One of my favorite marketing blogs responded to an article in Wired about the information snack culture. The jist of both articles is that America (and the whole world, really) is increasingly moving toward bite-sized pieces of information. Gone -- or almost gone -- are the delicious, slow, 5-course meals of everything you need to know about a company or nonprofit organization. The public is running out of patience (and appetite).
We could debate for ages whether this trend is healthy or whether it will lead to this great nation's demise. (As one who read the full, unabridged edition of Les Miserables at the age of 15, my bias is pretty clear.)
What isn't up for debate is that the information snack culture has arrived.
And if you want to reach your audience effectively, you'll need to get on board. There are plenty of delicious snacks you can use to feed your audience. Offer a summary page in your newsletter. Send short email updates. Restructure your web site so that it has clear navigation and make sure each page offers small bits of information tailored to a specific topic. If your visitors are interested, they'll keep moving through the pages.
But beware. Not all snacks are created equal. In the same way that empty calories and overly processed cheese puffs will hurt your health, so, too, will empty information snacks hurt the health of your company. Make your information nutritious. Make it count. Think "a handful of raw nuts and raisins" over "hydrogenated-oil-filled peanut butter crackers".
How can you do this? It's easy -- educate your audience; don't sell to it. Huh? Stay tuned -- we'll cover this in the next entry.
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