"Hello there advertisement, how are you doing? It looks like you have a product that I am very interested in; I will click on you to find out additional information, is that ok?"

You might be saying what is he talking about? If so, then I just started a conversation with you, although this is not an advertisement or a promotion, the concept is similar. What is happening to us in the world of attracting our attention, in the pursuit of garnering our limited attention span, in getting us to act on our passion, or making us think and move to the next step (click) with respect to a product (procurement and/or additional information)? 

Well, we only have ourselves to blame for what is happening. We have empowered ourselves with information, and we have the Internet to thank. The opportunity to find anything at any time, to research ideas, concepts, and future acquisitions with the precision of a skillful surgeon, is at our fingertips. Ownership has never been more important to our decision process as it is with the information that we gleam from our searches on the Internet. The interesting part is that there are many different search engines, and each has a different algorithm (process) in how it secures information and how it returns results when you perform a search, but that is the power behind the power. We have selected a certain search engine as our default engine and as such we have become comfortable with the information that is returned.

So, what is this "stuff" about opening a dialogue with a promotion? In the past, marketing was about a one-way conversation; that is, the advertisement or promotion was information and you read it on a billboard, in a magazine or newspaper advertisement, or heard it on the radio and/or on television. Now, we have the power to interact with the advertisement, if we click on the advertisement this tells a company that there was something within the advertisement that made people stop and click, if the clicks turned into a sale or a request for additional information, then the conversion was strong and this tells the marketing person something as well. If the people clicked on the advertisement, but did not go any further to buy or request information then a red flag may be raised that there is a flaw somewhere in the process. I will also say that in some very crafty cases the intent of the advertisement was just to get people to perform the initial click, this will tell them that they have created a strong draw and now they will work on the conversion aspect.

The power has shifted into the hands of the consumer, and the marketing people are out there trying to figure out what will entice us to start a dialogue. There are numerous media formats taking center stage in the form of podcasts to download information to a device of your choice and to listen to the information when you want, wiki's to let you interact with a webpage, videos, and other mediums. Social networks are growing and they getting people with common passions and interests to interact with each other; many are blogs set up by independent individuals or groups, while others are set up by companies to hear what consumers are saying about their products.

The power shift from marketer control to consumer control has been dramatic, but as the crafty marketer learns more about the type of consumer who clicks, they are becoming even savvier in how they present, control, and lead you through the dialogue. With this said, we the consumer still have the power, we still have the end control, and we still dictate the direction of future dialogues though we may not be fully aware of the process.

So, the next time you see an advertisement or promotion for a product that makes you stop and think, or stop and click on to the next screen, know that you are in control of your actions and that the mouse-clicks are being directed by you, or are they?

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©May 2007. Luxury Experience. www.LuxuryExperience.com. All rights reserved.