Inspired Ideas

When I was a young chap I went to a place called a library. I spent countless hours learning how to write a bibliography. Every week I went to my local grocery store to add to my encyclopedia set (the grocery store was smart, they only released one letter a week) so that I could learn everything that started with the next letter of the alphabet. I only got to F.

“Internet killed the li-br-ary.” That’s how that song goes right?

Things sure have changed.

We now live in a world of information on demand. Have a question, Google it. Out on a date and can’t remember the names of all the Jackson 5 members? Pull out your BlackBerry and Wikipedia it. (What? As if that’s never happened to you before.)

All of the information our heart desires is now at our fingertips, which is what I believe to be the driving force behind what TrendWatching calls the “Expectation Economy”. The Google’s and Wikipedia’s of the world have raised our overall expectations - we expect to know things immediately and when we don’t, we get frustrated.

Think of the last time you were waiting for a bus and didn’t know when it would arrive, or sent out an e-mail looking for an answer and then spent the next ten minutes, hitting refresh wondering why that person hasn’t got back to you yet. Don’t lie, you know you’ve been there before.

We expect everything in real-time.

And this has some serious implications for marketers. It makes it extremely difficult to pleasantly surprise a consumer. If your consumer can’t find information about your product when they want it and how they want it, guess what? They’ll switch to the next brand that can.

When they want it. How they want it.

So, what should we do?

It’s pretty simple. Make it easy for consumers to find information and give consumers the option of how they receive information. For example, when you are collecting consumer information ask them “how would you like us to communicate with you, by phone? e-mail? direct mail? walkie-talkies?” Simple. But it’s surprising that we don’t see more companies doing this.

Remember not everyone of your consumers will want to know everything. Provide solutions for your different types of consumers. Home Depot does a great job of this. They have a number of different consumer segments from contractors to do-it-yourselfers. Check out Home Depot Clinics a site devoted specifically for the latter.

The next time you’re at the grocery store (let me know if you find encyclopedia G) check out the sticker on Dole Organic bananas. They have a 3-digit code on them that you can enter online to find out exactly where that banana came from and see pictures of that specific farm.

In 2008, we will likely see more products and services that fuel our desire for information on demand and expect to see this move into other parts of our lives when we are not close to a computer. For example, they are already experimenting with a pill that when taken provides a diagnosis of everything going on inside our bodies. That’s information on demand.

Spend some time thinking how your brand can help consumers find what they want, when they want it and how they want it. I bet you’ll be surprised with all of the opportunities.

- Nish

This post is tagged expectation economy, information on demand