Slowly, ever so glacially slow, the traditional media outlets and big advertisting agencies are beginning to understand the predicament they find themselves. This  Ad Age article exposes some behaviors of media consumers and advises how to fit into those consumers’ landscape.

It’s Not the Media That Matter, but the Modes

Tune In: Understand the Mind-Sets That Drive Consumer Behavior

By Rick Milenthal
Published: October 29, 2007

We’ve all read stories heralding the death of advertising as we know it. But have consumers really abandoned advertising?

The answer, it seems, rests on the shoulders of the people who buy our brands and recommend them to others — not with advertisers, marketers or consultants. That’s why we went straight to the source by visiting people’s homes in Columbus, Ohio (a test-marketing Mecca) to do the unthinkable: mess with their media. We deprived them of their TiVos, their laptops and their cellphones. We added ourselves to their e-mail lists. We asked them to journal their feelings and attitudes. We discovered that consumers don’t do what they say, and that they’ve become experts in ignoring and rejecting messages. They can instantly recognize messages that are irrelevant or ill-timed.

More important, we learned that consumers aren’t simply tuning us out; they just want us to tune them in. Spending time with consumers in the real world, where and when they actually engage with media, enabled us to see that when they spend time with media, they do it with a purpose, goal or need that drives their behavior. They enter different modes, or mind-sets, that drive their choices, actions and receptivity to marketing messages.

The Six Modes

The number of consumer modes is endless, but we’ve identified six of the most relevant ones:

1. ENTERTAINMENT
   People in Entertainment mode are on a mission to be amused. This mode has been around for years (and has been well-served by the media), and TV is still at the forefront.
2. INFORMATION
   Information-seekers are looking for knowledge to help them make decisions. This mode also has been around for a long time, but now people are searching for information online as opposed to in newspapers and card catalogs.
3. DISCOVERY
   When consumers look for something new—whether it’s a dessert recipe, a tropical vacation spot or a new station wagon—they’re in Discovery mode. They do this because they want to nourish their minds.
4. CONNECTING
   Consumers in Connecting mode are building relationships. They now have a world of tools enabling them to stay in touch with friends and family. E-mail is the most popular choice, and social-networking sites give them the next best thing to being there. Text messaging and online gaming allow them to have continuous and instantaneous connections.
5. SHARING
   Similar to connecting, Sharing mode is a way to create common ground. Video- and image-sharing sites invite millions of people to swap their experiences.
6. EXPRESSING
   Expressing mode refers to conveying an individual point of view. This is essential because almost anyone can become a valued resource by posting a blog, vlog or podcast.

Read the full article here