The incredible plethora of choices consumers now possess has a downside, and it's called exhaustion. An overwhelming number of possibilities complicates every buying decision. Add to that all the other more baroque aspects of modern life, such as two-income households, frequent divorce and remarriage and blending of families, increasing traffic, shortening news cycles, and 100 channels of cable television, and you wind up with a consumer group that feels very over loaded and harassed.

Stand back. Stop thinking like the operator and start thinking like a customer. Better, talk to real customers. Or, better still, to real non-customers. What do they want? What is missing for them?

Customer focus is important all the time, and is one of the main advantages that small firms enjoy over their apparently stronger and more profitable larger rivals. In good economic times, it's almost inevitable that, for big companies, the needs of customers will drop down the list of corporate priorities, to some degree. This creates an opportunity for small firms with a distinctive customer offering to move in and clean up.

Knowing your customers is especially useful at times of abrupt and unexpected change - a recession, for example. Having a strong sense of why people buy from you as well as what they buy can help you to avoid damaging knee-jerk responses. Is everyone else in your sector rushing down-market in anticipation of a boom in demand for cut-price 'value' offerings? If you stick it out at the top of the market, you might be able to grab for yourself a big chunk of the tasty high-margin business that remains.

Now, in future you must remember this, engaging your audience is key to your future success
You should focus on "engagement", "relevance" and "customization" to make an impact with consumers.
Additionally the rise of new media has ushered in the era of "performance marketing".
Businesses hoping to derive the maximum benefit from digital media must provide customers with information tailored to their individual needs, be it on mobile or the web, or analogue media
Communications should also take the form of a two-way conversation, with consumers being able to customise the content they receive in line with their personal preferences.

This means adopting a truly interactive communication mindset. The age of push marketing is behind us. What counts now are dialogue, engagement and relevance, Digital channels that can deliver consumers with established interests can charge handsomely for that capability.

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