Warming Up for 2015

It’s the time of year when people like me dust off their crystal balls, peer in for a look at what lies ahead, and share the goods with friends like you. This season, wearables and the Internet of Things and advances in mobile continue to dominate, and I expect we’ll all hear a good deal about them in prognostications.

And there you are, peering ahead yourself in planning how to impact your company’s revenue in 2015. Hopefully in Q1, definitely by Q2.

So I’ll skip the wearables and the Internet of Things, as truly fascinating as they are, because chances are they won’t provide what you need. At least not in the coming quarter, or the three quarters after that.

Instead, I’ll relay Peter Drucker’s famous advice to corporations, which certainly applies to marketers and all of the potential distractions ahead in 2015:

Do what you do best

I toss that out because it’s increasingly clear that marketers are spending an awful lot of time trying to figure out how to leverage everything at their disposal, and don’t really need to pile on yet more new stuff to figure out. Marketers are spending more and more time trying to get on top of technology. That ultimately means less time marketing.

That’s not to say that new and emerging technologies aren’t important. I just want to remind you that you reached your current position because of what you do very well, and that’s probably more on the fundamental side of marketing than in mastery of technologies.

You may excel at orchestrating great content that merges what customers want to hear with what they need to hear. Or maybe you have a knack for figuring out what Sales really needs as opposed to what they think they need. Maybe a little of each of those, and a few others, or maybe something else entirely?

It doesn’t matter. The point is that you should focus on what got you to where you are – “Do what you do best.” By the way, there’s another part to Drucker’s advice:

Do what you do best, and outsource the rest.

My advice? Do what you do best, and leverage resources for the rest. In other words, when new things come, look at them and evaluate them, but don’t let them knock you off your game. There are many potential paths to marketing success, and you don’t need a crystal ball to know the right path. Take charge of the fundamentals you’ve mastered and know best, and get help with the others.

Happy Holidays, everyone!