The most important point to remember is that you the consumer are driving the changes that are taking place. It is not like in the past where marketing companies drove the consumer's decision and their way of thinking; the current environment is about changing the way a product is represented to meet the desires, wants, and needs of how the consumer wants to be communicated with, and this can vary by product and brand. 

Caffeine is the name that Google have given its latest concept of collecting and returning information on a product to a consumer who is using Google to surf the Internet. With the explosion of information in many different formats (i.e. videos, images, real-time, news, etc.), the old format of methodically cataloging the vast array of websites and information had to change to keep up with the growing selection of new formats. The growth of the new formats is directly tied to how users have driven the growth of online videos, images, real-time comments, and news. Everyone has something to say and they use many different formats to express themselves. Thus, not only Google, but BING, Yahoo, and AOL have had to step-back and look at how they collect and represent data within their respective search engine results; people are demanding more. 

So, what does this mean for a business with respect to their marketing plan and how they should use the Internet? The most important point is that singular reactionary marketing, such as "We are only doing Social Media now," or my favorite "All our marketing dollars are being used for Twitter," is not the correct approach and will leave you further behind your competition. 

Internet Marketing is a channel within your overall Marketing plan, it is not your Marketing Plan. Thus, to focus all your energies on a singular track within the Internet, such as "only Social Media," tells me that you have not laid out a thorough Marketing Plan. 

With the advent of the latest concept from Google, Caffeine, it places a priority on conscientiously developing a plan of action within the Internet Marketing subset of your overall Marketing Plan. The concept of building a Progressive Internet Presence ties directly into what drove the concept of Google developing the Caffeine process, that is, you will need to have appropriate information on your product(s) prominently featured and positioned across the many different formats that are relevant for your customers. 

There are a couple of important concerns that were referenced in the prior paragraph, and they are "appropriate information," and "formats that are relevant for your customer." There is no need to create a marketing focus on Twitter if your customer base is not heavy twitter users, and vice versa, if you do use a real-time channel then you should make sure that the information you are communicating is appropriate and meets your customer's needs and that you continually keep it updated and relevant. In other words, do not just "do" a concept because it is the latest marketing concept, make sure it meets your overall Marketing objectives, which includes knowing your customer. 

Caffeine is about how Google continually scans the Internet to obtain information that they can use to match to a consumer's search request. Thus, Google's desire is to return the most expressive of relevant information in as many different formats as there are available, and thus create a positive connection between the consumer's search criteria and the information returned. The end-all for any of the major search engines is a positive experience using the search engine.  

Caffeine has indirectly placed a higher importance on the creation of a Marketing Plan that spells out how a company will initiate and maintain a dynamic Internet Marketing process that is relevant for their customer's needs and desires. That means, not just having a Facebook page, but keeping the information fresh and updated, or not just having a Twitter account, but communicating information that dynamically interacts with your customer base. 

The major search engines will reward you handsomely if you create a Progressive Internet Presence, and they can obstruct your visibility if you haphazardly approach your Marketing Plan and your Internet Marketing process. Enjoy your caffeine, but drink wisely. 

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