2000–2009 BROUGHT BIG CHANGES
Every decade has events and developments that have significant impact on society in general and business specifically. Who would have thought that after the “dot-com” boom of the ’90s, this decade would bring even bigger changes?
DECLINE OF NEWSPAPERS
Rarely has an industry seen such a multi-front attack. Aside from news aggregation sites and “citizen journalism,” newspapers had to try to deal with the decline of their biggest, yet least obvious source of revenue: classified advertising. Free classifieds on sites like Craigslist.org mortally wounded many newspapers. Papers need a new business model.
iTUNES
Goodbye Walkman, hello iPod. The devices, introduced in 2001 at the beginning of Apple’s comeback, were only part of it. Making buying music online easy through iTunes changed the way we rock forever.
SMART PHONES
Blackberry phones made it easy to get emails and text messages and business documents. They earned the name “Crackberry” because many of us (including me) display withdrawal symptoms if the little demon is not in their hands 24/7.
iPHONE
Steve Jobs took smart phones to a whole new level in 2007. Apple gave us an entirely new niche of smart phones that blended music, video and a huge choice of applications (“There’s an app for that”).
SATELLITE TV & DVRs
Satellite bit off as much as 26% of the cable TV market. Meanwhile, DVRs made skipping commercials even easier — a blow to TV advertisers.
MORE TV CHANNELS/REALITY TV
Further splitting the TV advertising market was the addition of many more channels and shows. The upside is you can target groups such as “foodies,” who watch the food shows. The downside is more reality shows like the “Cops” knock-off “Steven Seagal Lawman.” Ugh.
SOCIAL MEDIA/WEB VIDEO
When Google bought YouTube in 2006, it was about bringing TV to the internet. We now make video a staple of almost every website we build. But I can’t say enough about what an impact social media sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have made. Farris Marketing has a presence on all three, and blogs also. Doing the same for our clients, we have extended the footprint of so many of their websites, while increasing customer service and bringing prospecting to new levels.
“SOCIAL-PROFITS”
When a former community organizer became president, the nation finally recognized the importance of non-profit organizations. We used to just look at the direct benefits to the people they helped, but now we look at the economic impact and value they bring to a community. Now we refer to non-profits as “social-profit” organizations.
NEXT DECADE: RENEWABLE ENERGY
The dot-com boom will look like a burp compared to what this industry will bring the world and its economy. Every big company and big investor is lining up to get involved — with good reason.
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?
Simply put: Embrace it…because there’s more coming. People are communicating in new ways. Marketing and advertising to your customers must follow this change. You must try these new and different media and know how to mix them in with traditional media. You must know how to tune your message to a market that now CHOOSES which messages it wants to receive and how it receives them.
GET PRO HELP
We strongly suggest you get professional help, because it can save you the expense of a trial-and-error process. In fact, call Farris — no marketing firm our size has as much experience and success with messaging and using new media.
GET GOING NOW
Don’t wait. Use these new trends to your advantage and be part of the big stories of the next decade.
Stay tuned and stay smart.
Comment