“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.” ~ Charles Darwin

There are 22 Selling Days in August and 43 remaining in the Quarter!!!

The pace of change on the web has always been fast. Even frenetic. In fact change is one of the few constants these days in marketing, media and PR. If things didn’t change that would actually be more shocking than if they continue to.

When I talk to communications and media professionals lately, there are really just two reactions to this: excitement, which leads to inspiration or fear, which leads to a head in the sand approach. Because no one is ambivalent to change.

So if you’re in any facet of communications (on the media or marketing side) you have either already come to love the evolving, improvisational nature of how we connect or you haven’t. And if you haven’t it is past time you did, because if not you are going to be forever fighting the future. But how to embrace change, stay at the edge and enjoy doing it?

1. Fear nothing: test, tinker and try new platforms, networks and tools
2. Plan for change: develop a digital strategy that is platform agnostic
3. Don’t be static: foster a culture of experimentation and iteration
4. Get data-driven: don’t guess, use analytics to really understand – thank you Steve

If you’re not the one pushing and trying to make things better, then you’re likely just trying to keep pace with those who are. It’s actually a lot easier if you make the decision to create a culture which thrives on experiments and iteration. Now you’re the one pushing what’s next instead of always playing catch-up. If you are within a culture that can’t just do this, it’s even okay to create a structure behind how experimentation should be done so it’s tried in the first place. Then you can remove the boundaries when people get comfortable.

Are the current waves of change on the web affecting your business? To what extent? Do you even know? Everyone on your marketing team should at this point using some data to make decisions. Further, by keeping your finger on the pulse of your marketing analytics you can clearly see how valuable, conversion-oriented traffic sources are performing. Now you know what to adjust and why and can make confident choices about where to shift focus.

I know what some of you are thinking: yeah, we get it: embrace change. But is it really so obvious to everyone?

It still appears to me that the default for most is to cling to the days of old. It’s part of the lizard brain Seth Godin loves to describe. So while the intrepid of you are out there embracing a world in flux, most are not. I fought the entire Twitter – Facebook -Blogging thing long enough hoping that it would fizzle out – but there is some value even though I scoffed at the entire concept because I did not want embrace change.

But what could anyone possibly gain at this point through fear? I think it is a always a better mindset to embrace what’s new and view it as  infinitely compelling rather than to fear it. Why would anyone logically not take this approach?

Go out and have a Great Selling Day and make a difference in at least one person’s life today.

“See You at the Top” ~ Bryan Flanagan

In Zig Ziglar’s book See You at the Top, page 48 had a great impact on my life. It was one sentence, but it changed the way I thought about myself. Here’s the sentence:

“You cannot consistently perform at a level that is inconsistent with the way you see yourself.”

You cannot outperform the image you have of yourself. Increase your deserve level; believe in yourself. Transfer that belief to prospects, customers and in fact with everyone you meet no matter where even if it is at the gas station but do it today with the “3 c’s” – confidence, courage and conviction.

Go out and have a Great Selling Day but make sure you make a difference in at least one person’s life today.