GoodnightEntrepreneur

Life imitates digital

If you could understand the future

What would you do different today?

Another trend I would like to elaborate on is “life today imitates digital”.

More people interact through PC’s, PDA’s, cell phones and dial-up connections today than ever before. We book a movie online, we pay our bills, do our banking without having to see the inside of the bank, we are part of a global virtual group, and with a click of a button we can choose to disassociate ourselves from virtual groups, we have access to volumes of information and we can contribute to this database of information, we upload our photos and share it with friends around the world.

And all of the above we can do 24/7 for 365 days of the year.

The more digital technology is integrated in our lives the more we experience “reality” through digital technology. We are expecting products and services to at least match what we are used to in digital technology.

Some market characteristics that can be related to our digital and online culture are:

• We don’t want to be unplugged
• We want immediate gratification
• We want automation of routine tasks and technology to simplify our lives
• We want a variety of choices and we want customisation
• We want information in order to make our own informed choices
• We want authenticity
• The world is more transparent and every corporate practice is knowable. And through our loyalty (or the withdrawal of it) we hold corporations accountable for their actions.
• Word of mouth marketing as well as permission based marketing is very important
• Virtual experience and adventure becomes more widespread and more attainable. The notion of “indulgence without consequences” is becoming increasingly attractive and fulfilling.