#letterfromtj

A love story. Few things in this world have ever had the impact that technology has had, especially in the last decade or so. Let this sink in for a minute. There are 2.2 million apps currently available, with 1,000 more being churned out daily to ever hungrier users. Instagram reaches 600 million monthly active users. Snapchat has 150 million people using the service each day. Not to mention the 400 pound Facebook gorilla in the room with 1.79 billion monthly users. These numbers are staggering—dizzying actually. And unbelievably promising for marketers. How so? Access to consumers is unprecedented. Having millions upon millions of eager customers, 24/7, never more than an arm’s length away from a screen is every brand’s dream. Shooting fish in a barrel as the saying goes. Ahh, but there’s a catch. And it’s a big one. Consumers are more savvy than ever, more willing to engage than ever, and at the same time, less patient than ever. Honestly “less patient” is being kind. Waste their time and suffer the consequences. Countless well-intentioned grams, chats, tweets, posts and banners have ended up having an opposite than intended outcome—usually the recipient expressing their displeasure to anyone who will listen—so simply throwing out a message into the ether and expecting a positive response is a very risky endeavor. Which brings us to “story." Yin to Tech’s Yang. Starsky to its Hutch (look it up). At the end of the day, we as marketers are story tellers. We are creating important, long-term relationships with consumers by inviting them in and making them feel like a valued part of our world. And there has never been a faster, more creative, more connected, more important engine to tell a story than technology. It’s a marriage made in brand heaven. With that in mind, it has never been more important to make sure that we all double down on our homework, know our intended consumer inside and out, be experts on the platforms they’re loyal to, and engage them authentically. That’s when the real power of technology starts rolling. Remember folks, ten short years ago there was no such thing as a smart phone, so nobody knows what wonders technology holds for us—but I do know this—the importance of story will be the same. As always, thanks for the time.

TJ Rhine