I’m a potential customer for your product. Where do I begin my search? How would I find your product? What would I call it? If I’ve heard of it, what’s my perception of it? I’m also looking at your competition, so how should I evaluate you in light of them? What do other people saying about your product?

You want to persuade me to become your customer. How should you package your product? How will you ensure I find you? How do you manage my perception of your product? How do you market to me and Joe Customer 2, whose needs are entirely different, at the same time?

The Speed of Information

As little as a decade ago, businesses could trot out their finest marketing and sales packages. Businesses could gift-wrap their products and better control how I perceived, even labeled and spoke, about their products.

That was back when information crawled like maple syrup.

She who controlled the speed of that information usually won the battle of my perception.

Continue reading my column at ClickZ…