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    How to keep up with the pace of change in marketing

    How to keep up with the pace of change in marketing

    In marketing, success is now about adapting.

    Marketers of the past could get by using the same tools every year (direct mail, TV, trade shows) and merely tweaking the formula. Now marketers have to adapt to entirely new technologies and methodologies every year.


    Pace of change in marketing

    In marketing, success is now about adapting.

    If a company’s website is 3 years old, it looks like it’s from another era – and the company does too. If a business professional doesn’t have a profile on LinkedIn, they’re seen as somewhat suspicious. What was totally irrelevant just a few years ago, is now the price of entry.

    This pace of change in marketing is demanding. So what are marketers supposed to do?

    Here's our two-prong approach.

    (Admittedly, we're a marketing company, so we might have a different way of handling it than an individual marketer - but I think the same rules apply.)

    1. It's about mind-set.

    The skill that is needed among marketers today is not a mile-long resume or a focus on perfection. What is needed is the ability to learn and adapt. Good marketers adapt extremely quickly to new marketing methodologies and technologies. On an annual basis they add new tools to their toolbox and retire the old approaches that no longer work.

    2. Consciously experiment - and fail.

    The second part of dealing with the pace of change in marketing is about consciously experimenting, and investing in that experimentation. And part of experimenting, is being ok with failing. Every year we invest a significant percentage (between 10% and 20%) of our operating budget in learning new tools and approaches. It’s a big commitment for a company of our size. But if we didn't do that, I think we’d be out of the game in about two years.

    Marketing is now one of the fastest moving business functions – alongside IT. Every year, marketers and marketing companies need to acquire new skills and use new tools. This doesn’t mean being ‘bleeding edge’. But it does mean having a healthy approach to trying new things and accepting that not everything will work. Your marketing and business will be far more effective with that approach. At least, that’s what we believe.


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