking was to give as much information as possible. That does not fit with the way a consumer uses the Internet to find goods or services.
His view is that it is not the merchants fault. He says, “Most media sales people are trying to put your square peg into their round hole. There is no One Size Fits All solution for marketing.”
Part of the transformation, according to Mr. Bruce, is that consumers are looking for the best value for their dollars. That best value is not necessarily the lowest price.
When they get a referral to a Professional or Merchant they do a Google search to find out more. They do the search by using the name of the professional or business. They may find a listing to a web site (which they do not read) but usually they simply get a lot of Directory listings that show nothing more than Name, Address and Phone Number. Sometimes they see a resume of a Professional.
In reality the consumer is looking for the answer to the question “What can you do to solve my problem?” Mr. Bruce says, “If you want to stand out from the crowd, stop advertising. Your prospect sees 3 to 5 thousand ads every day and is immune to them. Instead, answer the questions he is asking.”
When asked what advice he would give to any Professional or Merchant. He replied, “If I had just one word of advice, it would be to figure out the True Lifetime Value of a new client or customer, then use that figure to establish your marketing budget. View marketing as a profit center, not as an expense.”
You can learn more about Chet Bruce visit http://www.21stcenturytransformation.com