How our habits have changed. Google vs. the Phone Book.
You may have heard statistics about how many people don’t even pick up the phone book anymore (fifty percent), or how the phone book may soon be phased out entirely. But what is really behind this shift in the way we find goods and services in our local markets?
Let’s start with a short walk down memory lane. Prior to the “World Wide Web”, we let our “Fingers do the Walking”. The first step was to open “the book” and find the category that best fit what we were looking for. This, however, could sometimes be a frustrating exercise. For example, if you needed to rent a tuxedo for the high school prom, you might open the book to the section beginning with T’s, yet not find a category for Tuxedos. So you had to change your search and maybe look under Apparel. You may have found that category but then you had to sort through countless irrelevant ads and listings, and still not find what you were looking for. You could try Clothing and find everything from winter ski clothes and second hand shops to lingerie and swimwear. Add to that the confusion of all those listings which gave a store name and number only with no description of what they provide. You could easily waist hours calling stores that seemed promising but not find what you really need. Then somebody got smart and decided that one phone book was not enough. Now you had to thumb through several books to find what you were looking for. Oh Gads!
Ok, let’s return to today; a much simpler and convenient time to be alive. You need a Tuxedo for the prom? No problem. Just Google it and then shabam, you’ve got a ton of choices in an instant; all relevant to what you started looking for. You might even find a map to get there, or perhaps you could go ahead and order it from your kitchen table and have it sized right and delivered to your front door. Oh how times have changed.
But to end here is to tell only half the story. You see, not only has searching for goods, services, and information gotten much easier, the way we think about searching has changed. Our minds are adapting to new and ever changing methods for gaining knowledge. And our expectations for gaining that knowledge whenever and wherever we want are becoming more difficult to fulfill. In other words, the more we know, the more we want to know. The addition of newer technologies, like mobile search for example, is a result of our insatiable desire to know more. We can only imagine what the future holds but we should be confidant that it will serve our need to be engaged and to add to our wealth of knowledge. Our task at WSI Analytical Internet Marketing (AimHigh) is to help you deliver your knowledge………
Going back to the Phone Book is not an option!
Robert Saunders
WSI Analytical Internet Marketing, LLC