A topic that has gathered my attention a lot lately, is marketing. Marketing is a much more diverse and complex subject than people realize, and all ties back to understanding human behaviour.

One can argue that humans have changed more in the last 10-15 years than in any other time in history. The simple reason for this change is the invention of the smartphone.

Mobile devices have changed the way people communicate, connect with each other, create relationships, and consume information. A recent study I read shows that the average person spends about 5 hours on their phone per day! Assuming the average person sleeps for 7 hours, that means that a person will spend nearly 30% of their waking hours on their mobile device! That number is almost guaranteed to increase over time.

Today, successful marketers have to really understand human behaviour if they want to be effective. People are constantly consuming content on social media, and brands are continuously vying for people’s attention. As a marketer, a huge challenge is to ensure each piece of content put out is carefully prepared and stands out in a stream of constant information flow.

Another significant obstacle for marketers has been the total dilution of traditionally effective marketing channels such as email, physical mail, and banner ads. As consumers, we’re constantly being bombarded with messages, emails, and ads and we’ve instinctually learned to disregard those type of messages from our minds, and automatically label them as “spam”. That makes it even harder for a marketer’s message to penetrate through all the noise.

These concepts apply to any type of business, whether you’re a SaaS, a mom-and-pop bakery shop, or a non-profit. Having at least a small insight on human behaviour is critical.

Before publishing your next post or releasing your next piece of content, you should ask yourself the following:

What value is this post providing to the person on the other end?

How is this post going to stand out in a non-stop stream of content that people are consuming?

Those who know their audience and can answer the two questions above, are the ones that will be successful at marketing in the 21st century.