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Have you heard about cloud computing yet?

 

If you haven’t, you will be.  The clever techy people ‘in the know’, predict that within 5 years (that’ll be about 2014) 60% of our computing work will be done out in the cloud.

 

And, what exactly is cloud computing?

 

Glad you asked…what it means (in simple Kim language) is that all your computing stuff will be "out there" on the internet, instead of in your pc.

 

So, all your word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations will be stored out in the great ether and you will be able to invite people to look at them and amend them from wherever they are, and you will be able to access them from wherever you are (as long as you can access the internet).  In fact, you can do this already with Google Apps (you can go and have a play for yourself here http://www.google.com/apps ).

 

No more PC’s!

 

This means that there will be a point (sooner than you think) where you no longer need a pc on your desk, nor would you need the memory space that you currently have on your pc because you will never need to store anything ON your pc.  All you would need is something to access the internet from anywhere, like an iphone for instance.

 

What will this mean to our businesses?

 

Let's have a look at what this will result in: our world will become technology driven.  If you thought it was already - it'll only get more so.

 

Online businesses are already on the increase and as customers, we think nothing now of buying online.  We are expecting more and more from this: if you buy anything from Amazon in the run up to Christmas, it seems that the delivery dates get shorter and shorter "Order by 11pm and get it delivered by 8am!" (well, maybe not quite, but not very far off!!).  We're beginning to expect the same immediacy from our online retailers as we would from our high street stores.

 

Whilst our online expectations are increasing, our social boundaries are meanwhile expanding: no longer are we limited to the local community centres, pubs, football clubs etc to get to know people - we can use Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and a myriad of others as well (or instead).  We have no idea what other social networking platforms will be in existence in 2, 5 or 10 years.

 

There is already a massive increase in the self employed, home based businesses and people working from home if they are employed, and this will only continue to rapidly increase in line with the growth of technology.

 

The world is changing - but where does that leave us?

 

Well, for starters, I think that we will see a rise in technology based products and services being sold via direct sales channels (good news for all of you in direct sales and network marketing).

 

For all home businesses - you need to make a decision about who and where your market is.  Having such a rapid rise in computing technology and multiple ways to connect with people in a virtual world can be a tad overwhelming to us non-techy people.  But your business and marketing decisions will still be based upon the needs and location of your target market.

 

You need to get good at internet marketing…or ignore it all together

 

If you're going to have an internet presence, then you really need to get to grips with what you're doing, otherwise you will just become 'noise' rather than allowing your voice to be heard.  (A question you might want to ask yourself is - do I really need a website and internet presence - or are my customers and clients just down the road?).

 

The resident six year old gets his school homework set online now.  The teacher sets it - and he accesses a special site from home to do it.  At school they learn about internet safety and how to use a laptop.  A far cry from when I was in junior school (admittedly, that was a little while ago now and I got excited when I was first allowed to use a fountain pen). The current generation of children are going to grow up into a very different, and smaller, world.  Relationships will be with people from all continents, and not just with those we've gone to school with.

 

Two things you MUST know how to do (or you’re dead in the water)

 

From a marketing angle, there are two things that we need to learn how to do: first, segmentation will be paramount.  In fact it already should be.  

 

If you have multiple social media presences eg Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter etc then you need to know how to segment your followers.  To some extent you can do it now, but it's still a little clunky (technical term, that!!).  

 

What segmenting means is that you should be able to divide your followers/friends/groups up into smaller groups.  My newsletter goes out to about 18 different countries.  If I was running a seminar in the US, I could segment my list and just choose to send my message to that US audience.  

 

My facebook 'friends' number somewhere in the 2-300 mark, but at least I have the capability to put them into groups so I can send the right message to the right people.  That said, although Facebook is getting better, it’s not there yet from a business point of view.

 

And that is one of the keys to effective marketing - the right message to the right people at the right time.  Whatever the medium you are using, your effectiveness will increase drastically if you segment your target market and tailor your message to just that segment.  

 

Segments are just basically ways to divide up your target market: you can segment by age, gender, where they live, but also by the types of problem they have, the size of business they are, the size of family they are.  It's up to you, but as technology makes the world smaller, you will have to find ways to divide your own particular target market into smaller and smaller chunks so that you can market to them effectively.  Which brings me nicely on to....  

 

The second area that I think this technology will have an impact on is in personal relationships.  With the advent and massive rise in popularity of social networks and forums, we can build relationships with anyone anywhere.  

 

But on the whole these relationships lack depth.  Not all them I know - I've found some great friends online with people who I hope I will meet for real someday.  But as for the rest - they're gone in an instant the minute I hit my off switch.

 

You've heard the adage "people only buy from people" and I think this will only become more relevant as people realise that they want real relationships with real people in the real world - not cyber relationships in the cyber world.  This is nothing to do with business per se - just basic human needs.

 

Don’t just rely on technology though…

 

If you are building an online presence and using it as part of your marketing funnel to drive prospects, customers and clients to you, then accept that at some point you are going to have to build a real relationship with them for that to turn into business for you.  

 

So what does this boil down to?  Basic marketing principals such as understanding your target market (ie they're real people just like you and me), segmenting your target market, and building real relationships with them.

 

Nothing new here I can assure you.  However I suspect that sometimes the sheer choice and variety of online marketing media as well as what technology will be doing for us, can have the potential to send people into a tail spin, when there's no need to be.

 

My advice?  Enjoy the ride, and remember technology is just a tool for us mere mortals.  Learn how to use it to make your life easier for you, rather than feeling like you have to lie down in a darkened room because it all gets a bit too much!  But don't forget that if you're using it as part of your marketing strategy all you need to do is keep coming back to the basic fundamentals of marketing, and you won't go far wrong.

 

"I think there's a world market for maybe five computers."

Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM, 1943