I just finished reading a white paper on the future of search by some people at Location3, a digital marketing company in Denver. It was very well done and they spent considerable time covering how brands will relate to their customers as search moves from relevant to useful. The concept and value of useful is something that is fully in the conversation today. I hear many people say, “I can’t find what I am looking for when I search”, they go on to say, “Everything that comes back has to do with what I am looking for but I can’t find what I want. There is just too much information.”

There is a wide open market for people who can find and build better “finding” that enable and direct people to relate to and interact with products and services which are currently of value to them now and in the future. I believe that the marketing of products and services will move towards being the responsibility of the community at large and less of large targeted campaigns. People want a personal relationship with those providing goods and services. There is a strong sentiment to go back to doing business with people who know who they are.

I have worked on products that are focused on recreating the relationships which existed in the past. The kind of relationship where you walk into the hardware store and ask for a door hinge. The hardware clerk says, “Hi Bill, looking for a door hinge? You live over on maple and I know who built your house. That guy always used 4 inch hinges as he knew kids swinging on doors would pull the 3 inch ones out of the frames. Here is a 4 inch hinge in brass, I know it will work.” From there Bill feels great, he has what he needs and his sentiment will likely spur a topic of casual conversation where he shares about his experience with the “local” hardware store. What if that store is Home Depot?
The future of useful is very promising for people who can figure out how to create it.
Here are the details on that paper.

You can get it here. Written by: Andrew Beckman, Alex Porter, Samantha Bedford, and Lucia Novara.