Devoted to online marketing, viral marketing, and web marketing

On the Communications Revolution blog they recently reported some interesting information on where the next generation of marketing is going. Especially among young buyers and the tech-savvy, they use devices like iPods and BlackBerries to determine who it is that they want to hear from and if they do.

You couple that with the desire to keep where they are to themselves and to do and check things when they want, it is creating a situation where marketers are learning to have to adapt to.

For example take the travel industry, they are finding it increasingly hard to reach these particular customers with traditional marketing outlets.

The challenge is that this group of consumers rely more on their web of contacts for information than any other way. Jupiter Research Senior Analyst Gary Stein warns that 8 out of 10 possible customers will contact sources outside of their control, “such as blogs and online reviews.” 

As a result these avenues need to be checked on a regular basis to see what is being said about what it is they’re offering. 

Forrester Vice President Henry Harteveldt calls this, “"fifth generation of travel distribution" and the result is the “building of consumer cocoons" which is of course dispersing at a growing rate. 

The answer to this challenge is the creation of more content aimed at the use of various rich media tools. The key here is that there is growing the desire for customers to take care of their own business on their terms. The focus will have to change from everything centered on the transaction side of things to the offering of more information and planning tools. 

These are the types of strategies needed to reach the ever-increasing desire of people to insulate themselves from the steady barrage of endless pitches being thrown their way.