When I look at my 14 year old daughter, I see the future.

And that future has no email.

According to Natalie, email is for old people. Her preferred forms of communication are texting and Facebook. She always has an email account but only to register and maintain her password on web pages and social media sites. Other than retrieving forgotten passwords, she totally ignores her email.

Copyright 2006 flickr user emdot

She uses only web-based email (“What’s Outlook?”) and she abandons her account whenever it fills with spam. This happens often because she is indiscriminate about giving out her email address. She doesn’t care if the spammers get her email address because she simply abandons her account as soon as it fills with junk. It’s easy to create another Hotmail account.

In my mind's eye, I picture her strolling through life, dropping email accounts behind her as she walks - natlove22@hotmail.com, iloveglee_2@hotmail.com, cullenfamily987@hotmail.com...

This has stunning implications for online marketers. Your coveted email lists? Start planning for their diminishing value. If my daughter is on that list, chances are your emails are disappearing into the netherworld. If you’re a marketer or if you’re a business owner and you have plans to, not just survive, but thrive into the next decade, you might need to re-consider your marketing mix.

My daughter is already a veteran shopper. Her babysitting money, gifts from grand-dad and the absence of any frivolous spending requirements like rent, food or utilities makes her a powerful and desirable consumer. Her buying power will just keep increasing. If you want to reach her, email is useless. Your website is useless.

To reach Natalie, you need to tap into the social media market - the 300 million plus Facebook and Twitter users. And if she doesn’t like you, she'll never see your ads. That's because she only gets commercial messages on her Wall or Inbox from merchants she considers friends - Starbucks, Betsy Johnson, American Apparel. She considers these companies to be her friends and the ads don't come as ads. They arrive as social interaction.

Need examples of low budget, high reward social media marketing? Try Kogi BBQ. Kogi BBQ is a “Korean BBQ Taco Truck” that roams the streets of Los Angeles. It’s become a cult favourite amoung young, hip LA foodies. This small business has amassed 4,300 Facebook fans and and an astounding 48,000 Twitter followers.

Or, how about Branded Boutique. I know nothing about this small, Toronto clothing shop other than the fact that it carries designer jeans and had over 9,000 Facebook fans before it even opened. I have never heard of it outside of Facebook and have never seen or heard an ad for it in any other media. I would venture a guess that their marketing budget is zero.

How do you get started?  Look at what your peers are doing. Look at what your competitors are doing. Start Facebooking (yes, it’s now a verb). Need a consultant? Hire my daughter. She could use the spending money.