Builders: How are you taking the Connected Customer into consideration?

A recent article by Brian Solis, Meet Generation C: The Connected Customer, makes a startling point: "the gap between how Gen Y communicates and connects and how businesses, educators, governments, et al. approach them is only widening."  You can read this very intriguing article here.

Connecting to today's "new" Customer: Different Strategies Needed

Solis goes on to say, "I often wonder whether or not we are simply trying to talk to ourselves in our approach to Millennials."

Should you examine this gap or worry about it?  Here are a few numbers that suggest anyone selling anything needs to care:

 --- Millennials trust strangers over friends and family; they lean on UGC for purchases (that's user-generated content)
--- They are 3X as likely to follow a brand over a family member in social networks
--- 66% will look up a store if they see a friend check-in.

But, Solis suggests, this techno-focus isn't just about age.  There is now a "class of consumer" that can be referred to as "the Connected Customer" and their behavior and habits mimic those associated with Millennials in that traditional marketing efforts aren't very influential in their decision-making process.

At a minimum, it appears the traditional marketing "funnels" are no longer appropriate; we need to consider multiple engagement strategies.  Do you have ways for prospects to "check-in" at your sales offices; do you have at least one "non-traditional and/or experiential" display as compared to the traditional wall images (think: touchscreen, iPad), are you building your brand using technology?

Did you know women rule the Connected Customer world?  As builders, it might make sense to review thoughts about women-centric design and marketing.  Check out our blog on March 2!