Branding and Messaging for Senior Tech: How to Connect with the AgeTech Audience

Paul Schmidt (00:10)
welcome to today's special episode where we're discussing an important topic that is often times overlooked in senior living in age tech. And this is creating messaging that resonates with older adults within your digital channels. I'm your host, Paul Schmidt from SmartBug, and today we're diving into one of the more critical factors that play into senior tech success, and that's creating effective branding and messaging. The truth is you can...

build the most revolutionary product in the world for your audience. But if the older adults, their children who are influencers and their caregivers don't understand it, trust it, or connect with it at all, then you're not gonna gain a lot of traction in the market. And so today I'm joined by two experts on this topic. Tonia Speir SmartBug's leading expert in AgeTech, and Erin Hardy, SmartBug's senior director of copy, who will be giving us actionable insights.

and to create better messaging that really helps you resonate with your audience. Whether you're an established player or you're entering the AgeTech space, we hope you give you a few actionable tips to help strengthen your value proposition and just better connect with your audience. So Tonia and Erin, thank you so much for joining today.

Tonia Speir (01:16)
Thanks, Paul. It's good to be here.

Erin Hardy (01:18)
Good to be here, Paul.

Paul Schmidt (01:19)
Yeah, so let's jump into it. Erin, this is the first time we've had you on the cast. And I just wanted to jump into a question related to branding and messaging with you first. Why do you think branding and messaging are often overlooked in senior-focused technology?

Erin Hardy (01:35)
Well, I mean, that's a good question. would say that branding and messaging, and I might be biased of being a lifelong writer. I think that branding and messaging are often overlooked in a lot of different industries and, you know, and certainly in senior living. think there's a little bit of an attitude where, or maybe a misconception that, you know, if you wrap it all in, you know, lovely pictures and lots of features that that's all anyone wants. When really it's all about their

needs and it's all of it and it goes beyond when you we can talk about pain points but it really does go back to the benefit you know with when we're talking about senior focus technology you have the you run the risk of running into that darn gadget territory where you're talking about the technology and you're talking about what it can do as opposed to what it can do for them. I think that that Apple AirPods commercial with the hearing aid feature with the daughter playing the guitar that made me cry.

That is like the perfect example. I think about it, I could tear up, swear. That is the perfect example of them really honing in on a specific need. And that need is that he wants to be part of his daughter's life. He wants to be part of the conversation. So as long as you're positioning age tech with what it can do and not necessarily with what the technology is behind it, your messaging's going to be a lot stronger there. So I think that it's easy to fall in love with

products and features and services, which is great because we're going to need to get to those. in order to get in the door, it's all about emotions and that need.

Paul Schmidt (03:06)
Yeah, I think that example resonates so much in this vertical with that Apple specific example. Tonia, take me a little bit further in this area. Why is this topic of branding and messaging so critical when we're working with our age tech clients when they're looking to reach older adults or caregivers, any influencers?

Tonia Speir (03:27)
Yeah, well, like Erin said, it's such a unique dynamic, right? Because we're at this crossroads of people who don't want to consider themselves as aging, but yet technology, and we want to talk about the advantages of the technology and why they need it. And that puts a spotlight on the fact that they are aging and, you know, being able to balance that message is critical. I think that when we're talking to this audience, and it's funny because it's an audience that I've been chasing for a really long time in my

I used to do a lot of high-end luxury real estate. And when they were in their 60s and thinking about, or even like 50s and thinking about finding retirement homes or thinking about like, we had to position it as you deserve this, not it's time for you to relax because you're getting old, but you deserve this. You've worked hard and look at what is coming for you. And we focused on the positive output.

