The Dom Cathedral, located in the heart of Cologne Germany, is the largest Gothic Cathedral in Europe, as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, an organization who describes it as an “exceptional work of human creative genius”. The construction of the cathedral began in 1228 and was completed in 1880.
The Cathedral took 632 years to complete.
As I stood beneath it’s towers, it occurred to me that the people who began this project were dead for approximately 600 years before its completion. As they carried bricks one by one, likely for all the days of their lives, they were not thinking about themselves or immediate results.
They were building something.
Often business owners and feel like a well-done professional web-site is a big price for some electronic toy that looks high-tech and flashy. Is it worth the investment?
Now, follow this case study with me. It is 1992. Braxton is a typical middle school kid. He plays football, and tries to jump ramps on his bike without thinking about where to land. Braxton is beginning to like girls and has a new way to talk to them – instant messaging. His best friends’ family just got dial-up internet, so everyone wants to hang out there. Sleepovers now revolve around surrounding a computer and chatting to girls on the other side of the city.
Braxton goes to high school. He searches for his first car on www.craigslist.org. He goes to the web to find out what is going on Friday night. He checks the schedule’s of his favorite teams and browses for concerts by his favorite bands, then runs downstairs to ask Dad for $20. On www.ebay.com, he finds a new stereo for that car he bought online. In April of his Junior year, he realizes he needs a tux for the prom. A frantic last minute Google search leads him to a place to rent one, to the pleasure of his date.
Braxton finds a college that is just right for him by taking a virtual tour of the campus online, and clicking “Apply Online Now”. Move in day is not complete without a trip to grab up the last of the correct DSL cables for his new computer. When he settles in, Braxton emails home a few times a week to keep Mom happy, and a few times a day to keep up with his courses and social life. He purchases music online. He gets loan information online. On Thursday night, his buddies gather around a laptop and watch the latest funny video on www.youtube.com. He takes an online course so that he can sleep in on Fridays.
As graduation day nears, Braxton and his buddies go on a Senior Spring Break Cruise he booked via www.VacationToGo.com. The post graduation summer is full of many life changes, most of the days spent in front of careerbuilder.com. He changes his email from quarterback67@yahoo.com to Braxton.Smith@alumni.edu, and begins to email out resumes. He lands a job, and tries to get ahead by working online Sunday morning at a coffee shop with Wi-Fi. After a few months, he orders that perfect engagement ring from a jeweler across the nation he found browsing the internet. Somehow, she says yes, and it’s back to www.VacationToGo.com, this time for a honeymoon. It is time to settle down.
As, Braxton searches area home listings via www.realtor.com, he realizes that he really has traded in his flip-flops for the square-toed shoes of a businessman. For a moment he gets nervous, then hopeful. He smiles and excitedly clicks on a house whose picture has a big green yard.
It is 2007 today. Braxton is 25. He is the up and coming economy. And he has never known a day out of elementary school without the internet.
The internet is no longer just a fun toy. It is more than chat rooms, video games and free music. The web is the source for life-changing decisions. Where to go to school, finding employment, choosing which house to buy, and now, even finding someone to marry.
The internet is ingrained in the minds Braxton’s generation. It is the first place they turn for… well… everything. It is Braxton’s generation who is very quickly growing up and spending money. There is not one industry that the internet does not touch.
Are you building something?
Leaving the internet out of you marketing plan might work for a few more years. But if you’re business is going to be a cathedral, if you are building something, internet marketing is not a toy. It is a necessity.
How is your business going to reach Braxton’s generation? Are you building a legend, or just playing around?
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