Musing About Real Relationships

It never fails to amaze me how technology has taken over conversation since mobile phones became a must-have and telephone landlines died.

Thirty years on and people are now finally beginning to realise that relationships do count. That a faceless WhatsApp conversation is not enough anymore. Whether it’s business or personal.

Hooray! 

There is an interesting article all business people should read on a relatively new South African business website called Currency News. Go find it. It talks about the death of digital-only marketing and a developing trend: a return to real relationships. In real rooms. With real people.

Perhaps technology has gone too far with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI). We are all human after all. As the article points out people attending live events want the in-person experience over a virtual one.

Most of us have tried out Zoom, Windows Team meetings, WhatsApp video, FaceTime, and other platforms, in our quest to contribute to communication and conversation. These platforms have worldwide reach yet tens of thousands of people still fly around the world to attend conferences and other events.

In this era of climate change where it’s known aircraft contribute to the deterioration of the atmosphere, why would they do that? For the real relationships. In real rooms. With real people. Of course!

Don’t get me wrong. Technology does have its uses. My own website is a case in point. More than 14000 people surf the site every month, serious readers use the technology to buy access to content AI can’t touch because it’s behind a paywall. 

But as the article points out “many digital campaigns record conversion rates in the low single digits according to industry benchmarks. That means about 97 out of 100 people who see your brilliant online content will scroll past without buying anything.”

That’s my experience – sadly.

Having said that I’m grateful to all the subscribers who do support the website. It pays for the increasing cost of annual domain and server renewals to keep it going. Barely. 

I am the sole creator give or take a few guest writers who contribute willingly. I value you tremendously. I work hard to bring readers regular news. When I last looked Feedspot rated fishingindustrynewssa.com in the top 20 of all fishing websites globally. It is the only South Africa-based website on that list. 

Do I want to go sit in meetings again? The short answer is No. But it doesn’t mean I don’t want your news. Please keep it coming regardless. tracy@fishingindustrynewssa.com

If you follow LinkedIn you’ll have seen this year the switch to personal branding. More and more the faces behind the stories. 

I agree that 2026 could be the year for a marketing revolution. I hope so. Authenticity and real relationships are long overdue.