Perceptint Musings

Yesterday was one of those rare days where I felt completely overwhelmed by technology. I had been sick for most of last week and online very little. When I found myself at my computer yesterday morning, I had this numbing feeling that I couldn’t keep up.

For 13+ years I have read at least one hour a day about technology and digital marketing. In that time, the pace of change has never slowed down. If anything it has gotten faster. I’ve seen clients go from the most rudimentary websites all the way to running some of the most sophisticated marketing campaigns they’ve ever embarked upon.

I’ve seen standards and new buzz-worthy applications come and go on a regular basis. I’ve seen great ideas go the way of the dinosaur because they had great technology, but no business sense. Does anyone still long for Kozmo the way I do?

I’m feeling much better about it all today, but it made me think - how are we all keeping up with the rapid pace of change? If something I recommended six months ago is no longer applicable because the technology has changed or is no longer around, I have to keep my clients prepared for change.

Here’s my basic outline for keeping things straight:

1. Focus on the tasks at hand. This means making sure you are still good at everything you are already doing like email, paid search, etc.
2. Keep a laundry list of things you’ve heard about and need to explore
3. Read about digital marketing and your industry every day. Spend a few minutes investigating the buzz
4. Look for case studies if the buzz on a technology picks up to anything louder. Having practical applications to understand how marketers are using a new platform or technology help put it into a project perspective that most of us and our clients can understand
5. Don’t let buzz pressure force you into something early. Moving into new channels and opportunities takes careful planning and expectation setting. Don’t move too quickly and get bit when you could get rewarded
6. Have something ready to say to the higher-ups. It’s inevitable today that someone in the marketing department will get that dreaded call from the CEO or another executive asking why we aren’t already doing “insert buzz application here”? You need to have a standardized response along the lines of, “We’re actively looking at that as a new channel and here’s what we know” to “We’ll add that to our channel investigation list and get back to you ASAP.”

How is your businesses keeping up with the changes and do you feel these same pressures in your position? I’m very interested to start a conversation about keeping it all in order. How do you or people in your organization deal with it? Any and all comments are welcome.