The Meanest, Funniest Headline I've Seen

[WPW_Feedbot]

The Beeb says "Technology 'Baffles Old and Poor'." I know it's a quote of a quote, but still, it's both genuinely mean and genuinely funny.

The article covers an Ofcom survey that investigated consumer understanding of technology. But the survey turned out to be as much about understanding technology *jargon* as about understanding the technologies themselves. Case in point: of course consumers don't know what "digital switchover" means! They don't need to!

There is a good marketing message buried in the report, though: cut the technobabble, and sell benefits rather than technologies. The vast majority of consumers don't care what bandwidth you offer or how fast your chips are -- they care about how your offerings can make their lives better and more interesting.

Even Ofcom seems to understand this: the woman who ran the survey calls it "a wake up call for the industry really to listen to all its customers, not just the young." Focusing your products and marketing on mainstream consumers and tangible benefits? Sounds logical to me.

Read more...