This is your market. These are your prospects. This is how they buy.

online marketing young generationHello, accountancy firm.  I’m an up and coming business owner, the son or daughter taking over my parents’ business.  I’m the generation of technology users for whom being online is as natural as breathing.

I am your market.

I am your prospect.

This is how I live, and this is how I buy:

  • My phone is the first thing I look at as soon as I open my eyes in the morning.
  • I scan through emails on my phone, deleting them based on the sender and then the subject line.
  • I don’t read – I skim.  Articles, blog posts, website pages, Wikipedia articles, pages of images, Tumblr posts all combine together in my mind.
  • I use Twitter, Facebook, Hootsuite, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and Facebook business pages literally hundreds of times a day.  I check them on my phone, my laptop, my desktop, and my ipad.
  • I’m often on my iphone, ipad, and laptop all at the same time.
  • If something looks interesting, I’ll click to read more or register or buy or take action.  If I can’t, or something goes wrong, I forget about it entirely.
  • I have at least six email addresses, including one that I use solely for things I’m not interested in, or junk.  I check all of them multiple times a day.
  • If you offer a download on your site, I’ll willingly enter my email address, and possibly download the document.  I often then forget about it a few minutes later.
  • I can tell a stock photo from about ten miles away.
  • I own multiple businesses, and the work from all of them melds together until I can hardly distinguish them.
  • I do all my finances online.  I use apps on my phone to keep track of receipts.  When the shop offers me a paper receipt, I often refuse or throw it away.
  • I use my phone as my camera.  I don’t own a digital camera.
  • If someone recommends a business on Twitter, I expect to see a Twitter handle so I can follow and connect.  I use Twitter for any and all customer service issues, and expect businesses I buy from to respond within an hour.
  • I accept webinar invitations like they’re sweets – usually several per week.
  • I almost never use a printer.
  • I’m plugged in to my earphones all the time – when walking, on the train, at the gym, out shopping.
  • I buy airplane tickets, check in, and use my boarding pass all on my phone.
  • If I’m waiting for a few seconds, I pull out my phone.  I check for wifi automatically, not because I need to do anything in particular, but because I like to be connected.
  • I read books on my phone or tablet.
  • When I open a website on my mobile, if I can’t quickly get to what I want, I give up.  When I open a website on my computer, I’ll leave in seconds if it doesn’t open or is confusing.
  • I scan emails, usually reading a few words.  Emails with more than one call to action, or lots of wording, get deleted almost instantly.
  • I text constantly – to family, friends, clients, companies.  I respond within seconds to most texts.
  • I use Skype for long distance calls.  I don’t have a house phone.  Some of my businesses don’t have a business phone – just the mobile.
  • When I visit a website, the first thing I look for are the social media connections, so I can continue to hear from this business in future. If they don’t have them, I’ll often give up on the site altogether.  If I click on the links and they don’t work, I’ll give up.  If I click on the links and see that the activity is old, outdated, or generic, I’ll give up and go elsewhere.
  • I prefer to connect with businesses on Facebook, and individual business owners on Twitter.
  • I never use CD’s or DVD’s – I share files using Dropbox, watch and rent films using itunes or Netflix or Amazon, and set up new technology online.
  • I’m having several apps developed for me or for my businesses.
  • Sometimes I give up on a five minute YouTube video before it starts, because that’s too long.  Any video that makes me laugh gets saved and shared with my world.
  • People know what I’m up to because of what I’ve shared.  I ring the garage and they ask if that’s me just back from my holiday.  I go out with friends and they start conversations with things I posted about while I was away.  People know where I am, who I’m with, and what I’ve been up to sometimes better than I do.
  • I’m easily and constantly distracted, and will click and follow and like and comment and reply if it’s interesting.

…speaking of which, what was I doing?

Think about all that when you’re putting your accountancy firm out there for me to see.

Will you interest me?