Kevin S. Taylor, MBA

By Kevin S. Taylor, MBA

The rate of technological change continues to increase exponentially. A couple years ago, I was known to say that everyone needs an e-mail address in order to conduct business with the entrepreneur of tomorrow. Yet, today, I find this statement to have some critical flaws.

Just when the marketing world thought that the Baby Boomers had caught on to the technological education afforded to the Generation Xers, the evolution of marketing in the 21st century continues. We are all on the verge of a considerable paradigm shift. The changes are occurring and will continue to occur at a rapid rate as Generation Y begins to enter the workforce and business community in droves.

What does this mean for the way we do business? Simple. It is time to relearn some things again. See, the Generation Y population no longer consider e-mail to be a necessity. These are the people that truly grew up in a technological age. They walk around with ear buds listening to data stored on their cell phones. This generation believes that MP3 players and e-mail are rapidly becoming a thing of the past.

The entire generation has grown up with cell phones and very rarely even made a call. They have a “Why do I need to talk to anyone” type of attitude. They do not answer the phone and rarely check e-mails. However, you can reach them 24 hours a day by sending a text message. They participate in online social networking using mediums like Facebook and Twitter. Many of them read and write blogs and check in with their virtual communities; but, they cannot be seen in person. Indeed, the only way to connect with Generation Y is to be on their terms and in their virtual communities.

So, what does this mean to networking? It means that one must remain in organized close-contact referral organizations such as BNI in order to reach people in the ways we are accustomed to. However, it also means that we need to add online social networking to our daily schedules in order to be a part of the communities connecting with the next generation of customers and colleagues.

Kevin S. Taylor, MBA is the Chief Executive Officer of KT Graphics and Expert Website Services, a highly reputable website development firm. In addition to teaching online networking and ethical Internet marketing tactics, Kevin is an Assistant Director of BNI in Las Vegas NV, Vice-Chairman of the Better Business Bureau of Southern Nevada, and very active in the global business community.