Last week I attended the Marketing Week conference’s Digital Day, during which an array of innovative new media speakers made one fact abundantly clear: that if communications professionals don’t get with the digital program, we’ll be yesterday’s news before we know it.

By the end of the day my brain ached.  Not because of the complexity of the information being presented, but the multitude of communications options now available to our profession. I was forced to question some of the tried-and-true approaches that our industry uses everyday – which is a good thing I suppose, but frightening as well (with all new methods come new risks, right?). As the digital sphere opens up new communications options, and as consumers start to adopt these methods, our approaches will have to change if we plan to connect with them. In short: it’s up to us whether we want to remain relevant or not.

Take mobile digital usage, for example. Imagine that you are shopping and you want to compare prices using the web browser on your phone. Just as uploading a brochure to a webpage doesn’t constitute a website, accessing a traditional website from these small units isn’t creating a pleasing interactive experience for the end user; you’re likely to give up before you even get where you’re going. Now, imagine if instead of accessing a website, you’re accessing a .mobi site (in other words, a website that was formatted to be viewed best on your cell phone browser). Yowza! Suddenly you’re able to navigate without issue, find what you’re looking for, and make an educated purchase decision.

Now, let’s take this one step further (and I fully stole this example from Tim Armstrong, from Google Inc. when I heard him speak): imagine that as you navigate on your phone you are served a coupon for the store you are already standing in. You are about to leave Sephora for Mac when, Bam! A coupon appears on your browser: “one day only, 25% off all mascara.” Hey, wait a minute, I was looking at mascara on the Mac website . . . okay, fine, well with 25% off, I’ll buy it here . . .”

Orwell might say that’s a step too far. But regardless of whether you like where we’re going or not, it seems that’s where we’re headed.