It used to be in your social circles there were one or two people who were always talking about the cool new technology gadget. They liked the new and always had to have the latest right after it came out.
The rest of us fell into one of two camps; either we were the ones who waited until the “new thing” was bug-free and cheaper before we bought it, or we fell into the camp that actually seemed to pride themselves on being the last to change or, frankly, never change.
But things are changing. Even my full-on Luddite friends, the real laggards who, as recently as a year ago, still enjoyed pulling out their six or seven year old flip phone and telling those assembled, “it only makes phone calls,” are now sporting smart phones and talking about getting an iPad or Kindle Fire like their wife.
Their whole demeanor has changed, and the conversation turns to the latest app. They talk about getting their scores, weather, stock quotes, and restaurant menus right on their phone. Honestly, most of these people are guys, and the older ones at that. I have come to believe that they actually were scared they couldn’t learn how to use the new smart phones and tablets. They remember having to learn software programs at work that were not intuitive and sometimes took months to learn. Someone showed them how easy these new intuitive devices are, and bam… they crossed the line to users.
So what does this mean for fundraisers?
It means my Baby Boomer friends are more and more online. This is changing their behavior in how they get used to consuming news and information and, more to the point, how they are reading fewer and fewer printed publications.
It doesn’t mean that these folks won’t still open your direct mail appeal letters, but it solidifies the reality that those in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s have shifted.
Join us.
-Mike
Welcome to BIG's Blog! Please feel free to forward this post to your friends and coworkers...and email me a comment at: mike@big-db.com
No comments:
Post a Comment