Although it was set up largely as a feel-good story, a recent BBC report about seniors in the UK becoming very tech-savvy should serve as a reminder to the rest of us. The lesson is that, no matter how well you think you know a certain type of customer or demographic, people can always surprise you.

In advertising, that’s an important thing to keep in mind, because the more assumptions you make about a buyer’s motivation, resistance to price changes, focus on quality, etc., the more likely you are to be shocked when they respond in a way you haven’t anticipated.

That’s all the more true when you realize that behavioral patterns change all the time; the seniors quoted in the article didn’t learn to embrace cell phones, video games, and other pieces of technology from their parents, they just adapted to new conditions. Your customers probably do the same things from time to time, and from one generation to the next.

So, what do you do with that little bit of wisdom? Never assume too much, don’t rule out any potentially-successful promotion, and test everything on a small scale before you invest in it heavily.

Call Marcy Design, a Columbus Ohio website design company to help with your web, marketing and advertising campaigns.