And like Erin, to reiterate what she said on, technology, a lot of times we're focused on the features and the benefits and why you need it. And this is more of a conversational sale and it needs to be more humanized. And the messaging needs to make them feel, build trust, empathy, and to talk about how it's going to make their life easier. And at this crossroads of technology and aging, we've got things that that's exactly what they're for.

make life easier, whether it's robotics or it's apps that fight loneliness, or if it's, you know, maybe technology that helps them categorize and organize their personal belongings as they're thinking about downsizing. We want to make that brand message come across as, hey, what's the real value? What are the positive outcomes? And making them feel like, you know, you're old, you need this now, but hey, this is, you know, a real advantage to make your life a lot more pleasant.

Paul Schmidt (05:12)
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And I guess kind of a follow-up question to that and Tonia is just thinking about some of the common concerns and barriers that older adults and their caregivers face when adopting new technology. What kind of color can you provide in that area?

Tonia Speir (05:28)
We have a lot, trust is huge. It's a prime audience for being targeted by scammers, hackers, things like that. And we have to remember that this is an audience that didn't grow up with technology. They were introduced to technology as a part of their professional life. And so they were kind of forced to adopt it and kicking and screaming in some ways. Some adopted it, embraced it and went.

full force into that technology spectrum. Others are still kind of a little leery of it because they remember how they used to do things differently or I don't know about giving my number out here, what's going to happen to it and I can't get that back. And then it's also a sense of control. We also have to think about things in the design and the way we represent them so that it's the usability is there, whether it's larger font sizes or if it's easy to find buttons, but really thinking about user experience.

and how we can make the whole buying process a little bit easier. And where we find them, right? Okay, so it's a cluttered space. And because you have multiple buyers, you have all these different channels where people are consuming information. So you have that adult child who is maybe on one social platform, but not where the end user is gonna be. And being able to make sure that you have enough breadth of.

coverage and that marketing message and on those output channels that you can hit both the end user, the caregiver, which is sometimes a physician, a nurse or a family member that's helping to care for someone or that adult child who is looking out for their parents or grandparents or that older individual in their life.

Paul Schmidt (07:08)
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So Erin, kind of adding on to that point, given some of those challenges, how should AgeTech or senior living organizations prioritize, how should they prioritize building trust within their messaging to help improve some of their adoption rates?

Erin Hardy (07:29)
think that in your building trust with a few different audiences here, like Tonia mentioned, well, she and I both are the, we're the adult caregivers at this point in our lives. We're at that age. And my parents are baby boomers. And just thinking of the ways that they've adopted technology has been when it's connected them with people. My mom sure did get into her smartphone when she found out that she could look at pictures instantly on it. She learned how to use.

Skype or FaceTime so that she could, you know, she lives up north and you know, and I'm down here. So I think that if you're, and you also have maybe boomers who have a lot, some who are pretty tech savvy, who actually, you know, adopted technology really quickly and then people like my dad who still calls them celery phones, you know, so I think that, I think that if you, if you approach everything with honesty, integrity and meeting that need, no matter what it is.

Because you if we go by not to talk about that air prod commercial that I love so much that that touched everyone you know that is going to be that is going to resonate with the The senior that is going to resonate with the adult caregiver, you know this is the way that we can because the you know It's a heart of it all at the heart of everything that we're doing everything that we're messaging for age tech It is helping people stay in touch helping them be the fear that they're going to be

left out the fear that they're not a part of the conversation anymore because they can't hear it. So I think that the messaging should always, always, always focus on that need and those little moments and the little things that are really going to resonate with them. And then that's when you bring in the features and the products later. But it has to be emotional. It has to be compassionate. But it also can't talk down to people.

Because the baby and also, and there was a level of weird balance going on. The baby boomers are the first generation that didn't want to get old. Well, I mean, not that everyone, you know, people don't want to get old, but my grandmother's generation, they had AARP stickers on their cars. You know, they loved it. They were like, yeah, we're old, you know, and the baby boomers are no, we don't, you know. So it's a balance there of them, realizing rather than making sure that, hey, this is age tech and this is for old people.

hey, this is tech and it can help a lot of people, whether you're a senior or not, because something that helps with your hearing can also help younger people too. So it's making sure that they're not being othered, that they feel heard, that they feel understood, and that they feel like we're not talking down to them. And building that trust is understanding who they are. not, yeah, and jargon, slick marketing, that kind of stuff, no, that won't work.

