The following is a guest post written by Brian Tarcy, a journalist, who has authored or co-authored more than a dozen books with business leaders, professional athletes, and medical professionals. 

Marketing consultants love the buggy whip manufacturing story. You know - buggy whip factory owners had tremendous business until the automobile was invented. And then things changed. 

Over time, some buggy whip manufacturers transformed themselves and made steering wheels for the new horseless carriages. Others watched as the world they knew disappeared. I write books with consultants so I have heard some rather impressive riffs on the buggy whip story through the years.

 There is a reason why all marketing consultants take on a rock-star like confidence when telling the buggy whip story. It's one of those universal shared moments where we, under the mesmerizing leadership of almost any good consultant, are transported back in time 100 years and we can say with great united certainty: what a bunch of idiots!

It's empowering to feel smart, isn't it? With that in mind, it feels like we are at a similar point in our new century. Especially for marketers. The world is changing, obviously, at an ever-increasing rate. In fact, the one thing we know for certain is that the world that we knew is disappearing. It seems like such a familiar story.

Perhaps old marketing is the buggy whip of our time. For instance, when was the last time you looked in the yellow pages for... well, anything? When was the last time, other than the Super Bowl, that you didn't either change the channel or fast-forward past commercials? Maybe marketers have been put on notice. The world has certainly changed. Should you change with it?

Here's 7 reasons to transform your marketing:

1)    Customers have more choices than ever. To get your message, they usually choose to get it rather than absorbing a forced, interruptive message from traditional marketing.

2)    Customers have less time than ever. Customers DO shop around, but they shop smart. They react quickly and viscerally.

3)    Customers find information online – 78 percent of adult Americans use the Internet, and 78 percent of Internet users conduct product research online. Other than inside your facilities, the best place to reach customers is inside their computer/phone/tablet.

4)    Customers want you to offer them something more than a hard sell. They want information and value. Blogging is one obvious way to begin giving value. Blogs and social networks, more than email, are where US Internet users spend most of their time.

5)    It's social network world, not a billboard world. Facebook use accounts for 1 of every 8 minutes spent online. Customers are engaged and they talk to each other... sometimes about your business. It is essential you join that conversation.

6)    Your competition may be already doing this. Someone always finishes first. More than one-third of all American companies blog for marketing purposes. It works. According to HubSpot, companies that blog get 55 percent more web traffic.

7)    Remember the buggy whip manufacturers. Learn from the past large business transformations, and remember that time waits for no one.

It won't, at first, be easy. Especially if you are particularly attached to your buggy whip. It turns out that nothing transformational is easy, but in marketing there are simple first steps – proven tactics. If you choose, you can almost immediately begin a transformation from a purveyor of billboards to an engaged member of a number of interconnected communities. In time, your network can flourish and then your marketing speed will accelerate that of horse and buggy to the power of a modern race car. It will be the kind of transformation that you will want to share with everyone.

Image credit: billburris