The Kurzweil Effect on Communications

By Joe Pulizzi | Published: August 22, 2007

Change is all around us, but is possibly happening faster in marketing and media than anything else on the planet. How we communicate with everyone and everything is drastically different today than it was last year at this time. Information technology is changing the way we communicate.

Don’t take my word for it. Ray Kurzweil, famed inventor and futurist, states in the May 14, 2007 issue of Fortune magazine that “…Information technologies are doubling in power every year right now. Doubling every year is multiplying by 1,000 in ten years.” Just think about that. Look at where we are today and what technology is doing…thinking out 10 years in almost unimaginable.

Okay, you get the point, but what does this have to do with marketing? Well, everything.

Technology has created a couple truths over the past few years:

The buyer is more in control than ever. This will continue and grow with the advancement of technology.
More seamless and integrated technology is enabling companies to talk with consumers in more and different ways never thought of before.

Conclusion to these two points: You, the marketer, will have more ways to connect with customers than ever before. Beware: your messages better be valuable or the customer will shut you out…forever.

A little hasty? Maybe, but you get the point.

Below are some key points that I’m calling the KEC (Kurzweil Effect on Communications):

Understanding your buyer is more important than ever when communications are accelerating beyond our control. What to do? Set up multiple “listening posts” inside and outside the organization that can generate real-time feedback on what your customers are doing, saying, and possibly thinking. This means relationship building is back!
Buyers have little (if any) patience to figure things out. What this means? Be sure your communications are valuable and relevant. It also means that if your eNewsletter doesn’t look right in gmail or yahoo or gets black-listed, you missed your shot. You get one shot in today’s fast-changing communications environment. Make it count.
There is no possible way that any executive or decision-maker can keep up with technology. Best they can do is manage their lives using bits and pieces of technology. Can you take advantage of this? Yes. Create integrated “combos” of marketing (print/web, eNewsletter/Blog, Blog/RSS/Print) that are each packaged differently. This reaches each decision-maker where they are at in the technology cycle, but doesn’t shut out the early adopters.
What else to do? Assign someone in your company to be the technology evangelist. This person’s responsibility is to keep up with technology as it pertains to your customers. What are they using to make buying decisions, learn, communicate? This person may slowly become the most important person in your organization.

Sign up to receive articles like these via email!

>>If you liked this article, try Junta42 for more.