Paul Schmidt (10:09)
Yeah.

Tonia Speir (10:10)
The complete opposite, right, of what we see in technology when we're working with SaaS companies, you know, because that's a large part of what we do at SmartBug. And it's like this complete reverse of how we harmonize that.

Erin Hardy (10:13)
Yes.

Absolutely.

Paul Schmidt (10:24)
So, you know, I think those are some really good principles in just messaging. You know, I think something else that you brought up there is just empathy and thinking how do we create that within our messaging? How do you, what would you advise in brands that you work with in creating empathy-driven messaging to better connect with seniors and their caregivers and any influencers?

Erin Hardy (10:45)
Well, mean, well, a pay attention to you know, what's going on, know, as far as who your audience is know where they are Where they're hanging out, you know online if they're hanging out online, you know sort of understanding, you know where they you know where they are with technology and You know and understanding what they expect and you know what makes them and think of your own life, you know and think of the people in your life, you know, because these are

These are human being things. so as long as you're constantly focusing on those little moments and the things that are going to change, how you're going to change people's lives. And I can't say this enough, stay away from that darn gadget territory. Because once you start talking about what's behind the technology or all the great things it's going to do, they literally want something.

They're willing to try something as long as they know, oh, hey, this is going to keep me connected, and this is going to help me. to always think of whenever you're thinking of coming up with brand messaging and thinking of what you're saying to your audience, think of your own parents or think of your grandparents. Because it's personal. Everything about this is personal. so as long as you can connect them. And it's not hard to connect to your audience in that way once you know what they need.

Tonia Speir (11:42)
Thanks.

Erin Hardy (12:02)
So it's listening and understanding. like Tonia says, sort of turns things on its ear a little bit as far as how we do things. it really is finding out. And it's not a cut and dry need. It really is about connection and making sure that we understand where they're coming from and what they need.

Paul Schmidt (12:21)
No, that's great. I think something that you thread inside there and you talked about a little bit is just related to trust and authenticity in your messaging. Tonia, I'm kind of curious, what are some ways that brands can demonstrate trustworthiness to make their audience really feel like this is something that they could go towards?

Tonia Speir (12:42)
I think that part of like what Erin and her team does and like she can probably talk a little bit more to this is really starting to dive into those conversations with the brand to understand that behavior of what does trust mean to you? What does trust look like? Who are brands that you trust and how are they talking to their customers? You know, that's one of the exercises when we're building messaging that we try to learn and talk about. And even whether it's

and not to steal Erin's thunder, but whether it's characters or it's celebrities that they feel they can trust or kind of carry that voice and tone and weaving that into the brand. Sometimes it's being able to, they can't necessarily articulate to you what that means, but if they give you those examples, it gives us the foundation to then make those associations of, now I get it. Now I get what you're saying.

So I think that the behaviors of the audience and really kind of getting into what motivates them, what triggers them, you know, sometimes that's words, sometimes it's emotions, sometimes it's past events, it's things that have happened, but those experiences that really help you to understand like what trust means or, you know, how do I show you?

empathy so that you feel that. I may be saying it and I may be projecting that, but do you really feel it? Do you really consume it that way? And I think that's a lot of the exercise of building a true messaging framework that brands have to go through. they skip that critical step. It can mean everything to their scalability, to what that brand awareness, how that digital footprint just kind of takes place.

