remember when email was a new thing. It was amazing to type a message and a few moments later it would display halfway around the world. We couldn’t get enough and we often send around jokes and funny emails to brighten-up the work day. Sometimes you would even open your email and be disappointed that there were no new messages.
How things have changed! No one bothers sending jokes around anymore. With inboxes overflowing with a constant stream of emails, unnecessary mails cause more irritation than smiles.
Of course we now also have social networks! No longer are email and a text message the only way to communicate, now we have a magnitude of options – Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Pinterest and the list goes on.
And communication is not limited to you being stationary behind your desk, close to your phone or behind your computer either. With our wonderful smart phones we are always on our emails and we chat with a variety of text messages and on social web-based platforms.
With communication becoming so easy, everyone has become a communicator or journalist. No longer are the only opinions and updates we receive written by a journalist, edited by an editor and printed in a paper or magazine a day or a week after the event. Now, everyone is telling their story or their interpretation of a story, it is instant and it is out there for anyone to read. On the one hand, it offers freedom of expression and we have access to more than one opinion and can decide who we want to listen to, but on the other hand, there are many unqualified and emotive opinions being dished up as the truth.
The new way of communicating has changed many other fields as well – marketing for instance. No longer do we dress our brand and communicate our strategy and story only via well-designed ads. No, in today’s world we need to engage online with everyone who is interested in our brand and we have to manage our reputation online, track what is being said about us and respond in a suitable and timely fashion.
Jeff Bullas wrote a blog, The Rise of the Digital Assets in which he says: “ Business is now playing out online and thinking that your bricks and mortar presence is all that is needed is ignorance in a digital economy. If you are not found by search engines then you might as well be invisible. In some industries up to 90% of all buying decisions start with an online search. The holy grail is being ranked one on Google.
So what are the digital assets you need to create, market and manage?
- Websites (including blogs and e-Commerce stores)
- Social media channels and assets
- Multi-media content assets
- Mobile assets including apps and mobile sites
- Digital databases including email subscribers
The value of building and continuing to invest and build these assets cannot be underestimated. Most online stores have more traffic than physical stores.”
And while we may feel that we are bombarded with communication from a plethora of platforms and in a variety of ways, we need to ensure that what we communicate is effective and trustworthy and that we are visible without being obtrusive, because today, more than ever before, communication is fundamental to our success.