How will you reach your customers in the...

I was reading my June 2008 copy of Internet Retailer over the weekend. One of their articles was on reaching out and connecting with consumers in many different ways. The opportunities I’m sure will continue to grow. But even now, it’s time to think about who your customer is and how they prefer to reach out to you - not the other way around.

Their results showed that:

38 percent of businesses surveyed would be interested in using sites where consumers have the ability to tell manufacturers what they want

30 percent would be interested in having online shopping communities to combine buying power

22 percent are interested in having mobile phones to place orders and arrange deliveries

14 percent are interested in using social networks where shoppers share trends

The interesting thing that was also raised is while U.S. consumers show interest in these areas, China and Spain lead the way with wanting to use technology to its greatest advantage.

Many of the businesses profiled in this particular trade publication are multi-million dollar enterprises. They have a lot of resources to try many different things. Yet as a small business, you can follow in their footsteps.

What are you doing to reach out to your customers? If you only think of your clients on a local level, how can you start using different technologies to increase your market share?