Erin Hardy (14:21)
And you talk about transparency and being transparent and being authentic and not talking down to them. You really have to tell them the truth. And being blunt, and especially with the senior population today, they can recognize things that aren't real. They can recognize things that aren't authentic and they can recognize when they're being talked down to. So a lot of the language that sort of surrounds

a lot of things that seniors buy, whether it's a senior living or other products, it can get a little too lifestyle-y. It can make things look a little too perfect. It can almost look like a pharma commercial where everyone's... And that isn't anyone's reality. So when you start out with that, you're going to lose them right away. You have to get real with them. And sometimes getting real with them means recognizing, this is the problem and here, look, we can easily solve it.

talking down to them and pretending like there's not a problem or talking around the problem will also alienate your audience. once you really tune into that deep need, that basic need, that is where it all starts.

Paul Schmidt (15:28)
Hmm,

now that's really actionable and yeah, I like that a lot. So let's jump into some more specific approaches in building messaging strategies that resonate. And Erin, I'd love to just understand what are some common or big mistakes that brands do make in some of that messaging? I think you mentioned some of them already, but what do you see just happening over and over and you just kind of roll your eyes on and seeing what?

some brands do, what do you see happening?

Erin Hardy (15:55)
Well, I would never roll my eyes because I'm here to help. But I do the biggest, mean, number one, and I mentioned it before brands fall in love with their own brand. You fall in love with your own product and services and you, and sometimes it's really hard. And I've, and I've had to get a little tough, lovey with clients about this before, you know, and I'm like, okay, but what, what is it doing? What are you doing for them? And then even, and it's really, truly drilling down.

Paul Schmidt (15:58)
Hahaha

Erin Hardy (16:23)
I like to say come up with three basic, the three basic biggest needs. And a lot of time that need isn't, well, they need to have this product with this specific way and do this. A lot of times the need is trust, or the need is value, or the need is credibility. They need you to be credible, but what does that look like then for you? Then how do you build messaging out for that? So if you're talking about age tech and you're trying to build trust,

It might be things like, you have any statistics about the number of people who have already used this, or stories about who it's helped, or stories about how it's helped, and getting the answers to the questions that are in their mind they can't even really articulate. That's the sweet spot with messaging, when you have the customers think an ah-ha, have an ah-ha moment, where they're like, I wasn't even thinking about that, but you're absolutely right if I had this.

then I could communicate better with my grandkids and my life would be easier. it really is, I make a terrible, terrible analogy and I apologize in advance for it. I always say that if your branding is a rock band, because I'm old school, love Pro Jam, your lead singer is what you're doing for them. That's the benefit. That is what should be out there all the time.

Your products and services are the guitar player, the lead guitar, and they're really there to, yeah, this is the good stuff that you're gonna get after you get in the door. And your brand is your backup singer. They're making everything nice. They're kind of bringing it all together, making sure that it's all on package, but the needs and the benefits and what you're doing for them really needs to be that lead singer. And again, I apologize for the analogy, but that's the way I work now in my head. So just if you have the...

If you are immediately going to, this is what we do and this is how we do it, you need to take about 10 steps back and start really digging into boat. Why? Why do they need this?

Paul Schmidt (18:18)
Yeah, I think it's kind of tricky to find that balance of highlighting what the features are and what your product does versus the benefits that it offers. And I feel like if you lean too hard on the features, then people don't really understand the why. And if you focus too much on the why, then people don't even know what you do. So it's kind of a tricky balance that you have to be thinking about. I would be curious, maybe Tonia, we can kind of go you first on this one. What's the best way to balance?

features and benefits when you're thinking about AgeTech marketing.

Tonia Speir (18:49)
think it's that marriage of back and forth, right? So cause and effect, as opposed to trying to front load with one or the other and making sure that you... I think with this audience, it's key that there's two or maybe even three different buyers and that why is going to change across those buyers. so having that cadence and that message so that you are following some type of

wave of, here's the why, what it means to caregiver, what it means to adult child, what it means to end user, and here's how we solve for that explanation. And then go with another point instead of trying to bombard people with all of those points all at once, then they lose the connection or making the association between those two messages of here's features and benefits and here's what it's solving for.

creating like a nice story, think that's probably, know, storytelling is really big for this audience and being able to build that story. You don't, you don't, you know, lay out the last chapter all in the beginning. You got to build up to here's, you know, where we're starting. Here's where we're going. Here's how we got here. Here's, you know, maybe an even layer in like personal experiences because we all have older adults in our lives that, you know, we are caring for or looking for.

ways to make their life easier. Just earlier this year myself, I was catapulted into that situation of, my gosh, my parents live three states away and how am gonna help them with downsizing and what tools and resources can I put in their hands to start making that easier, getting them to understand like, hey, you can look on Zillow, you don't have to come visit me every weekend to look at real estate, to start thinking about what you're looking for.

