As I mentioned, I attended iMedia’s Brand Summit. The best speaker by far was Mark Kvamme, general partner at Sequoia Capital who shared 10 transformation trends that will impact the way we do things and the way consumers expect us to deal with them.
1. From the information generation to the attention generation
In short it’s no longer about delivering information when and where people want it, everyone can do that now, It’s about your information’s ability to get their attention.
2. From individual media to the cloud
“In the very near future, we will not describe media by how it is displayed or consumed or created.” Media will no longer be defined by technology, but rather, by the consumer. Kvamme provided Kindle, Amazon’s wireless reading device, as a prime example of how content created for print media is being transformed and delivered to consumers in entirely new ways.
3. From appointment media to on-demand
Similar to losing control of the format in which our media is consumed, marketers will also lose control over the time and place it’s consumed. He presented the success of hulu.com as an example of this shift. Only major sporting, awards and political events will be watched at a specific time and date.
4. From selling a product to selling an experience
The transparency of word of mouth spread across social media shows that the experience is more important than the product itself. On Amazon.com, only 5% of visitors trust expert reviews while 95% trust user reviews..
5. From price to lifetime value
Something we’ve known at State Farm for a long time, but it’s not about how much customers spend the first time they engage your brand. It’s about how much they will spend as they continue to engage your brand (or agents).
6. From intruders with taglines to stewards of a conversation
Conversations about the brand are taking place every day, and if we’re not part of the conversation, then consumers are controling the conversation. It’s more cost effective to facilitate conversations about your brand than to blast everyone with your message.
7. From renting content to owning content
Marketers are creating or co-creating the content that their customers demand. It both affiliates your brand with something they love and positions you as a knowledgable expert in that content area.
8. From programming guides to search for programming
There’s an overabundance of information out there, so the way people are introduced to new programming is through their friends (as mentioned earlier) or through searching for similar or affiliated content.
9. From standard ad units to permission ad units
Consumers aren’t just watching ads any more, they’re helping to create them. Brands stand to benefit when they engage their audiences and encourage them to participate. There are also opportunities to provide useful web tools, widgets, etc. affiliated with your brand.
10. From old math to new media
It’s not just reach and frequency, it’s also engagement. Marketers need to take a holistic view of their consumer interactions and strive to understand where their content is going and how people are interacting with it.
