Red alert, full tilt, hyper speed innovation required. “Beam me up Scotty I need a reprieve from the Digital Revolution”.

Rapidly the world of communication is changing and its changing our world at a break neck speed. It used to be we would get our news from the daily paper and the evening news on television – not anymore. The computer is so pervasive in our lives and hooked to the internet and to a global network of other computers; it facilitates a two-way exchange and entertainment that is unmatched in any traditional media. There is a new relationship that has been forged between those producing the media and those consuming the media but no one has quite figured out how to get along yet.

This is a highly interactive super media world we find ourselves in. And, this new media wants to be fluid and non linear so the old marketing models just don’t cut it. Its like trying to fit a round peg into a square hole. Content is shared, created and consumed by the consumer who is shaping this new world. It is a world where we are hyper-linked. No text is a closed system as its always touching another document. Any process is variable and modular (Wikipedia is a great example). It is also a world where advertising is avoided by the consumer and permission-based marketing is the law. Consumers decide what to read, watch or play as they insist on being in control.

So if you are finding that your television, newspaper, radio and yes, even your yellow pages, are not delivering the leads and ROI they used to then here are some tips on how you can join the digital age and promote your brand in this challenging climate.

Adoption is the first step. There is no turning back. The Digital Revolution is very real.

1. Define your target customer (in great detail). If you have several customer groups then segment them if necessary.

2. Find out where they hang and visit their online communities. Be friendly, transparent and sharing.

3. Invite them to your community and attract them to interact with your brand. To do this you need to put yourself into their mindset and think beyond the box.

4. And finally be consistent and don’t give up

There was this cool running shoe place where you could paint and design your own shoes online and they would be shipped to you. In two to three years the business grew to 4 million in sales. Word of mouth advertising or social marketing as it is referred to today has always been #1 in terms of delivering cost-effective leads to a business.