And I think that there are a lot of platforms, technologies, things out there that were maybe developed for the broader audience. And they haven't thought about how we readjust our product to fit this aging market and how we cater to them. So you've got products, technology services that were created specifically for age tech. And you've got others like the Apple example, again, that

have a segment that now needs to focus on this audience because it's growing at such a rapid pace and one that we've not seen in our lifetime.

Erin Hardy (21:07)
And Tonya, what's really interesting too is because we are talking to three different audiences and we definitely want to, the message is way different for the adult child than it is for the senior. However, if we are producing effective messaging for the senior, the adult caregiver is also going to be into that because they're going to be like, okay, this is going to resonate with my parent. But there is that need to sort of, you know, the,

adult caregivers more than anything, they're going to be the ones who are going to want to jump quick as to what do you get? You know, what is this? They're going to want, after you get them in, you know, and you can sort of tell them, hey, we can help you convince your aging parent who doesn't want to leave their house that they can, you know, do this or that they can, you know, they can make life easier with this product. They are going to want to immediately go to the house, whereas their parent is just going to want to know, you know, is this easy? Can I do it?

And so it's a really, honestly, it's a really fascinating segment to Message 4. We have a lot of fun with it here, which is weird to call it fun, it's, you know, because it is a challenge and because the seniors that we're seeing today are so much different than like, you know, my grandparents' generation was with this. yeah, you sort of have to, you have to kind of throw a well with a lot of marketing and a lot of the things that we're doing lately, throw the rule book out the window.

and sort of dig down into it.

Paul Schmidt (22:32)
Yeah, so I think you brought up some interesting points in balancing features and benefits. And with the different audiences that we're trying to target, we have a finite pool of resources to be able to market to them. And so I'm curious in both your perspectives, just in terms of sort of distribution marketing channel perspective and aligning messaging with the right channel. We might have a whole different set of channels when we're trying to reach an influencer versus the end user.

Tonia, take me a little bit, what's your perspective just like from a marketing distribution perspective, how you think about a balance between channels and getting in front of our target audience?

Tonia Speir (23:06)
I think you have to understand what story, like back to the storytelling theme there, you have to figure out what story am I telling on which channel and what makes sense. I would never have dreamed until about a couple months ago that someone would be able to find and target my dad on TikTok. I don't spend a lot of time on TikTok, but the amount of hours I discovered him spending on TikTok was mind blowing to me, right?

And I think that the other platform where you're going to find him is on Facebook. That's where they're talking to old friends that they went to high school with or connecting with cousins that live far away. And I think that the story you're able to tell on maybe a TikTok is like whether it's an example or it's funny or it is different than the messaging of what you're going to put out on a Facebook, which can be a little bit more educational or maybe talk about.

features and benefits. I think you need to think about their user habits, how they're consuming those different channels and how they're consuming that media and put the right message there. Because if you try to use one singular message across all of those channels, you're going to lose them because that's not what they're there for. So you have to think about what they went to that channel for and make sure that you're delivering your message in a way that doesn't feel out of place in that segment.

