Still, we don’t all relate to digital in the same way. There are those who regard new technologies as a necessary evil, who dread pressing that "on" button.

And then there is the "digital animal," the individual who reaches for his BlackBerry the minute he wakes up, tells the world (on Facebook) how he slept, and who consumes YouTube videos along with his breakfast cereal.

Today, a "digital animal" is not a rare bird; indeed, he’s becoming a cliché. So how do we go about capturing this consumer’s attention? Not with an ad spot in prime time, since at that hour he probably isn’t watching TV, he’s updating his blog or chatting with friends on social networks. To reach someone like him, a cross-media digital strategy makes a lot of sense.

If you’re a marketer, you should realize by now that it’s not enough for a brand merely to have an online presence. You need to rethink your brand’s presence in terms of the behaviour patterns of the digital animals so many of us have become. Three steps will get you there: first, take another good look at your consumer’s behaviour and attitude toward digital interactions; second, deliver value, not messages; third, come up with a relevant offer that is appropriate not only to your chosen target, but also to the channel or device you plan to use to reach him (forget about "online version" and "mobile version.").

The next time you start to work on your brand strategy, ask yourself: "how digital is my target?" More than you may think, we wager – and surely more digital than your current strategy.