How to work 10 days more each year

Travelling into London by train it is impossible not to be aware of the current fad for e-mailing via Blackberry mobile devices. There is definitely a category of Blackberry users just as there is a group of iPod addicts identifiable by the the white wires trailing from each ear. At least emailing and facebook communication are silent activities unlike the very loud and public phone calls that invariably start, "I am on the train ..." delivered just before the train plunges into Primrose Hill Tunnel. So it comes as no surprise that recent research from Nectar Business reveals that thanks to mobile communications technology the British are "working on average an extra 10 days a year."

Some of the main findings are:-

• a fifth of people keep work phones on over weekends;
• 79 per cent of workers haven't met half the people with whom they do business;
• one in 20 people get over 100 emails a day;
• twenty-four per cent of people feel stressed by this constant state of being on call;
• 42 per cent of people say they meet colleagues less regularly due to email dependence;
• 60 per cent  now say they prefer to communicate by email than face to face.

In my travels I have also observed how many people seem to be frequently consulting at least two different mobile devices. A lot of time is spent using different communication channels.

 Why mention this at all? Well communication channels are vital to distributing  marketing messages and the suggestion that people are accessible longer and using a range of communication channels and devices implies marketers must consider all options. If 20 years ago train travellers were engrossed in the morning newspaper then that was a prime communication channel. Today the indications are that people may be even greater consumers of content, but want it more personalised and available through channels and at times they chose. Developing great content has become even more important and is an area where we at Technical Marketing Ltd are adding value to our clients' marketing programmes.