The old game made a winner of any store with enough money to use mass-media to be in front of consumers everyday. Progressive retailers know you can no longer blast your messages into the minds of an unwilling, uninterested population.
The new game is being played by plugged-in consumers who value their time above all else, and who exercise a lot more control over which advertising messages get through to them. Longer commutes and headline news on the web means fewer people reading the local newspaper. Thanks to digital video recorders like TiVO, affluent customers now watch their favorite shows without ever seeing a commercial.
Americans made 55 percent more internet searches last year than the year before. More searches by more people means more potential for your store to reach a customer when they are actually thinking about buying. According to the internet's premiere traffic-monitoring organizations, the rate at which internet users clicked on sponsored links, or keyword advertising, increased by a record 16 percent in a recent six month period.
Successful retailers will learn how to be found instead of just hoping a big advertisement might catch someone's eye. They'll know more about customers and consumers and what makes them tick than about promotions and technology. They'll be the ones who can better plan a customer's interaction with their brands and their business, giving her the information and confidence she needs to move through every step of the buying process.
Smart retailers will plan marketing campaigns rather than react at the end of the season, using yesterday's discount sale price approach. And because more and more consumer