Real-Time Marketing for Agile Real-Time Winners

Do you know what qualities you have to possess in order to succeed in business? Are you familiar with the notions of agility and real-time management and engagement? Wanna find out how to harness the forces of triumph? Then read on and have fun!

Hello marketing enthusiasts and hungry for knowledge entrepreneurs! I am happy to report for my weekly blogging duties and deliver yet another delicious piece of marketing communications cake. I hope my article on beauty and mobile apps has left you craving for more. Well, here I am, totally ready to hit you with another marketing volley and discuss the notion of agility and speed in business. Whereas I already pointed out that you need to be fast as a shark in order to swim in a blue ocean of prosperity, I want to examine the notion of speed from the real-time angle. Oh, wait, do not get lost, hang in there and read on!

In his brilliant book, Real-Time Marketing and PR: How to Instantly Engage Your Market, Connect with Customers, and Create Products that Grow Your Business Now, David Meerman Scott argues that what predetermines success in business and what differentiates great companies from not so great ones is speed and agility. Indeed, whereas some few years ago, we had to prepare a detailed business plan describing every step of the way to market domination, nowadays, such elaborate strategies are largely a remnant of a static past. Presently we live in a state of constant turmoil, where everything is subject to abrupt changes and what is valid and appropriate today could be defunct and inadequate tomorrow. Social media, on the other hand, and their real-time implications, further complicate the already busy and uncertain business landscape and set the pace for action, reaction, and counteraction. In a way, the business world has come to resemble a well-connected, super-sized stock market, where speed and adaptability rule the game. The individuals and/or companies that are adept at discerning opportunities and act fast are the ultimate winners. The rest lag behind and eventually either die away or fail to reaffirm their position as industry leaders. In fact, in a world replete with possibilities, the early birds get the worm. Therefore, sticking to some complex business plans is an outdated tactic, unless your strategies feature the components of agility and real-time interaction and engagement. Yet, such conclusions and blatant statements raise a few pertinent questions regarding the very nature of real-time action and agility. Indeed, what do such blurry and generic notions entail? What are their implications? How could such elements be incorporated into viable business and marketing plans? Is un-planning the new planning?

Well, let me tackle those mind-boggling queries one at a time and we could possibly crack the code of real-time success. First and foremost, there are lots of new variables present in the contemporary business equation. Those include but are not limited to the swift and painful demise of old school or outbound marketing, the ability of people to filter information, the social media effect, the mobile revolution consequences, and overall, the degree of engagement that each and every business should generate/create and display. Whereas the implications of the enumerated factors could be easily predicted, their profound effect could only be measured on the go. Moreover, the incremental success of businesses nowadays is intimately linked to the progressive, intelligent, and consistent utilization of the aforementioned building blocks. You cannot tweet or blog once in a blue moon and anticipate to increase your web traffic. It is not inbound marketing that failed, it is you who could not keep up with it! Alternatively, you cannot turn a blind eye to customer feedback and display a blatant disregard for people’s questions and/or concerns. This is where the forces of agility and real-time interaction and engagement come into play. In the current context, those two entail nothing more but a dramatic change of perception and a stark realization that most of the marketing and business rites of the not-so-distant past should be laid to rest as they are totally out of synch with reality. Once you come to grips with those solid facts and you stop regarding blogging, tweeting, video-sharing, SEO, SMO, and audience engaging experimental hipster techniques not worthy of any serious consideration, you are ready to join the ranks of potential real-time winners. At that point, the whole interplay between real-time interaction and engagement and agility is going to unfold right before your eyes. Indeed, whereas you should come up with detailed strategies regarding your marketing endeavors, your social media adventures, and most importantly, your business goals, targets, and critical milestones, you should leave some leeway for improvisation and you should be ready to adapt on the fly. What do I mean?

Well, basically, you should be expecting that not everything will go according to plan and you should be able to adjust to the circumstances. For example, if it turns out that your newsletter or your company magazine are not so popular with people, instead of stubbornly trying to make those appealing and keep pouring money into a broken bucket, you should simply drop those after your second best attempt to infuse some life into their content stream. Instead, you should focus on things that your clients and/or users find useful such as your tidbits section, your blog, etc. In that case, you have to be agile and respond to real-time user expectations. You just need to modify your strategy a little bit and meet public demand. Respectively, you should consider budget allocation and reallocation. Nonetheless, bear in mind that above all, strategies and tactics are nothing more but a means to an end. In that sense, un-planning is not the new planning. It is more like getting used to constant changes of plan. In fact, the technological revolution and the communications evolution force us to either adapt to the new ways of doing things or slowly become obsolete and die away. Hence agility is nothing more but adaptability coupled with savviness. After all, every day brings a brand new challenge, which businesses have to embrace and cope with. Otherwise, there would be no thrill whatsoever.

In addition to setting the pace for agility, the tentacles of real-time action spread further. In essence, real-time interaction determines whether or not you can take advantage of certain trends and developments and it has a direct impact on your business decisions. Indeed, you might come to realize that the complex bureaucratic machine, which has been stifling creativity and encouraging people to play it safe could be diminishing your chances to seize real-time opportunities. Sometimes, cutting the red tape is the way to go because by the time you decide whether to act or not, opportunities will be long gone. Speed does matter and you should not be afraid of taking some reasonable risks. Whereas I do realize that this approach will never work with huge companies and multinationals, it should not be a problem for relatively small or medium-sized companies. You will not get a ticket for a traffic violation! So go ahead and break a leg!

Well folks, I hope you enjoyed reading this article and you find it useful! But hey, feel free to tell me what you think about it in the comment section below or by sending a tweet, or a Facebook comment! I would really love to hear from you! In the mean time, hurry up and subscribe to the rock steady feed! Why should you go ahead and do so? Well, because next time, I am going to discuss the human factor in marketing and business and take the notion of engagement to yet another level! In the mean time, stay tuned to the Stuff We Say and expect pleasant content surprises in the very near future!