Erin Hardy (24:20)
Yeah, think gone are the days where you're like, OK, I've got a marketing plan and we're going to dig copy for this big campaign and everything is going to say something similar. that's just not like Facebook is going to be completely different than TikTok. And I need to know how your dad got on TikTok because I can't even get mine to open up a text message. So I need tips from you there. And I think that, know, I mean, literally, it's going to change from email, video, blog, e-books, checklists.

all depending on where they're going to be, is it going to be, if it's going to hit the senior, if it's going to hit the adult child first. really, things have gotten really complicated because it does, when you dive into the audiences, because you have to do a lot of research and find out exactly what they need. so if the need is, and I'll go back to, I want to hear my granddaughter or daughter play guitar.

that message is going to have to be communicated in different ways across different channels to the different audiences. But it is still a powerful message. I really love that commercial.

Tonia Speir (25:22)
And another difference to what Erin is saying is when we think about, and I'm going to pull out B2B SaaS because that's what we associate so much with the tech work that most of us have done to date. It's about personalization. And we have a really fine line. We have to walk with this audience of age tech between privacy and personalization. So we know that personalization works in marketing. And it's really easy to do that, I think, through an email.

But this audience, they're not checking email anymore. They don't have a reason to, right? Unless if they're still active in maybe their business or if they were a little bit more tech savvy, but for the most part, if they're retired, that's not a place that they're going on a regular basis. And so being able to, how do you put that personalization into those messages that you're putting out on those channels that maybe aren't as private, but again, you're trying to build trust.

If you bridge that gap too far in privacy, they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you've been stalking me. Like, what do you know about me? I don't like you.

Erin Hardy (26:17)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. It's like, don't know me like that. Like, know, how very dare you do that, which is a completely different experience to, you know, what, yeah. It's sort of overstepping your bounds, I guess, you and making sure that they want to feel like we know them, not that we know what they ate for dinner.

Paul Schmidt (26:42)
Hehe.

Yeah, that's great. And let's kind of move that way towards building trust. So many of our clients, have some sort of social proof on their website or in third party channels like reviews, five star reviews, testimonials that they have on their website, things like that to really help build that social proof. I'm curious, Erin, your thoughts on the use of social proof within branding. How does that help drive adoption?

for these types, this type of vertical.

Erin Hardy (27:13)
think that it I think well, I think across just about any vertical, you know, social purpose drawing, but I mean, especially for this. I think it's going to the I think it's going to work more with the adult children, you know, that they're going to because they're the ones who want to say, OK, what's this really like, you know, and they want to know they want to see how other people were able to either talk their parents into doing this or were able to get their parents to adopt this.

But I also think that it goes, that it also goes a long way with the senior audience too, because there is that trust. And so if they see that, know, especially if it's honestly the social proof with, you know, a lot of seniors is going to be in their immediate circles. You know, a lot of that is going to be, well, did, you know, my neighbor did this and it changed their lives or a friend of theirs on Facebook, they went to high school with, you know, had a problem with this and they, so that kind of stuff is really strong, you know.

regardless and I think that especially with things like this that if they see that somebody they know or somebody they relate to is using it without trouble they'll think I can do that too this must be simple enough because I'm as smart as that guy or you know I'm as smart as that person and I think especially for for us you know adult children we always want to make sure that our parents aren't wasting their money and they're not wasting their time and that it's not a ripoff and that it's not we

there's that sort of, want to make sure we vet everything for them. You know, I do that with my parents, my mom would be wanting to do something like, wait a minute, mom, wait a minute, wait a minute, let me check online, let me make sure this is good, you know? And so I think that it's super strong and that that will always be effective, always. I think that is probably one of the most important things you can lead with, is that somebody else has done it they've succeeded and you can be them. Yeah, John. Oh, sorry.

Paul Schmidt (28:58)
All right.

Yeah, so I think one of my last questions I just want to kind of probe into is just thinking about digital and traditional marketing mix in media mix in reaching a senior audience and adult children, caregivers. What's the right balance, Tonia, when you think about the how brands should be allocating between different channels? And then Erin, I'd be curious more on the messaging side of things. How do you think about writing for billboards versus digital?

So maybe, Tom, you could take that first.

