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The Age Of The "Microconsumer" Cliff Ennico www.creators.com I feel sorry for politicians sometimes. Really . . . I#146;m not kidding. People criticize elected officials for not taking firm stands on the issues or saying what they really mean, but you really can#146;t blame them. Every competent politician knows it#146;s a basic law of human nature: people are much more likely to remember negative information than positive information. If candidates take a firm stand on an issue, any issue, they risk alienating a good percentage of voters with contrary opinions, and that will cost them dearly at the polls. Don#146;t believe it? Let#146;s say you and I meet on a street corner, and we talk about 10 things. We agree on nine of those 10 things, but disagree quite sharply on the 10th. We then part company, and don#146;t see each other for a year, when we glimpse each other on a crowded commuter train. Of the 10 things we discussed a year ago, which do you think we will remember? Oh, we may recall some of the nine things we agreed on, but we#146;re sure as Heck going to remember that 10th thing, aren#146;t we? So if I#146;m running for office (don#146;t worry, I#146;m not planning on it anytime soon) and you agree with everything I stand for except for one thing #150; an issue on which you have pretty strong feelings #150; what will you be thinking about when you pull the curtains shut behind you in the voting booth come November? Years ago, you had only three major television networks to deal with, and a handful of major newspaper and magazine chains, which limited the amount of information people received. Now, you have hundreds of cable television channels, thousands of Websites, Weblogs (#147;blogs#148;) and e-newsletters, enabling viewers to consider your views on dozens of diverse, often very narrow, issues rather than a manageable few. Now, add the Internet and TiVo to this media stew. On the Internet, you cannot #147;push#148; any information in people#146;s faces. The Internet is user-driven. Any attempt to show people information they haven#146;t asked to see (by #147;Googling#148; it) will be branded as #147;spam#148;, #147;pop-up ads#148; or worse. On the Internet, the viewers determine which information they will view and which they won#146;t. They select who gets through the spam filter and who doesn#146;t. With TiVo they can watch only those programs on television they want to watch, and can even block out the ads. So if I (like most people) am liberal on some issues, conservative on others, pro-this and anti-that, I can select only those television programs, Websites or #147;blogs#148; that support my views, customize my media to fit my personal world-view, and create my very own political party. So what does all this have to do with running your own business? We live today in the age of the #147;microconsumer#148;. Years ago, when marketing channels were limited, companies could engage in #147;mass merchandising#148; -- casting their nets as widely as possible, identifying broad demographic groups, and emphasizing those problems and concerns that their individual customers had in common as members of those groups. Today, #147;mass media#148; and mass merchandising are both pretty much dead. Marketers have hundreds if not thousands of media options, and can target their advertising as narrowly as they wish. Consumers have been taught to think of themselves as unique individuals, with their own peculiar tastes, desires and values. To survive in the #147;microconsumer#148; age, small businesses must learn to #147;customize#148; their brand offerings to niche markets, in an effort to capture as many individualized tastes as possible. You must pick these markets very carefully, make sure they are big enough to give you a decent living, and pray that they stay in one place long enough for you to earn a profit. Oh, and don#146;t say anything they might disagree with . . . Cliff Ennico ( cennico@legalcareer.com ) is a syndicated columnist, author and host of the PBS television series 'Money Hunt'. This column is no substitute for legal, tax or financial advice, which can be furnished only by a qualified professional licensed in your state. To find out more about Cliff Ennico and other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit our Web page at www.creators.com . COPYRIGHT 2005 CLIFFORD R. ENNICO. DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC. Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com.