I occasionally have a student do odd-jobs for me. By student, I mean high-school student. She’s just 17.
Last weekend I got a text message from her. She wanted to know if she could borrow one of my cameras for a video she had to make for a school project.
A few hours later, she came over, I gave her a camera…and…I spent all of 2 minutes explaining to her how it works.
A few hours after that, I received another text message from her. Did she have a question about the camera? Did she want to know how to attach it to her computer? Did she have some other “help, I’m stuck question”? Nope. She was just telling me that she was done and would be dropping off the camera the next day.
It’s not surprising. Her generation has grown up with technology. And although there are plenty of things that may be new to them (like video cameras), they seem to know how to use everything intuitively. And they also use all of this technology…even depend on it…liberally.
Still, there are many businesses out there, online and off, who are reluctant to embrace technology…especially on the web. Video, blogs, you name it…if it’s unfamiliar to them, then it scares them…and they try to avoid it at all costs.
They also figure that their market isn’t into that stuff, so they don’t need it. Well guess what. Your market is into that stuff. The largest growing segment of new media user’s are aged 35+. Plus, in a few years, those tech-savvy teenagers are going to be adults. That means that sooner (rather than later), they are going to be your market too.
So back to the title of this post…what a 17 year-old can teach you about your business. The lesson is, that even if you’re not into this “crazy new media technology”…even if you struggle to wrap your head around it all…your market is rapidly becoming accustomed to it.
And in the near future, they will expect it. In other words, just like a teenager, it will be second nature to them. So the question is, will you be ready?