Tonia Speir (29:27)
Sure, I think that this is going to be one of those scenarios where we see it change and evolve over the next 10 years. At this stage, traditional is not dead. And it still has a place in those marketing campaigns. When I look at the younger side of the baby boomers, I don't know if that's going to, I would have the same answer a few years from now, because I think we're going to see that continue to erode and that space continue to get cluttered.

I could be wrong. It could make a resurgence, right? Like, I don't know. I'm going to date myself here, but I was one of the first adopters of LinkedIn when it came out. And then it died. And then it came back like full force, right? And so I've seen things like, you know, go away and come back and like become meaningful again. And so, you know, I could say that now and have a totally different opinion, you know, three years from now. But I think right now today,

There is still, you know, it's not a crowded space. We're not getting as much junk mail as we did, you know, a few years ago. It still can, you know, people are still, you know, and that age group still paying attention to it. And I think done right with the proper mix of digital, can, it can really make a statement in your campaign strategy. But I don't think it's one or the other. I think it's definitely a balance of both. And I think it needs to

Maybe that's where you're coming into their home and that's where you were able to maybe solidify that message of trust or solidify that, know, focus more on like the people that are like you have used it or seen experience and make that land or, you know, give them an offer to incentivize them to go online and take an action. I think that's really how we would probably use that in today's market.

Erin Hardy (31:05)
Yeah, and Tonya, agree with you that print is still in play, but for how long? Because it is there. We do have some of the older baby boomers who have to have that piece of paper in their hand. They trust it if they can read it when it's printed. They're still printing out their directions before they drive, even though they have GPS, which my mom still does. I hope she doesn't watch this. No, I'm just kidding. So I think that.

And I agree, I think that they're getting savvier and the younger baby boomers, know, especially, they're online, they're tuned in. But I think that, especially for right now, the best idea is to keep a mix of everything. I mean, find out, be smart, know where your audience is hanging out. Know what they, know what if your audience, if you know that your audience absolutely hates brochures and doesn't want to, don't do them. But don't count anything out.

MySpace could still make a comeback. I agree that print could still be a thing. You never know. But I do see it getting down the road, it getting mostly digital because I think that a lot of us, most of us are consuming all of our content digitally. And I think that that's going to continue to increase. But yeah, they're a big mix of everything. yeah, especially, and I think that social media, especially Facebook.

Paul Schmidt (31:59)
Thanks.

Yeah.

Erin Hardy (32:22)
I think that that could be really powerful.

Tonia Speir (32:26)
Facebook is another great example. Like who would have thought that the Facebook audience would have changed, right? That one audience would abandon it and another would take it over, you know?

Erin Hardy (32:31)
I know. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, it's yeah, no, I always know whenever I log into Facebook and I have 32 notifications, my mom has them on Facebook, you know, and they're going to everything, you know, so yeah. Yes, and comment on them, all of them. So yeah, with that, know, with a little emoji or something. So yeah, you know.

Tonia Speir (32:44)
Ha!

Paul Schmidt (32:46)
She's liked the last 30 pictures from the timeline.

Tonia Speir (32:51)
god.

Paul Schmidt (32:56)
That's great. Well, Tonia, Erin, thank you so much for joining today's discussion on branding creative in the age tech space. Where can people find you if they want to send you an email or shoot you a message? Tonia, where can people find you first online?

Tonia Speir (33:11)
Yeah, you can find me on LinkedIn for sure. Tonia Flores Speir is my name there. You can email me at tspear @ smartbugmedia.com or you can always call me 843-455-6617.

Erin Hardy (33:20)
I'm on LinkedIn, Erin DeBraski Hardy, and my email is ehardy @ smartbugmedia.com. I almost said org, what got into me? Smartbugmedia.com, you know.

Paul Schmidt (33:29)
Ha ha!

Awesome, thank you so much and everybody will see you on the next episode. Have a great day.

Erin Hardy (33:36)
Thank you.

Tonia Speir (33:37)
Thanks, Paul.