I have an 18 month old son and while I wasn’t necessarily looking for a lesson in content delivery from my son, he’s provided a very interesting perspective on it. 
He already knows how to turn our iPhone’s on and use the touch pad to get to the different screens until he find something that interests him. He knows how to start and stop the videos playing on his daddy’s Powerbook and how to take the iPod, headphones and all to listen to music. His attention and excitement over a new experience is amazing to watch. First he looks at it skeptically, then he analyzes if it’s worth his time and once he’s decided that it’s interesting he goes for it full force, wanting to experience anything he can get from it. New experiences far outweigh those that he’s already done more then a few times. Once he’s seen something on the computer or the iPhone or figured out what the response will be from a certain action, he moves onto something different, looking for the challenge, for something to figure out or discover. It’s fascinating to watch and insightful about the natural inclination of people to want to experience something new.
I believe that most online companies could talk a lesson or two from my son. Unless you are dealing with finances and bank accounts there is very little room in this digital age for lack of creativity or experiences that are redundant and predictable. Managing expectations and proving to be reliable are important but do not have to lead to predictable and dry online experiences. Many companies miss the mark that the user experience is everything and instead are too focused on their own messages or what they are trying to convey rather then what the user is “getting” from it and what that emotional response is. If there is no emotional response, there will be no returning. From the moment that someone comes upon the companies presence (wherever it is, web, mobile etc.) providing an engaging, audience targeted experience is crucial to the long-term viability of the companies success. If you are aren’t targeting your audience in a very specific way that speaks to them your wasting your company dollars. When I engage my son in something new and his experience is positive he instantly remembers it and is tenacious in being ale to repeat that experience. After repetitive experiences of the same kind, and the experience is no longer challenging or interesting it fails to create that emotional excitement and he prefers to move onto something else. Much like todays consumer of media even though the content is important, the experience is what gives them reason to come back.
I believe that todays consumers in our digital era are exactly like my 18 month old son. They must find value in what you are delivering and it must create an emotional response that is specific to them in order for them to feel a connection and want to learn more or use the services. The biggest challenge that marketing departments face in the coming years is making that emotional connection to their audience. With the enormous amount of advertising content coming at us each day, people are bombarded with pulls for their attention and their interactions. At some point, when over saturated with stimuli, people shut down and don’t let anything else in. Our new generation is very adept at filtering information and honing in on what is important to them while literally ignoring everything else that doesn’t fit into their narrowly focused world. What’s important is how to tap into that narrowly focused world, becoming a part of it naturally and in a non-intrusive way. This is the challenge that companies need to address.
When my son gets over stimulated sometimes, the best thing for him is to pull away and focus on one thing that gives him a different emotional response. Something to roll the gears back, a happy experience then he can lay his head down and regenerate. Companies need to be able to reach out in that same way, wade through the noise and deliver targeted content that is exactly what the consumer is looking for at the time the customer needs it.
