How to stay focused in a rapidly changing world!

Today's world is certainly changing at a faster and faster pace. Of course, a study of American history shows you that one of our common themes is the idea that we are, for the most part, living in times of break neck change and need to slow down. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Still, we are living in times of rapid change. Thanks to market conditions and technologies, it seems products are out of date almost as soon as they hit the market. Shelf lives of more than a year for a technology product seems absurd. So how does marketing help build a brand, while facing a market that is constantly moving?

This type of dilemma reminds me of one of my favorite comic book when I was a kid, Spiderman. Of course Spiderman had a lot of enemies but the one that always fascinated me was the Sand Man. He could change his shape almost at will and at times could be either strong as a block of cement or as fine as sand on a beach. The properties one finds in real sand. Naturally Spiderman has his share of battles with the Sandman and defeats him by realizing that any strength can become a weakness and any threat an opportunity.

More importantly, from a tactical perspective he learned to anticipate what his opponent might do next and react appropriately. I think that is a key lesson for all marketing people to do. We are the people whose job is to be on top of things and try and see what might happen in the next week, month, year and so on. A great deal of ink was spilled regarding the supposed technical leadership and management skills of the Japanese in the late 1980's and early 90's. What happened was that the media saw only the positives and did not see the negatives of the Japanese model.

I remember an article from Business Week written just after Bill Clinton became president. It basically said that Japan was not as good as what everyone thought because its culture smothered innovation and new ideas. There were howls of protest about the article but time as shown it to be correct.

So back to the question at hand, how does one stay focused in this rapidly changing world. I believe the first way to do so is to know your market and most important, know your customer. Second, be a step ahead of the competition. That may sound like a cliche but not only is it true, it is also pretty easy to do. It goes back to the first rule of know your customer. The third rule that I will use for now is to have one person responsible for marketing and put all aspects of marketing growth into their hands. This will allow for controlled responsible growth and allow you to keep others, who don't have the same level of knowledge from fouling things up terribly.

Keep in mind that staying focused in a rapidly changing world is both your greatest threat and greatest opportunity. It should be taken with great concern and handled by the person you most trust with the success of your organization.