Do More With Less

You must be very tired of Blog postings about the Marketing industry and the economy. I know I am. But, there is a reality, and it could well be one of the best things that has happened to this industry in a long time.

We can’t diminish the really dark news that many of our peers are presently unemployed and that most of the so-called experts predict it is going to get a lot worse before it gets any better. We’ve already seen some clients cut their budgets on the marketing, media and advertising side, and even though I am hopeful that a lot of the slashed marketing dollars will still result in an increase on the Digital Marketing side, it really is anybody’s guess as to what is going to happen and how this is all going to unfold.

So, what is the good news?

If you look back on times like this (and we have been through economic challenges before), these dramatic business issues have not only forced companies to look inward, they have usually forced them to rethink just about everything. This type of forced creative destruction brings with it newer business models and efficiencies. Employees who lost their jobs, can’t see this. It hurts and it’s all too personal (which it should be), but these deep cuts do force a business to figure out one very powerful idea:

How to do more with less.

In Blogging about the publishing industry for the past little while, I’ve noted that cutting costs is not a great revenue generating strategy. Printing less papers per week or delivering less copies is not going to increase readership and overall revenues in the long term, but getting more efficient with the type of content they are producing, along with using the many new digital channels to create compelling news items – that can be distributed to a wider and more interested community – can be a different way of doing things. It might require the re-training of some of the more passionate people in the business’ current state, and it might mean that some of the people have to go and be replaced with others who are more open to the realities and changes that are happening.

You need to do more with less.

That’s the big secret. That’s what is going to make you irreplaceable. The business you work for is going to change. People are going to be fired. It might be your boss, it might be people on your team, or it might even be you. If all you get at the end of the day is a banker’s box filled with your personal belongings, then all is lost. There has never been a more important time to understand the myriad of digital channels and free publishing tools that are right here in front of you – at your fingertips – and are relatively cheap, free and easy to use. If things don’t work out and you’re forced to figure out your next move, having a solid digital footprint – a network of people who are connected to you and a place (or two) where you have been sharing how you think, create and grow – is going to make you better, sharper, faster. More importantly, by using these tools, you are going to learn how to do more with less.

A Blog can change the game. 

Don’t kid yourself into thinking that doing any of this stuff online is not a lot of hard work and that it doesn’t take a long, long time to not only build a community but to build your credibility. It does. The advantage is that ones ability to publish their thoughts with such speed and to such a vast and potentially huge audience did not exist the last time our world went through the kind of crisis we’re currently trapped in. By understanding how this information flows online, by having a Reader and subscribing to some key Alerts and by creating your own content, you will begin to unravel how much more efficient you can be as a Marketer.

Others are panicked, keeping their heads down and just trying to get through the day to day drama of it all. What are you going to do?