I was reading my newsgroups on Linkedin this morning, like I do every morning and came across this article on “The Rise of Generation C”. The crux of the article is that those born after 1990 fundamentally view our world in a completely different way. They are Generation C – The Connected Generation.
This article got me thinking. . . in a completely connected generation, where the world is at their fingertips, how do we communicate and market to this generation in a way that is relevant to them?
I think the answer lies in delving further into the question. We need to better understand how they interact with technology, where their trust sources are, how messaging is processed and analyzed and then, and only then, can we work to develop strategies that resonate with this technologically savvy generation.
This is not to say that traditional marketing is dead, nor that the only way to reach them is digitally, far from it. Richard Rosen recently authored a book, Convergence Marketing where brand and direct marketing must be used in unison to develop a brand new relevant strategy. We need to be able to marry our on and offline marketing so that is speaks to the same focus and enables conversations and brand champions. This is the beauty of web 3.0 if done properly. It enables real time conversations to develop organically thus letting brand champions emerge. The trick is knowing how to enable the conversation.