Getting out of your comfort zone.
Three years ago I purchased a book called “Watch This, Listen Up, Click Here”, with the intent to read it on a flight to Toronto. After a couple weeks of sitting on my coffee table, it got added to a growing “read this” pile. It wasn’t until last week that I finally got around to it. The problem was, that while insightful, components of it were now completely outdated and irrelevant.
Other than the fact that I need to become more diligent about my reading, it reminded me of how quickly things can change with the emergence of new trends and technology, and the danger of getting complacent with status quo. It’s really easy to fall into a comfort zone with your business. If you fail to recognize shifts in technology, it can adversely affect how you’re communicating with your customers.
So where do you start? Staying informed isn’t that hard. Adding a few tech blogs to your daily reading will help you stay on top of things. (Mashable and Tech Crunch are good places to start.) You’ll get a pretty good idea of what you should be paying attention to. As you discover emerging trends, it’s critical that you evaluate each new opportunity to figure out if it’s something that would benefit your business. “˜Everyone’ may well be on Facebook, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should be too. It’s not quite the same as a mass media tool like TV or radio. (Well, not yet. Check back in another three years.)
