Remember “Bait and Switch?”  An advertiser lures you in with a fantastic price only to tell you they are out of that particular item but they have something much more expensive that would fit your bill.  That hacked everybody off to the point that it’s a pretty rare occurrence today.  If a marketer does that today, they get skewered by ratings and social networks.  Pretty painful penance.

The bar for business integrity gets higher still when marketing to the Net Generation.  Not only do they expect more, they know how to complain by attacking the business where it hurts…in the cash register.

On the same hand, have integrity firmly on display in your day-to-day dealings, and you could create a customer for life…even an evangelist.

As you think about touting your brand, make sure you live your promise.  As you think about running your business, make sure you do it as green as possible.  Do what you say you will do and put the customer first and you’ll have loyal Net Geners as customers.    Pretty simple.

Some experts quoted in “Grown Up Digital,” say we taught them that they are special.  They believed it.  Not only did they believe it they internalized it to the point where they have no doubts.  Well that’s one explanation.

Other experts have said, this is the most narcissistic generation ever.  It’s all about ME.  They have been pampered in an attempt to raise their self esteem to the point where the only thing that has been raised is their self centeredness.  That’s another explanation.

My explanation is “non of the above.”  Customization is important to them simply because it is basic human nature and technology has made it easy.  Brands have always been an expression of who we thought we were, or who we wanted to be.  Now, we can customize our brands to reflect the nuances of who we think we are.   Contrary to an ever increasing number of “expert opinions,” there’s nothing new about this customization trend.

Customization is as old as the caveman.  Not the Geico cavemen, but the ones that used to draw on the walls of caves.

If you’re old enough, think back to the days of muscle cars.  The gear-heads of my generation bought mag wheels for their Chevy Nova, souped up the motor, added pin-striping and went looking for girls.  The gas crisis hit and that genre of car vanished and the trend toward hot rods waned.  Still, everybody who owned one looks back fondly on their car and how it made them feel.  Somehow a Toyota Celica never replaced that feeling.

Fast forward.  Technological advances allow you to customize nearly everything.  One size fits all evolves to one size fits one.  The iPod allows you to program your own radio station.  Pandora.com programs your own radio station on the web and on the fly.  Because there are so many choices for everything, you can put your own persona together.  And why wouldn’t you?

Do you know the personas of your customers?  Do you know how your product or service adds to, or defines their personas?  If you blindly market without that understanding, it’s a craps game and you’re just playing the odds.  And the one thing to remember about a craps game is that they didn’t build all those casinos in Vegas on winners.